Chris McKeen/Stuff
Paul Gray was ripped off $545 trying to buy a car bumper on Trade Me. He says the popular buy and sell website needs to do more to protect users from scams.
A rising number of scams is leaving some Trade Me users questioning the cyber safety of the country’s most popular buy-and-sell platform.
Long time Trade Me user Paul Gray of Auckland believed the website was “no safer than buying on Facebook marketplace”.
Gray tried to buy a replacement car bumper on Trade Me for his son’s birthday. But after paying $545 into a bank account sent to him by Trade Me, he heard nothing from the seller for months and believed he had been scammed.
Trade Me told him that as he had not paid for the bumper using its secure Ping payment service, it could not help him. He was told his only recourse was to take the case to the disputes’ tribunal.
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Gray took his case to the tribunal, which ordered the seller to refund him.
He showed the order to Trade Me and asked it to suspend the account that had scammed him. But he said Trade Me refused.
Gray said the experience left him annoyed.
STUFF
People who were told they’d be paid for using a social media site say it’s just a scam.
“He’s still making money, and Trade Me are still making money on this guy’s…
