An article regarding the bottom-feeding scammers targeting R M Williams.
I actually had a pair of R M Williams boots custom made for me in an extra wide size with laces in 2014 which I have never worn, and when I advertised them for half the cost price on Gumtree a few years ago, I never received a single inquiry.
I saw the ad on Facebook and it looked pretty convincing although the “clearance” prices were ridiculously cheap (e.g $49 for $600 boots). It even appeared to use a website “rmw.com.au” and featured all the usual brands and product photos and descriptions. It was not until I ventured to the Checkout page that I noticed a couple of strange things. Firstly the word “Mastercard” was written with a lowercase “m”. Then, luckily, I noticed that there was no mention of PayPal as a payment method. I looked back at the Facebook ad and noticed that by this stage some 30 people had commented saying “Scam” so I reported it to Facebook (however no acknowledgement received) and exited the linked website. I double checked the actual RMW site (found by googling) and of course there was no mention of this so-called clearance sale. There are some serious ongoing issues here. Firstly, how does Facebook authenticate (if at all) ads posted to people’s streams? Secondly, what liability, if any, should they have for being apparently complicit in these scams by receiving money from scamsters who are using their platform to perpetuate these frauds? WIll they/have they ever compensated victims? Will Facebook ever issue warnings and/or apologies to users of their platform when they discover that it has been used to defraud people?
Same thing happened to me and my girlfriend she spent $120 dollars and I the same she was able to get her money back easily through the bank, but I used a gift card from the post office and I had to jump through ropes to get my money back and still having problems with the gift card because they won’t supply a statement so I can check the balance on my card. DON’T by gift cards from the post office.
Hi @Ald0, welcome to the community.
Using gift cards to pay for anything, other than within the store the gift card has been purchased for, it a big non no.
If someone asks to be paid in gift cards, it should ring loud alarm bells that it is a scam (see Scamwatch). Scammers use gift card as their preferred payment as the money is difficult to trace, it can’t be charged back (like a credit card and potentially an EFT) and they get the value of the gift card quickly.
They also often ask for photos of the gift card when panels are scratched, so that they can quickly fleece their victims of the card’s value.
I’ll say it again, if anyone asked to be paid by a gift card, it is a scam and don’t proceed with the purchase/communicate with them further.
Try now. Hot amongst young urbans!
