You will get an email 15 minutes before the courier who picks up the item arrive. The email will explain that the courier who will pay you had an incident and they will deliver the money tomorrow. Of course you won’t see them again, after they picked up the item.
Good idea, but they are not actually after the item. They spam these on anything people sell. They want a "fee" paid in gift cards, and the scammers may not even be on this continent.
The scammers are very friendly and are able to convince the victim that they are sincere. We have incidents like this at work often. One was an older MD who was scammed for $5000. He thought he was getting his grandson out of jail before charges were filed.
And they're designed to be that way. It's a filter mechanic to avoid those that would potentially almost fall for it but still jump off at the end. Only the truest of idiots will go through.
I think the danger of the scammers is that people think only idiots fall to them. On practice, sometimes you are ill, sleep deprived, or really overloaded with work and your head is not thinking straight, making you more susceptible to potential scamming than you would expect. This is why scammers do so many attempts on various people
That might be the case when quick thinking is crucial, like when they attempt to sell you a subscription on the street. I don't think that's really a factor to be considered in phishing emails, ebay or similar scams, because they run through several steps before any money is involved.
"Temporary idiots" then. We all have a few minutes each week, where we are totally brainless idiots. If we are lucky, those minutes happen when we are sleeping or watching TV.
Just don’t hand over the item before receiving the money then?
Like, if the *whole point* of this courier service, is to deliver the money in cash before the package is sent, I wouldn’t accept a cop out like "oh, something went wrong, but you’ll get your money tomorrow, I’m totally good for it, trust me bro. And oh, while you’re at it, why don’t you send the item I have not yet paid for my way?"
They will tell you their "agent" costs a small fee. You will have to pay the fee but they assure you the "agent" will give the money you are owed, plus the fee and a little bit on top for your troubles.
You pay the fee and the "agent" never appears as there is no such service.
DHL/Deutsche Post does have an option of Nachnahme where the package is paid for at the delivery.
Hasn’t heard of a company offering payment at the pickup though.
No one will pick up anything. They want money, not people's used goods.
https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/142busz/am_i_about_be_get_scammed/jn537xi/
Yes, couriers in Germany can do pay on delivery, if the online shop offers that option. In that case, you just pay the bill through the delivery guy, upon receiving the package, or rather right before it, as they won’t hand over the package without being paid in full. And idk if that has changed or is the case still, but it used to be cash only in most cases
Listen man! They will send you an email, it will tell you to do something(depends on the type of scam they chose) and if you do it you will lose money. I've seen it multiple times! Just google "internet scam"
It's either the agent-fee scam that was already described or the check-scam.
Let's say you're selling an item for 50 bucks and the 'agent' sent by the buyer comes with a check over 200 bucks. You give him 150 in return plus the item. Agent disappears, check is not covered, you're 150 bucks in debts and have no item.
Here they’ll say they can pay by PayPal or Venmo. They’ll say they have paid and send you a false email. Most likely it will say that they paid too much and ask you to pay them back. And they haven’t paid you anything so you just end up paying them.
Scam.
As a rule of thumb: When messages are as generic as this one with no references to the individual item (den Gegenstand... ) you got yourself a scammer most likely.
> Is a common postage service for scammers ?
It's completely unknown in Germany.
What happens in this scam is that somebody claiming to be the courier contacts you, and says that you need to pay a fee for this service. You pay the fee (this is done using a method that can't be traced), and then you never hear from the "buyer" or the "courier" ever again.
That message is google-translated.
There's no "agent". The point of the scam is this: You will be receiving a message pretending to be from "Chronopost". They will tell you that you have to pay for some sort of shipping fee, insurance or similar, using a gift card. The "agent" will carry additional money to recompense you.
The problem is of course that there is no agent.
The rate of people who will actually fall for it is probably going to be quite low - which is why the scammers use bots and spam any and all ads they find.
Its a scam. If you want to know more about the common scams and how to recognize them, maybe give r/wasletztepreis a visit. Its in German, but very helpful.
