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Avoiding Fraud


There is no doubt that scams and fraud are the number one thing to be concerned with when you buy and sell on the Internet. We try our best here at Auto Crowd to remove, stop, and block as many of these criminals as we can. It's our top priority because we don't like to see anyone taken advantage of. To help protect your hard earned money, we have put together a few things that will reduce the chances of you being scammed when you buy and sell online.

 

You should take the following precautions:

  •  Whenever possible meet face to face before completing any transaction.
  •  Never wire money to buyers or sellers.
  •  Never give out personal information such as your Social Security Number, checking account numbers, etc.
  •  Use your gut instinct. Don’t complete a transaction if you have a bad feeling about it.

Common Scams:

  • Overpayment Scam – The most popular scam on classified websites. A buyer or seller will send you a check for more than the transaction amount and request that you send them the difference. Their fake check payment may take up to 30 days to bounce and when it does you will be out the amount you sent back to the scammer.
  • Fake Ads – We do a pretty good job of removing most fake ads. However, we don't walk on water and sometimes miss a few. Fake ads usually have an item priced way below their market value to entice many ad replies. An ad can usually be determined to be fraudulent  when the seller wants to complete the transaction by using over complicated payment and shipping methods. If this happens, please discontinue contact with the criminal and contact us with the ad number.
  • Phishing Scam – You receive an email that claims to be from Auto Crowd or another Internet brand requesting that you complete a transaction, you need to update your account, etc. Auto Crowd will never send you an email requesting such things.

Fighting Fraud:

  • The easiest way to fight fraud is to meet face to face before you complete any transaction.
  • You may want to Google the email address of a suspicious buyer/seller. You will find that scammers usually have fraudulent items posted all over the Internet.
  • Use more caution when communicating with buyer/sellers that use free email accounts.
  • Contact your local police department if you become a victim of fraud.