The reader wrote to us via Facebook:
Look, everyone, at how dishonest people are. […] I have just been the target of an attempted scam via WhatsApp.
How did it happen?
The scammer contacted the reader after she posted an advertisement for the sale of a phone on a popular classifieds website:
I received instructions from a “potential buyer” on how to proceed with the purchase […]. It is a scam because the instructions are fake. Please read them; they encourage the seller to click a link they will receive from the buyer and fill in their details.
As the woman who reported the incident explains, when you actually buy something through the aforementioned website, nothing like this happens. What is more, to lull the potential victim into a false sense of security, the scammer used both the colours and the font used by that website.
Fortunately, the woman was not fooled. When she wrote to the criminal that she would report the matter to the police, the image disappeared immediately and the scammer went offline.
Let us remind you. This type of offence carries a sentence of between six months and as many as eight years in prison.