We recently encountered an attempted scam which we had not heard about before. We put an item for sale on Facebook Marketplace. We were contacted by someone who said she would like to buy it. After checking that it was still available she sent the following message: "OK, I'll take it, I'd like to come tomorrow but I'm currently busy with work, I will send a Chronopost postman to your home to give you your money in cash and collect the item.” We had not heard of this service although it sounded foolproof if money in cash was going to be handed over. However we made some online enquiries and found someone who had come across this and said they had received a message in exactly the same wording as was sent to us. We decided not to proceed any further.
We discussed this with friends who said they had heard of this. The way it works is that, if you accept, you are asked to pay a small extra amount for insurance which you are told will be refunded to you in cash by the Chronopost person together with the payment for the item. If you pay this extra amount, the “buyer” gets your bank or card details which can then be used fraudulently. Be warned.
Editors