Not wanting to give too much case specific info, I thought it would be interesting to start a thread about some obvious things that lots of scammers seem to say/do.
The most obvious (but no longer applicable) was when they went to Paypal to get a refund because eBay makes you wait until the last delivery day to file an INR, this was for INRs, usually international orders without tracking when I shipped to more places and shipped from Canada). The refund request usually happened 4-7 days after I shipped which told me they got the item, knew there was no tracking, and went to Paypal because eBay wouldn't let them file an INR. (They often escalated these requests immediately to a claim, I don't remember much about it, but they could put in a refund request and escalate it). That would be the most obvious way I know I'd been scammed on something I couldn't prove delivery on (whereas those who waited a few weeks before filing, never knew if they got it or not, or if they were a scammer or not).
I also notice that scammers say a lot of the same things in response to my messages. My favourite is being told the mail only takes 2 days (from where I shipped it from). My mother is a bit of scammer and it's something she used to tell people all the time, so that's why I think I noticed (and it's always TWO days for some reason).
Sometimes it's a combination of what the buyer is buying, and things in their public profile that give me an idea they are going to be a problem buyer (but I never know this until a problem arrives, fortunately I'm not always right about this).
Or it's messages they send me ahead of time which suggest I'm being set up for a SNAD. I give zero assurances of anything when I think I'm being set up, and in most cases they move on to someone who will point out the money back guarantee that they'll get what they're promised. I can almost guarantee you if I tell them something is "100% whatever", they will come back when they receive it and say "you told me it was A, and I find out it's B, and you need to give me my money back!" (Isn't it nice when we can see these buyers coming BEFORE they purchase?
I have pre-emptively blocked on leading questions, but I try not to do that and consider other factors to determine if they're a serious buyer who is making sure, or someone setting up for SNAD). Also it depends what the item is, I've said a million times in here when someone is wondering if they've been scammed that "the item matters, a LOT".
My shipper offers insurance (0.39 CAD for up to $99 CAD), which I put on Freight Forwarders since there's a higher chance of INR (and tracking not being updated, getting the shipper to pay the insurance if an INR is filed is easier than trying to deal with USPS, and if they pay out enough of these Freight Fwder claims for USPS not scanning delivered they can call the postmaster and complain a lot, I presume they have contacts with USPS to complain to). The Freight Forwarder INR scam is a common one, and probably the one that happens the most (to me) these days.
C.