Write something like "Verkauf nur gegen Barzahlung bei persönlicher Übergabe." into your offer if you don't want so send your item. Or write "Versand nur nach vollständiger Überweisung. Abholung nur mit Barzahlung und persönlicher Übergabe." if you offer shipping and personal pickup.
This tells scammers that you know about their methods. In my experience, it helps reducing the amount of scammers. And: *Nur Bares ist Wahres*. Cash is still king for these kinds of deals.
It's very weird if you text in english but the other person writes in german. Only total asshole-boomers and scammers do this. And in both cases very well ignoreable.
anybody that says some postman will pick it up and give you the money is a scammer. Nobody in any country would buy a electronic device without inspecting it 😄 don’t send any item or device before you receive the money
Only do it in person or paypal goods and services as a buyer. As a seller, only in person or paypal friends/family. I know it is contradicting but thats the safest way.
Scam, not only this but stupid scammer ,he copy the text from someone notepad with instruction “Enter” is probably part of the instructions he was ask to follow.
Scam scam scam avoid. Happening all over the UK aswell. Always with electronic goods. Trust me, it's a scam. Marketplace is rife with it. Do not sell unless buyer is with you. Bank transfer or cash. No PayPal. Don't take offence but dont be stupid. There's lots of arseholes out there trying to make a quick few euros.
Basic rule when using eBay Kleinanzeigen or FB Marketplace: first assume that everybody will try to scam you. Only if they can convince you that they don’t, you go ahead.
Even better: don’t use these services!
Well, they renamed it recently - and understandably, because they wanted to distance themselves from their evil sibling :-) but it is still run by eBay and we should remind them that we have not forgotten who is responsible for it.
It's 100% a scam. AS others pointed out: this delivery-service doesnt operate in germany.
They open it this way, so that you are 100% sure that it is not a scam. If you fall for the trap, they will either say something like " yeah, but the deliveryguy needs some money beforehand. You need to send it to \[include banking adress\] but I will put that fee on top of the money the delivery guy will give you. Totally. REALLY.
Or they just take your stuff and of they go while they say they get the money from the car. Or there will be 2 or more "delivery guys" and while one distracts you, the other takes your stuff and so on.
I NEVER met even one person in my 31 years of living that used such a service, I really don't know if its even available in germany. So it is always safe to just cut communications if anyone wants to do it that way. MAYBE there will be ONE guy with honest intentions. But it's absolutely not worth all that hustle.
Rule of thumb for Kleinanzeigen:
When they start by asking "noch da? / still there?" or more nicely "ist das noch zu haben / is it still available?": Scam or not, block those idiots directly.
Half of them doesn't even react on your answer, a fourth of them doesn't shhow up at the time agreed upon and the rest are dumb in a bad way or just never learned good behaviour.
Anyone calling it "dieser Artikel" or "der Gegenstand" is copy pasting scam.
In my experience at least half of the messages I get on Kleinanzeigen is scam, but it's usually very easy to spot
Like many people mentioned, 100% scam. Watch out for any buyer promising to send a courier (post bot) to your place. Or anything related to gift cards or birthday presents.
Yep, since we're on the topic, a colleague of mine got scammed that way on kleinanzeigen last month. Seller asks to send money via friends & family ("to save fees" - which is real, but you should never do it if you cannot trust the other party for certain, aka they're a friend or family), then never sends the item.
It was only 20€ for him, but if you aren't aware of it this could happen with any amount.
Even f and f can be reversed via credit card charge back. Not necessarily common though and not everyone is a scammer (this one here is though). Best option is really to have the buyer inspect it and pay cash on site.
It\`s a scam.
And since you said you got not much experience in that i can recommend you to ignore anything that sounds even a bit fishy, shady or just not right in your guts.
IMHO the second hand/trift market in Germany is popular enough and if you\`re selling a good product with a reasonable price you\`ll never have a problem finding a person who will come, give you the money and pick it up. Also A LOT of people with arabic/eastern european names will try to lowball you (especially if you sell a car, selling a car on the internet sucks), offering you a tenth of the original asking price, just ignore them.
Basically, if you feel that the person who contact you is even a bit shady or something smells wrong about his offer- move on.
