Be aware: Nigerian crooks on OLX

vegetaleb

When I posted my HTC A9 for sale on OLX for about a week, I got messages from 3 different guys on OLX messaging and on Whatsapp the 1 st one claiming he want to buy my phone but because he's in Kazakhstan and want to offer it to his wife in Nigeria, 2 other ones claimed to be actually in Nigeria, of course it was smelling super fishy, I blocked them all. One of them asked for my bank account information right before I blocked him, so yes BE AWARE of Nigerian crooks when you sell on OLX, never ever trust anyone outside Lebanon who want to buy from you, 99.9% chance they want to steal your bank account.
OLX can filter them on their messaging but of course not on whatsapp

mmk92

Yes, common sense is a very powerful weapon.

rolf

I have come across a couple of scammers in the past. They flock wherever there is money and where they can hide behind some kind of anonymity. It saddens me to say, but some people in positions that appear to be legit are scammers to some extent (example: landlord, business owners). But anyway back to internet scammers. Yes common sense is a very powerful weapon but it's an interesting topic because they come up with new tricks that actually make careful and common-sensey people stop and consider the offer. Many people probably know about the classic scam trick, to lure someone with a great offer then make up a story (I am outside of the country) and have them send money through western union. But t I've come across some more refined tricks:
- People asking you to "send money to yourself" through western union and scan and send the receipt to them, to "prove" that you have enough money to pay for renting a place, before they consider meeting you and giving you the key, etc. They will use the information on the receipt (and gather from you) to pretend that they are you and cash out the money from western union, and disappear. I've come across this myself.
- I have read about a scam in which scammers will offer to buy something that you're selling (ex: phone) and asking for your ebay (or whatever) details to make a payment, offering more than you're asking for, and will ask you to ship the item to "their wife" somewhere else or something. When they have your details you will receive a fake email from ebay (or your bank or whatever) saying that the funds have been received but have been retained until you send the item and scan the shipping receipt as proof, or something like that. This is of course a trick to make you ship the item, when no money was ever sent your way.

As you can see the scams tend to get more elaborate, and misleading. They probably prey on a lapse of attention or bad judgement from the victim. If they try it with 1000 persons, one of them is likely to make an error.

I've also had to deal with dodgy "recruiters" who were "desperate" to put me forward for a job, but despite their desperation, they "can not" do so without having my phone number, full phone address, CV in word (not PDF) format, or other information which they don't really need, except to put me in a database of contacts to be spammed or sold to third parties.

I find this to be an interesting topic. Some signs that you might be dealing with a scammer:
- These people need to do mass mailing to make a profit so you will see things such as bad spelling, duplicate emails, and unprofessional behavior. Plus they are not highly educated normally.
- Something does not add up. The offer is too good to be true, yet the ad has been up for a long time (for example). Often these things would be crafted just to bait people.
- Sometimes they use pressure sales tactics. You have to decide now, other people are waiting. Again, just trying to bait people.

Generally do not do or give away something if you are not comfortable doing it. It takes experience to develop confidence and to detect such things. Often they would be preying on a "weak spot" you have - your greed, a perceived need, or even someone you care about or listen to.

Salloum

Internet scammers are usually pretty obvious. I agree that some of them make elaborate things, but as a general rule, don't send money to anyone (even yourself in this case) for any reason whatsoever. Also, obviously don't sell stuff and ship it to them. I think we should be more worried about real life scammers. Every time I buy anything in this country I feel like I'm getting ripped off. Even a bottle of water

vegetaleb

Salloum wroteInternet scammers are usually pretty obvious. I agree that some of them make elaborate things, but as a general rule, don't send money to anyone (even yourself in this case) for any reason whatsoever. Also, obviously don't sell stuff and ship it to them. I think we should be more worried about real life scammers. Every time I buy anything in this country I feel like I'm getting ripped off. Even a bottle of water

Yep exactly, these scammers are not aware that Lebanon is an expensive country specially for used things (Moto 360 1st gen cost 150$ on OLX while 70euros in France as used), so there are no reason at all for a dude who is in another country to buy from Lebanon (add to that the expensive DHL), it's screaming BS.
The old ''I am the daughter of an African queen with billions of $'' trick over emails is not working anymore, they are trying new things like fake accounts to ''buy'' used items, but they obviously don't know the Lebanese market ;)

rolf

Salloum wroteEvery time I buy anything in this country I feel like I'm getting ripped off. Even a bottle of water

Try visiting London or New York. You will be ripped off every day without knowing it and will be coming back for more.
The problem in Lebanon is that they are amateurs and they have a different attitude towards ripping off people so there is less effort to hide it and that is humiliating. I think I know what you're talking about.
In reality there are many honest businesses in Lebanon and there is not a culture of reinvesting 50% of gains into marketing to almost artificially force growth. More than in other places, as they have not been totally driven out of the market by corporations, supermarkets and chains.
On the other hands, yes you can get ripped off especially sometimes by people who appear most qualified and educated.

bermudapineapple

I was once selling a phone here on LebGeeks for around $400 and some guy bought it for $600 because he needed it urgently. I also thought it was a scam at first. I met him and seemed like a decent guy. He just needed the phone really quick because he needed to test an application he was developing.

NuclearVision

tt400 wroteI was once selling a phone here on LebGeeks for around $400 and some guy bought it for $600 because he needed it urgently. I also thought it was a scam at first. I met him and seemed like a decent guy. He just needed the phone really quick because he needed to test an application he was developing.

hey.
How interesting.
why would he pay 600$ if you're advertising it for 400$.

bermudapineapple

NuclearVision wrote
tt400 wroteI was once selling a phone here on LebGeeks for around $400 and some guy bought it for $600 because he needed it urgently. I also thought it was a scam at first. I met him and seemed like a decent guy. He just needed the phone really quick because he needed to test an application he was developing.
hey.
How interesting.
why would he pay 600$ if you're advertising it for 400$.

