Police warn public about buy and sell scams

By Thomas Goyer

BELLEVILLE – Northumberland OPP say that there have been multiple reports of residents being defrauded online using buy and sell sites. 

The fraudsters will communicate with a seller through text messages only. They will offer a much higher price for the item. When the offer is accepted, the seller will receive a cheque in the mail higher than the agreed upon price. Police say the scammer will then ask for the excess payment to be returned which the seller does. After the cheque has been deposited, the bank notifies the seller that the cheque didn’t clear and that they were scammed out of the money they returned. 

The OPP says that anyone who is selling something online should try and speak or meet with the buyer to verify that it is legitimate.

Anyone with any information on the alleged fraud or people behind it are asked to reach out to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.