Scammed!

OMFG!!!

TradeMe, doing nothing is not doing everything!

I lost several hundred dollars, so have others, and so will others from this point on.

Telling members what to do to stay safe on YOUR site because YOU do not have sufficient processes in place is passing the buck to the people at risk and least capable of protecting themselves. 

Since this thread started, TradeMe have not told us of ONE change they have introduced and we have seen NO changes, admittedly some may have been implemented out of our sight. 

But the fact remains that several possible breaks in the scammers processes could have been implemented and a choice was made by someone somewhere at TradeMe to NOT do any of them. 

Who reads member newsletters? Less than 1%?
Will those whose account is hacked read them? Highly unlikely. 
Telling people not to pay by Paypal, a totally legitimate option, and use Ping instead makes TradeMe's profits go up. 
Nothing wrong with that inherently but all this is AFTER the transaction. 
What about 2-step authentication when logging in?
What about automatic emails to sellers when items sell?
What about confirmation emails to sellers when their payment instructions or email addresses have changed?

Lucy, please feedback to TradeMe decisions makers that the inaction of OBVIOUS steps by TM to prevent scamming, many in line with other safety-conscious websites, does not give us confidence and neither will a newsletter essentially saying "our site is compromised!"
Stop the scam before the transactions (before the cliff) rather than relying on many naive and non-savvy or too trusting members to do it for you (as they are falling to the bottom). If members of the public knew how to stay safe there would be no scams. The experts are YOU!

Halesafe who advertise on Trade me have scammed so many of my friends by advertising then not delivering (clothing and shoes primarily).They do not reply to questions in due time. They are from India ( we know this because one friend had a reply which started "My dear", not nice to get when you are ex military and male. Sort it out Trade me!!!!

Hi Christopher, thanks for contributing. Is that an advertisement you've seen pop up on your browser when you use the site or is it a Trade Me seller you're referring to? 

Robert, your suggestions are far better than all the ‘experts’ who are paid to conjure up solutions have done.

Why haven’t they got a two step verification process?
What about text or email alerts that tell us of any changes that have been made to our accounts?
Is it that hard to protect your customers properly, Trademe? No, this is not on us. No, don’t blame us. I lost $1300 because of you guys I’ll never get back. Sorry but you are still to blame here; You have obviously allowed holes in your system, an easily penetrated system that hackers and scammers are laughing all the way to the bank to monopolize and take advantage of. It’s not fair what you are doing.

All Trademe is doing is slapping the victims in the face by blaming us, not taking fast enough action, and saying we should have used Ping and in turn they will financially benefit from this.

Trademe, sorry, but I’m sure you can think of better solutions to make Trademe actually safe. Back to the drawing board you go, please. I’m glad you are sending out a newsletter and I’ll be looking out for it, but quite frankly, it’s still not quite good enough, sorry.

I got a message from Scamwatch. This is what they say;
If you believe TradeMe has been misleading or deceptive in its business practices, you may also want to consider making a complaint to the Commerce Commission. The Commission is responsible for enforcing the Fair Trading Act. Although the
Commission does not take up cases on behalf of individuals, they will record your complaint to assist current or future investigations.
Their website address is http:// www.comcom.govt.nz/ they can be contacted by email:
contact@comcom.govt.nz.

in all honesty I'm probably not trademe's best customer, so not that important. but literally refused to purchase a fixed price offer this weekend due to the lack of security available (MFA basically). I'm not prepared to take the risk on trademe purchases until there's a patent effort on their part to offer the current basics of security. at this stage, trademe has no better security to offer me as a buyer than facebook marketplace, so why wouldn't I just use the site that doesn't have fees? there's no 'edge' they're offering any longer.

I totally understand Ivan.
I hit the buy now on a mic yesterday, $660, and immediately thought WTF am I doing!
That's how easy it is for someone to forget what safe practices are. 
I wanted the mic, asked a question, got the answer, hit buy now, and then thought "didn't check if they had Ping, had checked feedback, hadn't checked when it was listed....blah blah blah"
So I emailed the seller and asked if they could call me and tell me their bank account details so I could hear their voice, get their mobile number, and get as much piece of mind as I can. 
This is becoming ridiculous as TradeMe are DOING NOTHING to guard against hacked accounts which strikes at the very heart of buyer confidence. 

Kia ora, 

We started Community so that you could have korero with other members about trading - such as swapping tips and any other information you think is important.

However, globally there’s been an increase in sophisticated scams: text messages asking you to log into your bank account, social media posts tagging you into gear, and emails from long lost cousins in Nigeria. You get it, they’re everywhere.

As scammers' methods become more complex, we need to be better at protecting you, which includes ensuring all the advice you are given is right. We’ve noticed this post has become a place where ad hoc advice is being given out. We love your help, but sometimes the advice isn’t correct which puts others at risk. We’ve decided to close this post down so we know that any advice you are getting is accurate.

Here are a few tips to keep you safe:

• When you are making a purchase, pay using Ping or Afterpay wherever possible. They are easy to use and safeguard your money- meaning you can get it all back if the seller doesn’t front up with the goods
• Use Community Watch to report any listings that look too good to be true 
• Check out the Trust & Safety blog for top tips for avoiding phishing scams
• If you are worried about any behaviour onsite, or you think your account has been compromised, contact us on abuse@trademe.co.nz. We have a team of Trust and Safety experts to help you, seven days a week
• You can also go to CERT @certgovtnz

Finally, as with any time you interact on Community, please be mindful of our guidelines.

Ngā mihi nui,

Trade Me