Police urge people to beware of scammers offering shipping containers for sale
People are being urged to beware of scammers offering shipping containers for sale on Facebook Marketplace and some local community pages on social media.
"The scammers are offering delivery at an additional cost, and will even offer cheaper delivery if you 'buy now'," Eastern District Police said in a statement.
"The problem is that there are no shipping containers and the scammers will likely have blocked you or deactivated their Facebook account by the time you realise you have been scammed."
Police are encouraging people to take a "number of steps" to protect themselves from scammers when buying via social media.
This includes:
- Insist on meeting in person so that you can inspect the item for sale before you make a payment to someone you don't know.
- Do not deposit money into another person's account before you have received the item.
- Learn more about the person you are buying from. On Facebook Marketplace you can tap or click on a person's profile on the product listing page to see if you have any friends in common, their marketplace activity, and any rating they may have received.
- Trust your instincts. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Police are encouraging victims of a scam to report it to them.
"Report it to police as they can only investigate if they know about it, and it's important that these offenders are held to account for their actions."
Reports can be made via 105, either by phone or online at 105.police.govt.nz. Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
