Tips for Safe Transactions (Buyers & Sellers)
With credit card and identity theft on the rise, it is important that
you take steps to ensure you don't become a victim of a fraudulent
transaction.
- Know your buyer or seller and their company background.
- Ensure phone numbers are valid.
- Proceed with caution when asked to communicate strictly by email
with a new seller.
- Avoid sending money via wire-transfer when dealing with someone
new. Wire transfers have been heavily used as a means to accept money
with no intent to ship an item.
- Do not trust offers that are too good to be true. Be wary of
unknown customers grossly overpaying and asking for a refund via
another form of payment.
- Do not enter into deals that involve deceiving other entities or
business, as you could fall victim to bribery.
- Understand the transaction arrangements.
- Resist pressure to consummate a transaction quickly.
- Be cautious with free hosted email addresses like hotmail.com
and yahoo.com.
- Keep your personal information safe and secure, and do not to
use identical passwords across multiple web sites.
- Be especially cautious when dealing with buyers or sellers in
countries outside of the USA and Canada. LabX has a wonderful base of
users outside of North America. Nevertheless, you should ensure that
it is legal to trade with the region and products, and that your
buyer or seller has a confirmed physical address.
- Avoid transactions from unknown entities when the
billing/shipping address differs from the point of contact.
- Consider using an escrow service.
- Let LabX know if you have a problem.
- Sellers should report suspected fraud to law enforcement
agencies.
For more information on Internet fraud, please visit the web sites
listed below. Much of our tips have been derived from the wealth of
information on these sites:
http://www.ifccfbi.gov
http://www.fraud.org
http://www.nclnet.org
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