RCMP warning on-line shoppers to protect themselves

The RCMP says on-line shoppers need to protect themselves when looking for the best possible deal, especially during the holiday season.

The Commercial Crime Section says one of the top three mass marketing frauds continues to be the ‘merchandise purchased but not received’ scam, which involves buying items on-line through common ad websites.

In these cases, the seller usually tells the buyer to send a payment using a commercial money transfer system. Those systems do not have buyer protection and the seller never sends the item to the purchaser.

In most of those cases, the buyer does not recover their money.

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One sign buyers can watch out for that may indicate the transaction could be fraudulent is if the item is normally a high priced item but the selling price is unusually low or there is an urgency to sell the item quickly.

Another prevalent fraud involves the seller placing an item for sale at a certain price and the buyer sends a payment, usually in the form of a cheque or money order for an amount exceeding the purchase price.

The buyer then asks the seller to send the “overpayment” back, usually through a money transfer service, and only later does the seller find out the cheque or money order is fraudulent.

The RCMP say the best way for consumers to protect themselves is to ensure the website they are making their purchase from is secure.

“You can tell a website is secure by looking at the website’s address bar,” says Constable Tyler Buchanan, Mass Marketing Fraud Coordinator for the RCMP “F” Division Commercial Crime Section. “Look for the closed padlock or a URL address that begins with https.”

Tyler says the same precautions should be taken when making on-line purchases from brand-name companies.

A broken key or an open padlock symbol in an internet browser window will mean a transaction is not secure and could be intercepted by a third party.

Mounties also say if a deal sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.