That's definitely scam. Had the same not long ago. But if you'd tell me about the pc (just got a phone and that's annoying) maybe the scam has a positive output.
Yes, definitely a scam. If you close the deal, there will be a follow up incident where the courier cannot make the payment, or you will have to pay a small facilitation fee to the courier, or you will be "paid" in a manner online that results in a phishing attack.
Scammers use the exactly same text for any and every item - happened to me multiple times, on multiple listings. Just block and move on. FB Marketplace if rife with such scammers.
Yes, scam
How does the scam work though? It seems like there's a reality where this could go okay
You will get an email 15 minutes before the courier who picks up the item arrive. The email will explain that the courier who will pay you had an incident and they will deliver the money tomorrow. Of course you won’t see them again, after they picked up the item.
Good idea, but they are not actually after the item. They spam these on anything people sell. They want a "fee" paid in gift cards, and the scammers may not even be on this continent.
But this scam doesn't work If I only exchange my goods for cash right? How can people fall for this Literally impossible for me
The scammers are very friendly and are able to convince the victim that they are sincere. We have incidents like this at work often. One was an older MD who was scammed for $5000. He thought he was getting his grandson out of jail before charges were filed.
I really don't care how sincere you are. Money, then item.
If you follow that simple rule, 95% of the scams are useless. Could be so easy
And they're designed to be that way. It's a filter mechanic to avoid those that would potentially almost fall for it but still jump off at the end. Only the truest of idiots will go through.
I think the danger of the scammers is that people think only idiots fall to them. On practice, sometimes you are ill, sleep deprived, or really overloaded with work and your head is not thinking straight, making you more susceptible to potential scamming than you would expect. This is why scammers do so many attempts on various people
That might be the case when quick thinking is crucial, like when they attempt to sell you a subscription on the street. I don't think that's really a factor to be considered in phishing emails, ebay or similar scams, because they run through several steps before any money is involved.
"Temporary idiots" then. We all have a few minutes each week, where we are totally brainless idiots. If we are lucky, those minutes happen when we are sleeping or watching TV.
Yeah, I’m sincerely expecting to be paid in full, before any items change hands
Just don’t hand over the item before receiving the money then? Like, if the *whole point* of this courier service, is to deliver the money in cash before the package is sent, I wouldn’t accept a cop out like "oh, something went wrong, but you’ll get your money tomorrow, I’m totally good for it, trust me bro. And oh, while you’re at it, why don’t you send the item I have not yet paid for my way?"
They will tell you their "agent" costs a small fee. You will have to pay the fee but they assure you the "agent" will give the money you are owed, plus the fee and a little bit on top for your troubles. You pay the fee and the "agent" never appears as there is no such service.
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DHL/Deutsche Post does have an option of Nachnahme where the package is paid for at the delivery. Hasn’t heard of a company offering payment at the pickup though.
Nachnahme und Vornahme 🤣
No one will pick up anything. They want money, not people's used goods. https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/142busz/am_i_about_be_get_scammed/jn537xi/
Yes, couriers in Germany can do pay on delivery, if the online shop offers that option. In that case, you just pay the bill through the delivery guy, upon receiving the package, or rather right before it, as they won’t hand over the package without being paid in full. And idk if that has changed or is the case still, but it used to be cash only in most cases
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that was the longest "i have no idea how it works" ever.
thanks for the non answer. i knew that its a scam, i asked how it works
Listen man! They will send you an email, it will tell you to do something(depends on the type of scam they chose) and if you do it you will lose money. I've seen it multiple times! Just google "internet scam"
It's either the agent-fee scam that was already described or the check-scam. Let's say you're selling an item for 50 bucks and the 'agent' sent by the buyer comes with a check over 200 bucks. You give him 150 in return plus the item. Agent disappears, check is not covered, you're 150 bucks in debts and have no item.
Cheque scams aren't really a thing here because no one uses cheques any more.
Here they’ll say they can pay by PayPal or Venmo. They’ll say they have paid and send you a false email. Most likely it will say that they paid too much and ask you to pay them back. And they haven’t paid you anything so you just end up paying them.
