Be careful when buying or selling online – that’s the message from Scamwise NI this week.
It comes as a woman from Ballycastle received an email purporting to be from ‘PayPal’, stating that the money had been received from the buyer, but that it wouldn’t be released to her until she provided proof of postage for the iPad which she had sold via an online marketplace.
She then sent the item via recorded delivery.
The woman checked her PayPal account but when she realised the money had not been received, she contacted the seller directly.
She learned that the original email she had been sent was not from PayPal, but from a scammer.
Buyers and sellers are asked to be vigilant, as this is one of many scams reported.