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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 3, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook Marketplace ( 62 ), free piano scam ( 2 ), piano, Scams ( 1,354 ), shipping   

  There’s no such thing as a free piano 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If you saw an online listing for a free piano, would you think anything of it? It’s understandable why it might be free. Pianos aren’t exactly easy to get rid of. You can’t just leave a piano out on the curb for the sanitation department to pick up. So, giving a piano away for free makes sense. Except, that free piano may not even exist. Instead, it’s all part of a shipping scam.

  The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Connecticut is warning residents of the Nutmeg State that several people there have fallen victim to this scam. The scam starts when someone sees a free piano being given away on Facebook Marketplace. The seller claimed the piano belonged to her late husband and selling it didn’t feel right. She wanted to give it away to ‘honor his soul’.

  Before we get to the heart of the scam, we wanted to stop here and point out the first red flag of not just this scam, but many others as well. Whenever a deal seems too good to be true and there’s an emotional story involved, there’s a good chance it could be a scam. We see this a lot with used and classic cars. The seller will claim the owner passed away, or the owner is being stationed overseas in the military. Stories like these are designed to get the victim to let their guard down while thinking they’re doing a favor for the seller.

  Getting back to the piano, while it may be listed for free, there’s always a price to pay. In this case, the seller insists on having the victim use a certain moving company to have the piano picked up. The seller is directed to the website of a moving company that appears to be professional and legitimate. The website then asks the victim to make the payment by entering their payment information. Then the victim has their financial information stolen.

  If you happen to be searching for a piano and come across a free one advertised, it’s advisable to avoid it unless you are willing to personally pick it up or arrange for your own movers.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 14, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Amazon ( 108 ), online shopping ( 33 ), Prime Day ( 8 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), shipping, text scam ( 23 )   

  Shipping scams increase in wake of online sales season 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Amazon Prime Day was this past week. It’s become such a staple of the summer shopping season that a number of other online retailers have initiated their own sales which coincide with Prime Day. With so many items being purchased, the majority of shipping companies and the USPS will be extra busy delivering all these packages. This means consumers should expect various shipping scams whether they bought anything or not this week.

  The most common of these scams is the delayed delivery scam. This is where a consumer will receive a text message that claims to typically come from UPS, FedEx, or the USPS. The messages will say that your item could not be delivered for whatever reason. A link will be contained in the message where the recipient will be asked to update their shipping information. More often than not, the phony shipping company will also say there is a service fee involved, and the consumer will be asked for their payment information. While the service fee may be small, it’s really the payment information the scammers are after.

  Scammers don’t actually know whether you made a Prime purchase this week or not. They send out these text messages en masse, hoping to catch a few victims. Any unsolicited text message with a link in it should be treated as suspect. However, if you are expecting an important delivery and want to make sure there are no delivery issues, use the shipping company’s app or website to address any concerns. Clicking on links in suspicious messages could lead to having your phone infected with malware, spyware, or ransomware.

   
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  Geebo 9:58 am on December 18, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Chrome ( 2 ), craigslist ( 129 ), Edge, Google ( 29 ), Netflix ( 15 ), phishing ( 75 ), Scams ( 1,354 ), shipping, used car ( 33 )   

  Netflix phishing scam returns, Google becomes Microsoft, and watch out for phony shipping companies 

  

  Today we bring you a few consumer protection stories that we think you should be aware of.

  First up is the return of the Netflix phishing scam. This is not a new scam but it seems to be making the rounds again. Reports from all over the country are stating that people are receiving emails that appear to be from Netflix asking customers to update their payment information. If you receive one of these emails do not click any of the links contained in the email. Doing this will take you to either a malware infested site or will try to obtain your credit or debit card information. Anytime some service requests any kind of information change, go directly to the site in your web browser instead of clicking any links.

  A former Microsoft intern is claiming that today’s Google is acting more like yesterday’s Microsoft. The intern used to work on Microsoft’s Edge Browser and claims that Google purposely tries to slow down other browsers than Chrome on some of their services such as YouTube. This is reminiscent of the browser wars of the early internet when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer gained the majority of the browser market by being included by default in Windows. The only difference this time is that Microsoft blinked and they are changing Edge to be a Chromium-based browser. Chromium is the engine that powers the Chrome browser and many of its offshoots like Opera and Vivaldi.

  Lastly, the state of South Dakota is warning consumers to be wary of phony shipping companies that are claiming they reside in the state. The state’s Attorney General is saying that people are being tricked into sending money to phony shipping companies when buying cars off of craigslist. If you’re going to buy a car online we hope that you would purchase the vehicle through Geebo.com, however, we always recommend shopping local when looking for a vehicle and using a safe place to conduct the transaction. However, if you do need to deal with a shipping company for whatever reason, a quick Google Maps search using the company’s supposed address should be able to tell you if the company actually exists or not.

   
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  Geebo 9:35 am on May 4, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: eBay ( 16 ), OfferUp ( 23 ), shipping   

  OfferUp to take on eBay with new feature 

  

  Marketplace app OfferUp has found some success since they first launched. While their platform hasn’t been trouble-free due to a number of robberies and a handful of murders, they feel successful enough in their endeavors to take on a much bigger company in eBay. Recently, OfferUp announced a new feature where users can advertise their items nationally if they’re willing to ship it across the country.

  This is actually a pretty good idea as the new feature can expand a user’s customer base and since it appears to only accept payment through credit or debit cards it avoids the phony check scam that has plagued craigslist through the years. However, that’s not to say that OfferUp’s new business plan isn’t without its drawbacks.

  The first problem is that in a world where many users have Amazon Prime accounts will customers be willing to pay for shipping when they get it free through Amazon. The second problem is funding. OfferUp has been very tight-lipped when it comes to their financial status. While they have raised millions of dollars through angel investing, no one seems to know if OfferUp is turning a profit or not. While on the surface this feature seems designed to put some money in OfferUp’s coffers, will it be enough to sustain them in the long run, or will they become yet another story of a failed startup that relied to heavy on venture capitalists?

   
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  Geebo 11:02 am on August 29, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: great lakes, J.W. Westcott II, mail ( 2 ), shipping   

  Sometimes the old school ways are still the best 

  

  The J.W. Westcott II

  There are a number of us who get impatient when our online purchases aren’t delivered within 24 hours. Then there’s the few of us who are looking forward to the day when drones make all our deliveries. Then there are some of us who sigh at our phones in disgust when our Uber or Lyft rides don’t show up right away. Now imagine being stuck on a freighter ship for weeks or months out on the Great Lakes, then what do you do? That’s where the J. W. Westcott Company of Detroit comes in.

  The company has a vessel, named the J.W. Westcott II, that has been commissioned by the US Postal Service to deliver mail to crew members abroad these freighters. The company even has its own zip code of 48222. It also makes its money by delivering supplies to ships as well. Speaking of money the vessel collects some its fees through a bucket that the vessels lower down to collect their mail or supplies. The Wescott also can deliver crew members to ships already out on the water, so in that instance it’s sometimes the Uber of the Great Lakes.

  So while you’re waiting for Instacart to deliver your latest request from Whole Foods, keep these people in mind who are out on ships waiting days just for a handful of coffee pods.