A reader described her contact with scammers to us:
I posted an advertisement, and a few minutes later I received two messages via WhatsApp. One person asked about the details of my offer; everything suited the other person—no negotiating, no questions. She only asked whether the chairs could be collected by courier. I agreed to the courier and payment into my account. The person confirmed that the courier would be ordered, but that I only had to click the link sent to me and log in to my bank, or provide all my details so that the person could log in to my bank account. The link was supposed to arrive by SMS. I was to confirm the order this way and wait for the money. An alarm bell went off. I can provide the account number for the payment and the details for the courier, but why do I have to log in through the bank?
I replied: please transfer the money now and order the courier. And then the contact became inactive. There had been a family photo on it to make everything appear credible. The photo disappeared, and the messages were no longer delivered. Since then, I have had three more attempts to obtain my banking details. I am reporting this as a warning, so that no one else is defrauded.
Sales platforms warn against fake links and messages used to obtain data and money. Experts warn against scammers who try to obtain sellers’ banking details by sending a link supposedly used to receive payment for a shipment.