Canadian Press file photo

By Abby Zieverink

Buy and sell scams

Grande Prairie RCMP share tips to prevent buy and sell scams

Dec 9, 2021 | 1:05 PM

The Grande Prairie RCMP are reminding residents to use caution when purchasing items online this holiday season.

Cst. Lindsay Ralph suggests people should be particularly careful on buy and sell sites.

“One of the things we have been seeing is when you’re buying or selling something on a buy and sell site, where sellers are asking buyers to either put a deposit down on the item to place it on hold, or they are asking for a payment prior to obtaining the item that the purchaser paid for,” explained Ralph.

“And then when they go to the address or place to meet up either the address doesn’t exist, or the person isn’t there.”

To prevent falling victim to fraud, Ralph suggests never sending money to a seller before obtaining the item and meeting up in a public place to exchange money for the item being sold.

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“With people purchasing gifts for families and friends, just to be aware that these things can happen, and meet the person first, in a public place, and you make that exchange prior to paying anything in advance,” Ralph said.

She adds a good public place is the safe exchange zone at the front of the Grande Prairie RCMP detachment.

“It is a nice bright public place in front of the police detachment and they can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said.

A big red flag for buyers to watch out for, Ralph suggests is the price of items on buy and sell sites.

“If there’s a particular item you know is very popular and you know it is available on a buy and sell ad and the price is lower than what you would normally see, that would be a red flag.”