Michelle contacted us after trying to buy a laptop online. She became worried she'd been caught out by a scam, but when she contacted her bank they told her they didn't think she'd carried out sufficient checks before making the payment for the goods. Read more about what happened and what we said.
What happened
Michelle was looking to purchase a laptop online. She found a seller on a popular online marketplace offering her preferred laptop much cheaper than she’d found elsewhere. The seller didn’t have any reviews and had only joined the marketplace the previous month. They also listed various other expensive electronic items at reduced prices.
Michelle contacted the seller and agreed a price for the laptop. She asked to pay using the online marketplace’s payment system (which provided some protection) as she was worried about the legitimacy of the transaction. The seller claimed they’d had problems with the marketplace’s own system and would only accept payment by bank transfer. Michelle went ahead with the payment but felt uncomfortable about it the following day. And, after discovering that the seller’s profile picture was a stock photo available online, she reported the matter to her bank.
Her bank said that Michelle hadn’t carried out sufficient checks before making the payment, so it declined her claim under the CRM Code.
What we said
Though we sympathised with Michelle, we didn’t think she had a reasonable basis for believing the seller was legitimate. Michelle had recognised the risk of paying by bank transfer but decided to make the payment anyway. There was little about the seller’s profile that could have reasonably given her much confidence either and we felt that the price of the laptop was too good to be true.
So, we didn’t think the bank had acted unfairly by declining to provide a refund.
Some ways to help protect yourself against purchase scams
- Always try to pay for goods online using a debit or credit card or using a payment platform which offers protection on purchases.
- If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- It’s important to check the seller has good reviews – but remember followers, likes and testimonials can all be bought or faked. Make sure you can independently verify the legitimacy of the seller.