C
chico bill
Guest
I am sure at one point most of us have browsed the web sides of Mercado Libre or Corotos.
There are legitimate sellers on those pages but as a word of caution many are not, and on certain products almost all are scammers.
Take cell phones for instance. If you see someone advertising an iPhone (new or used) for half what it costs new on eBay or in the local shop - it is fake.
They may show photos with 3 or 4 in their hands or on what looks like a cell phone store counter. (Those are meant to make you think they actually exist). They may even say they have 2,645 to sell, and there will be tons of fake reviews, many by the same user name and on the same day.
They may even claim to have a store and post an location.
Think about this - if a cell phone (iPhone or Samsung primarily) were listed for $12,000 pesos and sells in the shop for 24,000 the online seller's inventory would be sold out immediately and purchased by the shops.
It is all fake. They will ask you to communicate by WhatsApp and ask for you to send the money to his bank. Then they will send you the phone by bus via Carribe Tours or Metro.
Your money will be lost and poof you will never hear from them again.
There are those who claim to be located in Montecristi, many in Santiago and SD.
As a test (more of a lesson to my pareja and my own curiosity) I communicated with one in Montecristi, as I happened to be going there the following week. He said his location was shown on WhatsApp and there was a street and a pharmacy nearby he listed. I punched that in my phone's GPS and not only is he not there, there is no store there, and no pharmacy by that name in Montecristi -only some modest homes. I then tried to call him to just see how far the scammer would take it but he didn't answer - they never do.
If you do try to communicate with them via WhatsApp messaging you will see they are poorly educated and can not even hold a normal conversation. I think this could be avoided if all postings were charged a fee to list something by the week. Say $200 pesos per week per listing.
Buy your products in a store for safety. Avoid the items that 'seem to good to be true" - because they are just that.
There are legitimate sellers on those pages but as a word of caution many are not, and on certain products almost all are scammers.
Take cell phones for instance. If you see someone advertising an iPhone (new or used) for half what it costs new on eBay or in the local shop - it is fake.
They may show photos with 3 or 4 in their hands or on what looks like a cell phone store counter. (Those are meant to make you think they actually exist). They may even say they have 2,645 to sell, and there will be tons of fake reviews, many by the same user name and on the same day.
They may even claim to have a store and post an location.
Think about this - if a cell phone (iPhone or Samsung primarily) were listed for $12,000 pesos and sells in the shop for 24,000 the online seller's inventory would be sold out immediately and purchased by the shops.
It is all fake. They will ask you to communicate by WhatsApp and ask for you to send the money to his bank. Then they will send you the phone by bus via Carribe Tours or Metro.
Your money will be lost and poof you will never hear from them again.
There are those who claim to be located in Montecristi, many in Santiago and SD.
As a test (more of a lesson to my pareja and my own curiosity) I communicated with one in Montecristi, as I happened to be going there the following week. He said his location was shown on WhatsApp and there was a street and a pharmacy nearby he listed. I punched that in my phone's GPS and not only is he not there, there is no store there, and no pharmacy by that name in Montecristi -only some modest homes. I then tried to call him to just see how far the scammer would take it but he didn't answer - they never do.
If you do try to communicate with them via WhatsApp messaging you will see they are poorly educated and can not even hold a normal conversation. I think this could be avoided if all postings were charged a fee to list something by the week. Say $200 pesos per week per listing.
Buy your products in a store for safety. Avoid the items that 'seem to good to be true" - because they are just that.