TISDALE — A scam was reported to the Tisdale RCMP, where the buyer in a buy and sell deal had attempted to scam the seller.
“It’s one we see quite a bit of where someone lists an item for sale and they’re contacted with an overpayment,” said Cpl. Mike Benjamin, with the Tisdale RCMP.
Benjamin explained that after selling the item, the seller receives a cheque larger than the amount the item was being sold for.
The buyer then claims the extra amount was a mistake and requests the extra money back.
“Or they will say, ‘just keep a portion of it and send me back the rest,’” he said.
The cheque never clears.
“By that time the person has sent funds back to the originator or to the person they were dealing with. The bank lets them know the cheque bounced, so now they’re out the money.”
Benjamin said that typically a buyer will not pay more than an item is worth, making this a red flag that sellers should watch out for.
“Any of the selling sites whether it’s Autotrader or Kijiji or whatever. It’s very common,” he said
“A lot of this stuff originates overseas so when it’s overseas it is a lot tougher for us to track it down, but in some cases it is within Canada and then we can follow up on it.”
