North motorists warned about internet scam

Motorists selling their cars online were warned today to be on their guard against fraudsters targeting the North with an internet scam and trying to obtain sellers’ bank details.

UlsterTrader.com warned its site had been targeted by potential fraudsters and had alerted the PSNI.

At the same time police themselves warned businesses to be on their guard against scammers seeking advertisements for a ’police magazine’ trying to elicit financial details.

The online car seller said one of their users reported that after she posted her car on the site last week she received an unusual email from a person asking her to make contact directly and not to use the site’s online chat facility.

When she made contact the caller agreed to buy the car sight unseen and asked the seller to send her bank account details so the buyer could dispatch payment.

The seller became suspicious and alerted UlsterTrader who also received notice of similar attempts to get bank details over the weekend.

Urging vigilance an UlsterTrader.com said internet scams were known internationally as a way of extracting payments or bank account details from unsuspecting buyers and sellers.

A spokesman said: “We are constantly monitoring our website for suspicious activity and urge any member of the public to contact us if they suspect anything untoward.

“Our advice is simply to be vigilant and to realise that , if it seems to good to be true, it usually is.”

At the same time the PSNI warned local businesses to be wary of unsolicited phone calls asking for them to advertise in magazines they are not familiar with.

The warning was issues following reports of businesses being approached in counties Fermanagh and Tyrone and asked to take out adverts in ’a police magazine’.

A police spokesman said: “This scam has been used by fraudsters throughout the UK and the ’police magazine’ angle is used as a ploy to gain a degree of credibility.”

He said in a recent case a Strabane businesswoman received a call and was asked to provide credit card details – which she refused to do.

“Our advice is that you should never disclose financial details or make commitments to pay by credit card to cold callers.

“Reputable organisations will give you the chance to think about your response.”