Life & Technology

On the train coming into work today a close mate calls and says. “I think I am being scammed”. We discuss his situation and sure enough, in my opinion he is being scammed and even he, in all his sceptical judgement was about to throw out $2000 in an online scam of pure brilliance I was almost impressed to see.

The scam was simple, but brilliant. You may of heard of this kind of thing before, but it was a first for me. My friend, let’s call him Tommo (real name hidden to ensure privacy) is selling a motor bike (It’s a nice motor bike too). Tommo gets an email of offer from an online buyer who wants to buy the bike (without seeing the bike of course) and they agree on a price. The scammer then transfers the money to Tommo’s paypal account, and adds another $2000 to the agreed price. Scammer then explains that the $2k extra is for a collection fee he needs to pay his ‘agent’ who will be coming to collect the bike on his behalf. Scammer needs Tommo to send the $2k via Western Union to a contact in London and ‘as soon as this is done, the total amount in the Paypal will be released’. However, because none of the money is released, the scammer tells Tommo to use $2k of his own money, and he will get the whole sum back once the deal has been finalised.

Now if you are picking up that this is smelling dodgy, then we are both on the same page.

Paypal has a very popular escrow service that is great when buying and selling products. However, needing to send cash via Western Union BEFORE Paypal will automatically release escrow funds – not likely.

So, there you have it. Another creative scam that almost netted $2000 from a person I know to be extremely sceptical and highly unlikely to get scammed. Be warned.

Clip courtesy of the The Today Show

Spoke with Leila McKinnon and Tim Gilbert about Ebay, and how you can get good bargains at the biggest online shopping outlet in Australia.

I see Ebay as like an online market, as opposed to the a shop, where you can bid for bargains, or even shop with one of its power sellers.

There are a couple of things to watch out for when shopping on Ebay, or most other online sites. With Ebay, they have a rating system of sellers and buyers. No matter which one you are doing – selling or buying – always check out the feebback of the person you are dealing with. The higher the positive feedback, the better. Also be aware that even those with high feedback, can have the odd negative feedback, too, so just check out comments made by posters.

Also be aware of parallel, or grey, importing, which is where somebody imports directly from an overseas seller instead of going through a local distributor. There are a couple of things to be aware of. First, make sure they have a warranty. Some products that are imported this way do not come with guarantees, or warrantees. Also, some do not meet Australian standards that are set by the Federal Government. For example, mobile phones have a radiation output guideline that they have to adhere to in Australia. A mobile phone that is parallel imported might not meet these standards, so it’s worth checking it out.

I’d also mention that Ebay is not the only online auction site, there is also Gumtree and Oztion, which are truly localised. They might have as much product on the sites, but there are some bargains to be had by visiting them.

Final show of the year on Steve Price this morning, so I took in a few gadgets that could be suitable Christmas. For dad there is the Nokia Navigator, a mobile handset that doubles as a portable navigation device and will not break the budget. It’s nice and compact and will be a great gift.

Icarly is a Wii game for girls based on the Nickelodeon television programme of the same name. It allows players to enter the chaotic world of Carly and her friends, with plenty of interactive mini games.

For the teenager there is th iPod Nano music player, but can also take video player and allows you to listen to the radio, too.

The portable hamburger speaker, which you can take anywhere and attach it to your portable MP3 player, so it is ideal for going on that camping holiday or spending a tonne of time at the beach during summer.

Something for your teenage daughter, or social wife, is the the Samsung B3310 handset, which is designed for social networkers in mind. A simple little device that makes SMSing, updating Facebook and MySpace, quick and easy.

Some of these gadgets will shown on Cybershack at 11am this Sunday.

Also be sure to check out the Cybershack gift guide here.