Each website can spread scams, but even though theft on the internet are present there are not that common. For instance, Ebay estimated that 1 transaction in 40 000 is a fraud in the website. Anyway, a new kind of thief has appeared on the internet. They spread scams on many websites to steal from careless people.

Over 90% of fraud and scams are carried out by buyers who will not meet you personally. When you plan to buy or sell your goods, always ask to meet the buyer or the seller. To avoid a thief to steal your goods during the transaction, go with one friend and choose public places. To do so, it is better to buy or to sell goods with a seller living in the same country or in the same city as you.

If you suspect a thief who plans to steal your goods through a fake internet payment, you could block his mail account with
419eater . You just have to put his mail address and he will receive lots of news and commercials from all over the world. If the buyer only wants to steal from you, the protection of his mail account may be low, so these spams will definitely block his mail account and he will not be able to commit this kind of theft on the internet.

It is very important to protect your computer against phishing. Phishing is a mail that seems to come from companies such as banks or casinos. You have to be very cautious when you open your mail account to protect your computer from scams and fraud. Never Reply to these mails. You should be aware that banks never ask their customers to give their account details on the internet because it does not guarantee a high level security. If you reply by mistake, contact directly your bank to avoid losing to much money. Generally, banks have insurance covering these scams.

It is never safe, when you sell your goods to receive your payment from a middleman. In this situation, buyers will ask you to send your product to their address to steal from you because the middleman will not come to give you your product and you will have paid for nothing. To avoid this kind of thief, make sure you sell your product to the person itself. If you are a buyer, the situation is the same. Never send your goods before receiving your payment because you will never be refunded.

There is no security if you send money through postal services such as Western Union or BidPay. The thief will probably take the money and never send to you your product back. It is always better to transfer money from your bank to buyers current account.

To protect your personal data, it is better not to disclose your account details, your personal address, your paypal account details after the first mail from your buyer or your seller. He may not buy your product and commit a theft. Afterwards, when you are sure you can send your product in security, ask your buyer for all personal details in case of problems and to check his real identity.

Never transfer money if you did not see the product buyers want to sell to you. If one seller try to sell you his product for a very cheap price, it is probably a fraud and he wants to steal your money and never send you your product. Checking the price of this product in another website is always a good means of checking if it is the market-price to avoid you from being stolen.

One of the most common way for scam is to create an expensive phone number. To avoid these expensive calls, never call unidentified numbers. For instance, some buyers may ask you to call to specific phone numbers to steal your money from the calls and never send you the product. Even if you pay lots of money for these calls and you are a victim of a scam, it would be difficult for your bank to refund you because these thieves often use a foreign website to protect them from judicial proceedings.

Lottery scams are the best way to damage your computer's security. For instance, if you receive a mail telling you that you won $1,000,000, it is a scam. If you click on the link, they will ask you to pay expensive advance fees to help them deliver you the amount they promised you. You will never receive these dollars and you will have paid for nothing at all. They may also try to steal money from your bank account.

If a seller ask you to make a partial payment before sending you your product to your personal address, refuse to buy the product. The seller will never send you the product and you will have lost all your money. This kind of fraud is very common and the only efficient protection against it is to have some common sense when a website or a seller ask you to do so.

If a buyer ask for your name and your personal address to do a cashier's check, refuse to sell the product. The buyer will do a fake check and will never pay you back, whereas you will have sent the product to him. Generally banks always tell their customers to be very cautious with cashier's check.

When you look at the price of your product on a website, please check if the price includes shipping costs and be sure it will be the same during all the transaction proceeding. Take a look at your bank account to check if the amount is correct and if not, refuse to buy the product and ask him to refund you because he stole from you. If he refuse, banks can help you to pursue him.

Sometimes, fraud can occur directly from the description of the product itself to prevent buyers from pursuing them afterwards. If, someone try to sell you a product without a complete and clear description with sentences such as: “I am not an expert” or “this product is lovely”, refuse to buy it. It may be a scam.

If a buyer say that he sent to you an overcharge check and ask you to pay you the difference between the real lower price and the price he paid, do not do a bank transfer to pay him the difference. It is a scam because in reality he never sent the check to you. You can lose money if you refund him through a bank transfer and eventually you will not have sold your product.