Manxnet Classifieds Scam Warning
It has been highlighted that fraudsters are targetting customers
who place adverts on the Manxnet Classifieds section with an e-mail
scam. The scam is as follows:
The vendors are contacted by email by the potential buyer. The
buyer says they want the item for sale to be shipped to their
country. They then add approximately £1000 to the sale price of the
item for this purpose, and send a cheque to the vendor, who banks
the cheque.
After allowing about four days for the cheque to clear, the buyer
then contacts the vendor to arrange shipping. The vendor is quite
willing to pay for this, in the mistaken belief that funds have
already been provided for this purpose. The shipping fees are
requested upfront. The vendor subsequently pays the shipping
fees (a same day money transfer is always requested by the
buyer). In due course, the vendor's bank notify him/her that the
original cheque was stolen, and will not therefore be honoured.
The vendor has been defrauded out of the value of the shipping
fees.
If you receive such an e-mail, and be aware that there will
be variations on this theme, please ignore and DO NOT respond
to them.
Any Isle of Man based users who suspect they
are a victim can contact the Financial Crime Unit at fcu@gov.im.
Registering for Classifieds
To reduce the chances of scammers using the Classifieds we have
enabled account verification on signup.
When a Classifieds account is registered you are automatically
logged in and can post adverts, the adverts are not posted to the
website immediately. You are also sent an Account Verification
email which contains a link you must click (or paste in to your
browser) to activate the account.
Only when this verification link is used does the account
activate and any submitted adverts populate on the site.
Replying to Classifieds Adverts via Email
Whether you are logged in to Classifieds or not you are no
longer able to view an advertisers email address.
To reply to an advert via email you need to click the
Click here to email seller link within an
advert. You are shown a web form to fill in to send your
message to the seller. There is also a graphical challenge area
which is common on many websites, where you have to copy out the
text in to the appropriate area to be able to send the email.
This measure will reduce the amount of spam generated from
Classifieds.
Example of graphical challenge
Acceptable Use of Classifieds
Manxnet records IP addresses of adverts posted on the
Classifieds system; this information will be used to identify
people who publish advertisements with inappropriate content.
Offending material will be removed.
Manxnet reserves the right to withdraw advertising to those
individuals and, if necessary, Internet access through all Manxnet
ISP products.
Users must only post adverts in sections appropriate to their
advert. Users that 'spam' the Classifieds and post adverts in
categories that are not appropriate may have their adverts deleted
and if continued abuse of the service occurs, their accounts
suspended.
If you notice Classifieds users abusing the service by spamming
adverts in inappropriate categories or by posting abusive or
inappropriate adverts please let us know by calling 624
624 during office hours or by emailing products@manx-telecom.com
Password Retrieval
If you have forgotten your Classifieds password you can retrieve
this by clicking the 'Forgot Password' link on the Login Page,
you can also contact the Products team on 0808 1624
171 during office hours or by calling logging a case with
our Service Centre on 624 624 at any time.
Terms and Conditions
The Terms and Conditions for Classifieds can be found at:
http://www.manxtelecom.com/termsandconditions