The recent frauds usually involve lots such as gold coins, watches and jewellery, with the ‘buyer’ providing a valid credit card for the transaction.
After the auctioneer clears the purchases, the ‘buyer’ then arranges collection of the lots but gives a different delivery address to the shipper, unbeknown to the auctioneer.
They then claim the goods were not received and, after making a chargeback to the credit card issuer, close the account.
The scam again highlights the risks of shipping to an address which is not the same as the billing address, especially where the client is unknown to the saleroom.
