Another scam has surfaced, this time involving the purchase of textbooks on the RRU Classified webpage. Below is the description of the process used by the scammers:

  • An RRU student is contacted about a used textbook they have posted for sale on our RRU Classified webpage.
  • A potential buyer for the textbook contacts the student and tries to make arrangements to have the book shipped to them.  They usually claim to be out of town, say that they’ll have a shipper collect the book and that they’ll pay for shipping.
  • The buyer then tries to get the seller to agree to be paid by cheque, and – if they agree – they send a cheque for more than the asking price of the book.
  • The buyer then contacts the seller and says that their shipper will pick up the book and asks the seller to pay the shipper the difference between the asking price of the book and the amount of the cheque that they’d sent.
  • Should the seller agree to all of this, they can expect to see the cheque they were given bounce in about 10 to 14 days and find themselves unable to recover the money they provided the shipper.

So far, we’re happy to report that nobody has fallen victim to this scam. We’d like to keep it that way so please, exercise caution when selling anything online. Receiving a cheque for more than the asking price or a cheque that does not have the name and contact details of the person writing the cheque printed on it should be rejected.

If you encounter this scenario and suspect that it is an attempted scamming attack, please contact our Computer Services team.