Online Shopping – Stay Safe #Stop!ThinkFraud

Good afternoon,

We regularly receive reports from residents of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight outlining problems with online shopping/auction sites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace etc.

Official online shopping/auction sites go to great lengths to keep you safe online.  If, and only if, you abide by the terms and conditions they will protect you if something goes wrong.  However, they cannot protect you if you don’t follow their rules.

Recent reports include:

Buyer/seller is under the age of 18 – legally, you cannot enter a contract until you are 18 years of age – therefore if you lie about your age, you are in breach of the contract and the online shop/auction site will not be able to help you.

Buyer pays “off site” – EBAY (for example) are very clear that this is not permitted, and give good advice about not exchanging personal information prior to completing a sale, and state that purchases should be completed on EBAY in order to be covered by eBay protections and eBay Money Back Guarantee: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272&msockid=3731f2ab550b61d63eabe4ed54116061

For more advice about safer online shopping, please watch this short video created by our counterparts at the Met Police: https://vimeo.com/805930766 and these “top tips” from the National Cyber Security Centre: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/shopping-online-securely

If this alert isn't relevant to you, please share it with someone who might be interested.

If you’ve received a phishing email please report it to your email provider and/or forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk 

If you’ve received unwanted phone calls or texts from people you think are trying to scam you, but you haven’t engaged with them, please forward the text/phone number to 7726.

If you've been affected by a crime please contact Victim Care Hub for free, confidential support:  https://www.hampshireiowvictimcare.co.uk/  or phone 0808 178 1641

If you would like to report a crime anonymously please contact: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/ or phone 0800 555 111

Hampshire Alerts is not a crime reporting portal – please do not report crime here.

If you realise you’ve been scammed and wish to report a fraud that has already happened, please report it to Action Fraud either phone 0300 123 2040 or online at: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

If a crime is in progress, and/or you are in fear for yourself or someone else, and/or there is evidence in situ that could be damaged/destroyed, please phone 999 immediately. 

Otherwise, report online, or find out about other ways to report a crime at: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/

Thank you – Fraud Safeguarding Team