A Saskatoon woman is warning others to use caution when doing business on buy and sell websites, after she was the target of a scammer.
A few months ago, Sherry Halvorson listed two prints for sale on Facebook Marketplace. She got an offer for them five minutes later. The prospective buyer said he was out of town but wanted to reserve the prints by paying in advance through e-transfer.
When Halvorson was sent a link for the e-transfer, she said it asked for her banking information, which raised some red flags.
“Something struck me, and I backed out of it, and I said ‘this isn’t right,’” she said in an interview with CTV News.
The Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) said it’s part of a scam where fraudsters send a fake e-transfer to get a person’s banking information, then they use it to take money from the person’s bank account.
Sgt. Matthew Bradford, who targets economic crime for the Saskatoon police, said there’s been an uptick in these types of scams in recent weeks.
“Just be aware that e-transfer doesn’t require you to input your banking information into a site,” Bradford said.
“Use the apps, they’re more secure than websites.”
Bradford said setting up auto-deposit is another way to avoid this situation.
Meanwhile, Sherry Halvorson wants others to learn from her close call with the scammer.
“It’s being diligent and doing your homework. If they’re not going to meet you in person or call you on the phone… don’t trust it,” she said.
If you do plan to meet in person, there is a designated spot in the Saskatoon police headquarters’ visitor parking lot to safely exchange buy and sell items.
