How to avoid scams on classifieds sites: the patterns and the simple rules

The handful of scam patterns that account for almost every loss on classifieds — prepayment, fake payment screenshots, “a courier will collect it”, links to pay outside the site — and the rules that stop them.

EGASI ·

The patterns

Scams on classifieds sites are not creative. Almost all of them are one of a few scripts, and each depends on one thing: moving you off the site and getting money or goods before you have the other side of the deal in hand. Once you know the scripts, you recognise them in the first message.

  • Prepayment for an item you have not seen: “pay a deposit to hold it”, “pay for delivery first”. The item does not exist.
  • The fake payment: a screenshot of a transfer, or “the money is on its way, hand it over”. Nothing arrived.
  • The link: “pay through this safe-deal page / this delivery service”. The page is a copy of a real one and takes your card details.
  • The overpayment: a buyer “accidentally” sends too much and asks for the difference back — the original payment is then reversed or fake.
  • The code: someone asks you to read out an SMS code “to confirm the deal”. The code is to your bank or your account.

Rules for buyers

  • Pay on receipt, after seeing the item. If the price is too good to be true for the model — the price check on the ad page and the price guides tell you what is typical — assume it is not true.
  • Never pay through a link someone sent you in chat or by message. Egasi does not take payments between buyers and sellers.
  • Keep the conversation in Egasi chat until you meet. A seller who insists on moving to another messenger at once, or whose number is unreachable, is a reason to pause.
  • Meet in a public place in daytime; for a car, at the registration office; for a flat, with the documents in hand.

Rules for sellers

  • Hand over the item only against money you have actually received and can see in your account — not a screenshot, not a promise.
  • Never read out an SMS code to anyone, for any reason. Egasi staff will never ask you for one.
  • Do not accept “a courier will collect it and pay you”. Collection and payment happen together, with you present.
  • If a buyer sends more than agreed and asks for the difference back, stop: wait until the payment is final and refund only through your bank.

What Egasi does

Ads are checked before they go live. A buyer who writes without an account first confirms a phone number by SMS, so every chat has a verified number behind it. The ad page shows a price check against similar ads where there are enough of them, so an impossible price stands out. Every ad and every profile has a Report button; reports are reviewed and repeat offenders are removed. None of this replaces the rules above — a verified number can still try the overpayment script — but it narrows the room.

If it has already happened

  • Call your bank at once to block the card or dispute the transfer.
  • Report the ad and the profile on Egasi with the chat history, so the account can be removed.
  • Report to the police with the screenshots, numbers and payment details — the sooner, the more can be traced.

Questions and answers

Is it safe to pay a deposit to hold an item?
No, not for an item you have not seen in person. A genuine seller will hold it for a few hours on your word or sell to whoever comes first — neither costs you money.
A buyer sent a screenshot of a payment. Can I hand over the item?
Only when the money shows in your own account or app, not on their screen. Screenshots are edited in seconds.
Someone asks for the code I received by SMS “to confirm the deal”.
Never give it. The code opens your bank, your messenger or your Egasi account to them. Report the profile.

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