Look for Red Flags

• The product is advertised too good to be true, by having remarkable features or benefits or an astonishingly low price.

​

• The seller demands direct payment, transfer through wire service or electronic funds or up-front payments in process of accessing deals.

​

• The seller doesn’t mention delivery and other policies or specify sufficient material around conditions and terms of use or contact details.

​

• Retailers is run overseas, and doesn’t allow payment through a secure payment service such as PayPal or a credit card transactions.

Check Security

• Check for returns or refund policies, and how fair they are. Dependable sites have detailed dispute handling processes if something goes wrong.

​

• Find out exactly who you are dealing with. Australian companies make dealing with situations easier.  

​

• Only pay for items through a secure payment service like PayPal and look for a URLs consisting of a ‘https’ a green, locked padlock symbol.

​

• Avoid up-front payment via international funds transfer, wire transfer, money order, pre-loaded card or electronic currency, like Bitcoin. It is hard to regain money sent this way.

​

• Don’t give online account or credit card details to somebody you don’t trust.

Deal with Scams

• Issue there is a problem, try to contact the auction service or retailer. There could be an appropriate reason for the issue.

​

• If the response is not satisfactory and you believe that is a scam, you may be able to organize a charge-back through your bank or credit union if you have paid by credit card. For assistance contact your local consumer protection agency.

​

• Report scams to the ACCC through the report a scam page.