Browsing the web I just found another scam purported by World Media Group, LLC, the owner of
UPS UKASH UKCASH Gumtree Scam and scams in general
Apologies if this has been posted many times before, but I had a search for this scam yesterday and found no results, and searched today and found an one (from this site) so I thought I would amalgamate all the points into one thread.
After contacting a seller from either Gumtree or whatever site you use, receive an email from that seller telling you that they are going to give you the item you wanted, and that they will provide for its delivery via a UPS business delivery.
Once you confirm that you want the item, you will receive two emails from "UPS United Kingdom", one of which confirms your details along with the shipping payment paid by the seller and is full of very convincing business stuff such as guarantees and shipping rules. The other will be from a person "in charge" of your delivery, and will request you to pay the value of your goods to UPS via UKASH using Paypoint, Payzone or ePay method, and send the 19 digit number to them for the shipment to be sent.
The seller will then email you saying that she (it tends to be a woman who may mention that she is a busy fashion designer) thought you would be able to pay at the door, and that you will be able to inspect the package before you pay, but either way you will have the option of rejecting the package and the driver will give you your money back.
I understand from the experiences of others that after you hand over the 19 digit number, the seller will either thank you or not make any form of contact whatsoever. No tracking number will be provided. No one will answer the phone number at the bottom of the UPS email you received. No one will respond to your faxes, though in all honesty nobody uses fax these days anyway. The payment will be lost and the money untraceable. You will be very upset, and feel foolish.
At all times the seller appears to respond within good time, and messages are not automatic.
Now if you have been caught up in this scam, don't go too hard on yourself as it is very convincing. However there are some tell-tale signs and tips which you can use to avoid such scams in the future:
If the seller links their sale to a courier of some sort, verify this with the courier themselves. Go on their website (without using a link in an email) and call their customer services. Speak to a person and tell them about what the seller is asking, and what the email purporting to be from them is asking for. They will tell you if this is part of their standard procedure or not, and will confirm whether from their side it appears to be a scam.
Unusual payment methods scream scam. I personally have never even heard of UKASH (or UK CASH) before yesterday, so instantly a red flag went up on the payment. Give it a Google to see what information you can find on the payment method, and if it is rife with scams (like UKASH actually is) then either request another payment method or simply move on.
Check the emails. Couriers on the scale of UPS or EMS or DHL etc have their own websites and send emails to customers via that domain e.g. info@ups .com. Ignore the name on the email address and look at the email address itself. If it is not the courier's official website it is 100% fake, no question. The email I received from "UPS" was from "
ups.package.inspection@post.com". The person clearly purchased the domain "post.com" and used it for the scam.
Big companies use safe methods of payment. No self-respecting large scale company like UPS (which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange) will only ever invoice you, or request payment via Paypal (though Paypal is far less common and should still raise a red flag). These types of payment are usually more easily traceable, and so avoided by scammers and the like.
Pay attention to the little clues. These are inconsistencies in the stories the seller is making with their story. I asked this "fashion designer" if she was able to make trench coat belts (as I needed one) and she said she couldn't make one as she only does women's dresses for special occasions. So you can make fancy dresses but are unable to put a buckle on a strip of fabric? Additionally how exactly would the driver be able to refund you the money you paid via UKASH? Do they drive around in their thousand pounds vans, carrying thousands of pounds worth of goods, carrying thousands of pounds? Risk assessment for such a company would be ridiculous.
If its too good to be true it probably is. In my opinion the only perfect thing on the planet is fresh sliced bread, and even then it might not be perfect for someone with a gluten allergy. A great deal on an item (mine was a £380 13 inch macbook pro) with free 24 hour shipping, with the ability to reject the parcel and get a refund is sadly too good to be true and should be looked at with scepticism.
Google it. If you're suspicious, there's no harm in Googling a few things to verify it.
Hopefully this should be of use to some, and any other tips on how to avoid scams would be appreciated.
And here are the two addresses used to contact me, please note that the person's name was "Anne" though it has also been reported that she may use the name "Jessica" instead:
annesigns@gmail.comups.package.inspection@
post.com