Because he needed it urgently. He might have thought that some other people were interested in it so he offered $600 so I sell it to him. I was worried at first but everything worked out at the end.

MrClass

NuclearVision wrote hey.
How interesting.
why would he pay 600$ if you're advertising it for 400$.

It's a kind of a reservation to not sell it for a period of time till he has the money kinda thing.

AVOlio

rolf wrote - People asking you to "send money to yourself" through western union and scan and send the receipt to them, to "prove" that you have enough money to pay for renting a place, before they consider meeting you and giving you the key, etc. They will use the information on the receipt (and gather from you) to pretend that they are you and cash out the money from western union, and disappear. I've come across this myself.

How would that work?
You need an ID to present to withdraw the money.
Even if they manage to make a fake ID with your name, they need much more information than what they have.

When Western Union takes your ID when you are transferring the money, they only put the ID number on the receipt,
you still have your relationship status, father/mother name, place of birth, "sejell" number, mouhafaza, kada2, mahalla or village (karya) etc..
And western union already has that information saved with them.

So if they see wrong info on the fake ID, they will not give the money.

Correct me if there are further things i missed?

arached

AVOlio wrote
rolf wrote - People asking you to "send money to yourself" through western union and scan and send the receipt to them, to "prove" that you have enough money to pay for renting a place, before they consider meeting you and giving you the key, etc. They will use the information on the receipt (and gather from you) to pretend that they are you and cash out the money from western union, and disappear. I've come across this myself.
How would that work?
You need an ID to present to withdraw the money.
Even if they manage to make a fake ID with your name, they need much more information than what they have.

When Western Union takes your ID when you are transferring the money, they only put the ID number on the receipt,
you still have your relationship status, father/mother name, place of birth, "sejell" number, mouhafaza, kada2, mahalla or village (karya) etc..
And western union already has that information saved with them.

So if they see wrong info on the fake ID, they will not give the money.

Correct me if there are further things i missed?

I used to work for omt, the only think that they look into is your name. When you send money for someone they don't know anything about him other than his name so if they do a fake id with the name written exactly like the it's send to they will give him the money.

rolf

Its not always that strict and the guy would have previously asked for all these information "to make sure that you qualify for renting".

Flakk

I was going to post a new topic but I found this discussion.

There is a new type of OLX scammers now. Lebanese locals renting or buying foreign numbers and scamming people with them.

The first one contacted me from a +63 Philipines number and the second from a +31 Netherlands number. Both wanted to meet somewhere in hazmieh and ashrafieh.

I asked a friend of mine who regularly buys things from the app and he told me not to fall for it as these people will tend to bully up on you at the meeting place, they will threaten you with a weapon or to beat you up and then take the item and your wallet. He said this happened with his friend but he managed to escape.

I sent OLX screenshots of the conversations and they quickly replied that this is a scam and I should cut all communication with these scammers.

Salloum

Re the above, I once conducted a transaction with a Filipino guy in Lebanon. He also had a +63 number and it turned out just fine. But I'd be cautious anyway due to your story.

LifeEngineer

I was contacted by like 5 guys on a single item i posted on OLX; all with international numbers +63 or +33 or others! It's becoming too frequent and annoying!
Never fall it for guys whatever it seems true!

AVOlio

Flakk wroteI was going to post a new topic but I found this discussion.

There is a new type of OLX scammers now. Lebanese locals renting or buying foreign numbers and scamming people with them.

The first one contacted me from a +63 Philipines number and the second from a +31 Netherlands number. Both wanted to meet somewhere in hazmieh and ashrafieh.

I asked a friend of mine who regularly buys things from the app and he told me not to fall for it as these people will tend to bully up on you at the meeting place, they will threaten you with a weapon or to beat you up and then take the item and your wallet. He said this happened with his friend but he managed to escape.

I sent OLX screenshots of the conversations and they quickly replied that this is a scam and I should cut all communication with these scammers.

Even with or without these different numbers, rule of thumb is that never meet people at night or away from public.
Always meet them during the day and in public preferably in malls or eating places etc, not even in the public park.

vegetaleb

I think best thing is to add the line ''Not for international buyers'' 2 or even 3 times in your OLX ad ;)

TrollFatGuy

Sorry to hijack this this thread (I can open a new one if needed), but I have a problem that sort of related. I wanted to by a PC off of olx, however the seller insisted I meet at his house to test it out. I said that I would bring a monitor, keyboard and mouse along with all the needed cables and stuff, and all her has to do is bring the case as if it is already sold. I stress test it at a Starbucks (more of I make sure all the parts are as mentioned and run a couple of benchmarks to make sure everything is working at least under normal conditions) and if it works well I but it on the spot. The seller insisted again that I stress test it at his place, and I'd understand him since it is a big case and if no car is available carrying it around is an issue (I don't know about the car situation, I'm just assuming worst case scenario).

The insistence brought up a ton of red flags and I am wondering if I should go either way and test it out, or if there is an alternative that wouldn't involve me bringing said amount of money to his place.

Any advice is appreciated!

VincentKeyboard

I've sold plenty of old parts on OLX. Old graphics cards that I no longer needed after upgrades, old hdds that I no longer needed after upgrades. I was selling 100 dollar parts for 20 to 30 dollars. The one thing I learned is that it is best to deal with only small parts which is safer for buyers.
If you need a used PC, don't buy one off OLX especially non branded ones. If you absolutely need to, try to arrange for a middleman.