‘Don’t fall for a sob story’

Scamming genuine buyers is a multi-million pound business. I’ve touched on it in this column before, pointing out how fake sellers are often targeting high volumes of small amounts, rather than anything as obvious as trying to sell a high-value stolen bike. Instead, they’re usually trying to get your personal details and a payment method. The common method is to try getting you to pay for a fake ‘HPI’ report, or for a nonexistent courier, by handing over your name, address and credit card number. It’s a relatively low-risk, low effort crime for them. Potentially devastating for you.