Keeping Safe On Sales Comms

First up, a warning about the former livejournal user lillithfourth, who has since deleted her account, she was using a username similar to an established LaceMarket user to gain credibility and attempt to scam people out of money. You can view the situation here.

There are some steps you can take to help keep yourself safe on various sales sites, on LJ or anywhere, especially if they are contacting you on a brand new account, even if they are claiming it's an alternate account.

• If they send you the link to an alternate, even similarly named, account with good feedback claiming it's them ask them to provide proof that this is them. The sure fire way is to sign up for that site and ask that they message you from the account with feedback on there. Alternately you can ask that they update their profile on the site with feedback to include their username on other sites, or even some sort of message to prove that they do indeed control that account.


• Ask for more images of the item in question, consider asking for them to photograph the item with something specific to proof that they actually have it, such as a photo of a piece of paper with their name on it or a specific item. If they cannot provide new photos for some reason, be suspicious.


• Never send money via gift to anyone you do not know or trust. Paying with Paypal is generally very safe, so long as you do not pay via gift Gift payments should only ever be sent to people that you know and trust.