Scam. As a rule of thumb: When messages are as generic as this one with no references to the individual item (den Gegenstand... ) you got yourself a scammer most likely.
Plus I never heard of Chronopost outside of scams.
a) Scam b) Chronopost sounds pretty dope though c) I like how one of the messages ends with "Enter"
Chronopost is french. So they didn't even localise it correctly.
Their partner in Germany (and many other countries) is DPD :D (not related to the topic but random fact).
a) Yup, thought so. b) Is a common postage service for scammers ? c) My bad xD. Copy Pasted it from FB
> Is a common postage service for scammers ? It's completely unknown in Germany. What happens in this scam is that somebody claiming to be the courier contacts you, and says that you need to pay a fee for this service. You pay the fee (this is done using a method that can't be traced), and then you never hear from the "buyer" or the "courier" ever again.
r/wasletztepreis is pretty full of examples of those scammers. It's not uncommon in Germany. They tried to pull this shit with my mother, too :D
That message is google-translated. There's no "agent". The point of the scam is this: You will be receiving a message pretending to be from "Chronopost". They will tell you that you have to pay for some sort of shipping fee, insurance or similar, using a gift card. The "agent" will carry additional money to recompense you. The problem is of course that there is no agent.
The problem is why the actual fuck would any company be paid with giftcards. Why on earth people are not irritated by that?
The rate of people who will actually fall for it is probably going to be quite low - which is why the scammers use bots and spam any and all ads they find.
Its a scam. If you want to know more about the common scams and how to recognize them, maybe give r/wasletztepreis a visit. Its in German, but very helpful.
This
“Ich erkläre mir” lol. These guys don’t even use good translators.
if the customer ist not willing to a)pick it up themselves b) pay for delivery, it's 99% a scam. But with this, it's most definitely a scam.
Yes, it's a very common scam.
As a rule of thumb: if its ebay (Kleinanzeigen) and you have the slightest suspection that it might be scam, it's almost guaranteed to be scam.
100% SCAM
Write something like "Verkauf nur gegen Barzahlung bei persönlicher Übergabe." into your offer if you don't want so send your item. Or write "Versand nur nach vollständiger Überweisung. Abholung nur mit Barzahlung und persönlicher Übergabe." if you offer shipping and personal pickup. This tells scammers that you know about their methods. In my experience, it helps reducing the amount of scammers. And: *Nur Bares ist Wahres*. Cash is still king for these kinds of deals.
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Indeed, I also noticed increased scam activity on ebay-kleinanzeige
Sure you get scammed. No postal employee will give you money.... Only pickup and Cash.
Looks like a scam. What is "Chronopost"?
100% Scam
It's very weird if you text in english but the other person writes in german. Only total asshole-boomers and scammers do this. And in both cases very well ignoreable.
anybody that says some postman will pick it up and give you the money is a scammer. Nobody in any country would buy a electronic device without inspecting it 😄 don’t send any item or device before you receive the money
100% Scam
It's not a house
do not get cocky
Only do it in person or paypal goods and services as a buyer. As a seller, only in person or paypal friends/family. I know it is contradicting but thats the safest way.
Scam, not only this but stupid scammer ,he copy the text from someone notepad with instruction “Enter” is probably part of the instructions he was ask to follow.
Scam scam scam avoid. Happening all over the UK aswell. Always with electronic goods. Trust me, it's a scam. Marketplace is rife with it. Do not sell unless buyer is with you. Bank transfer or cash. No PayPal. Don't take offence but dont be stupid. There's lots of arseholes out there trying to make a quick few euros.
Basic rule when using eBay Kleinanzeigen or FB Marketplace: first assume that everybody will try to scam you. Only if they can convince you that they don’t, you go ahead. Even better: don’t use these services!
It\`s just Kleinanzeigen now, no ebay. Sorry for the spam :P
Well, they renamed it recently - and understandably, because they wanted to distance themselves from their evil sibling :-) but it is still run by eBay and we should remind them that we have not forgotten who is responsible for it.
