How To Avoid Internet Fraud

Heres a few of my own thoughts on how to avoid internet fraud.Recently a few of us detectorists had are equipment stolen from a guy called Casey Chaney.We agreed to trade with him and shipped our equipment off and got nothing in return.If you have any other ideas you would like to contribute please contact me.

1.Avoid any type of return address that you arent familiar with like PMB addresses.These are postal mail boxes that apparently people rent from a company not associated with the post office.

2. Be suspicious of free email addresses.Most people arent thieves but the real thieves like to hide behind these addresses.Thats what this Chaney guy did.He also said he worked in Mexico, his company was in San Diego and his wife would ship the package from another state! So beware of funny sounding stories like that!!

3. Get references if you can on the person you are dealing with if they are unfamilar to you and check them out.Find out if they have done buisness with anyone else on the internet as far as buying, selling , or trading goes.Also you might check to see if they have any feedback from Ebay.Possibly talk to them over the phone but that doesnt guarantee anything.Get as much info as you can on them!

4. Write the serial number of your detector down and try to get the serial number of the detector you are going to get.Then check with the manufactorer to see if the detector is as new as they claim! If they refuse to give it, I would avoid doing buisness with them!

5. When selling a detector over the internet I would accept only postal money orders or a payment thru Paypal.If you ship your detector C.O.D. make sure the other person is aware that UPS wont allow them to open the package before they receive it.You might send them photos of the detector.

6.Check out the Internet Fraud Watch for more tips on avoiding and reporting fraud- The National Fraud Information Center..also check out -Netwatch-Your News Source on Internet Fraud, Scams and Schemes.