Be wary of the refund scam

[obi_waynne]

There are so many variations on this, I would just warn everyone to be careful if they are accidentally refunded a large sum of money and asked to transfer it back.

Breakdown cover policies, insurance policies and all sorts of services have been targeted.

The scammer will contact you to say you've overpaid or that money was taken from you, you'll then go through a complex refund scheme where the payment will be paid back.

Then there will be an error where you've applied for too much money and scammer will lose his job or kittens will die and he needs you to refund the overpayment back.

In some instances a real credit will appear in your bank only for it to be withdrawn after the scammer has had your reimbursement.

Another theme for scams is where the scammer sends too much money for you to pass on to another person for him. You'll end up paying his courier, bill or service and then the over payment he sent you will be withdraw from your account as an error, or fraudulent transfer.

Be sceptical, check with whatever company they are claiming to call from directly and use a different phone, not the one they called you on or using the number they gave you.

Heard of any similar scams?

 

[wizzer]

I hear about these all the time there is usually one in the paper each week, always a new scam but the same basic idea.

 

[thexav]

So many devious people out there. Thanks for bringing it all to our attention so we can watch out for these tricks and scams.

 

[obi_waynne]

They do say there is nothing new under the sun and this is certainly true of scams. Now I must reply to this Nigerian Prince who wants my help getting a large sum of money into the country.

 

[billyo]

Our company get orders to ship large quantities of expensive products, we did this once and the payment although it looked like it went through got clawed back and we lost out. They used a fake address for delivery which they obviously staked out and took delivery.

We now only ship after payment has been verified and we don't take large first time orders, people have to build up a reputation first. It's a shame a few scammers have ruined it for everyone else.

 

[obi_waynne]

That happens quite a lot, I see the requests in clients digital shops that we run, thankfully I've warned them about this one @billyo but thanks for bringing it up, it's worth a mention and I totally forgot that one.