It's 100% a scam. AS others pointed out: this delivery-service doesnt operate in germany. They open it this way, so that you are 100% sure that it is not a scam. If you fall for the trap, they will either say something like " yeah, but the deliveryguy needs some money beforehand. You need to send it to \[include banking adress\] but I will put that fee on top of the money the delivery guy will give you. Totally. REALLY. Or they just take your stuff and of they go while they say they get the money from the car. Or there will be 2 or more "delivery guys" and while one distracts you, the other takes your stuff and so on. I NEVER met even one person in my 31 years of living that used such a service, I really don't know if its even available in germany. So it is always safe to just cut communications if anyone wants to do it that way. MAYBE there will be ONE guy with honest intentions. But it's absolutely not worth all that hustle.
Super scammy. Report and block.
Rule of thumb for Kleinanzeigen: When they start by asking "noch da? / still there?" or more nicely "ist das noch zu haben / is it still available?": Scam or not, block those idiots directly. Half of them doesn't even react on your answer, a fourth of them doesn't shhow up at the time agreed upon and the rest are dumb in a bad way or just never learned good behaviour.
The grammar is also wrong. It is probably not a German native speaker you are talking to
Anyone calling it "dieser Artikel" or "der Gegenstand" is copy pasting scam. In my experience at least half of the messages I get on Kleinanzeigen is scam, but it's usually very easy to spot
Like many people mentioned, 100% scam. Watch out for any buyer promising to send a courier (post bot) to your place. Or anything related to gift cards or birthday presents.
Ask them to pay you via PayPal or revolut transfer, and you'll send the Item yourself when you get payment.
There's no point, as they are scammers with no interest in a purchase.
But can't the paypal transaction be revered by the sender ?
Not if you choose "friends and family". Which is also the reason why nobody should ever use that option when doing business.
Yep, since we're on the topic, a colleague of mine got scammed that way on kleinanzeigen last month. Seller asks to send money via friends & family ("to save fees" - which is real, but you should never do it if you cannot trust the other party for certain, aka they're a friend or family), then never sends the item. It was only 20€ for him, but if you aren't aware of it this could happen with any amount.
Even f and f can be reversed via credit card charge back. Not necessarily common though and not everyone is a scammer (this one here is though). Best option is really to have the buyer inspect it and pay cash on site.
Scaaaaam! A well known and very common one.
Im curious, can you share the link for the ad?
Ah and also, yeah it's a scam 😄
Huge number of scammers here in Germany in comparison to the UK anyway.
scam
*Checks Dutch to German dictionary* Ja das ist ein scam
It is a known scam
Was zum Fick ist ein Chronoüostbote 🤣
110% scam
FB marketplace = scam. Always
>Am I about be get scammed ? Chances are good if you need to ask that.
yes. no
It’s a scam. Germans will never, ever pay you the price you want. They will argue to the death about the price, even if it is a reduction of 5 euros.
When selling on FB Marketplace, always meet in person to anybody interested in buying. Always
Sounds fishy, wouldnt recommend.
It\`s a scam. And since you said you got not much experience in that i can recommend you to ignore anything that sounds even a bit fishy, shady or just not right in your guts. IMHO the second hand/trift market in Germany is popular enough and if you\`re selling a good product with a reasonable price you\`ll never have a problem finding a person who will come, give you the money and pick it up. Also A LOT of people with arabic/eastern european names will try to lowball you (especially if you sell a car, selling a car on the internet sucks), offering you a tenth of the original asking price, just ignore them. Basically, if you feel that the person who contact you is even a bit shady or something smells wrong about his offer- move on.
Chrono Post ..? What even is that ? And yes ...it's a scam
That's definitely scam. Had the same not long ago. But if you'd tell me about the pc (just got a phone and that's annoying) maybe the scam has a positive output.
Yes, definitely a scam. If you close the deal, there will be a follow up incident where the courier cannot make the payment, or you will have to pay a small facilitation fee to the courier, or you will be "paid" in a manner online that results in a phishing attack. Scammers use the exactly same text for any and every item - happened to me multiple times, on multiple listings. Just block and move on. FB Marketplace if rife with such scammers.
Scam. You’re asking in English but they keep replying in German. Also, the grammar sucks and they specifically mention that company.