Police warning after Cumbernauld and Kilsyth shoppers stung in online shopping deals

The man who lives in Glen Clova Drive tried to pay the money through the site but the postage details did not seem to have been finalised in the PayPal account.

He then went outwith eBay’s own channels to pay the seller directly but he found out that the transaction was a fraudulent one and he will never receive the bike.

His was the biggest hit financially but two more eBay transactions have been reported to police within the last week.

Police say that a 27-year-old female transferred £405 to a ‘seller’ as payment for a new mobile phone but she too has been scammed.

A seller is also £300 worse off after striking a deal with a supposed buyer when she tried to sell a luxury American fridge.

The 26-year-old victim who lives in Croy’s Cuilmuir Terrace agreed to a bizarre request which would save the buyer paying for the delivery of the giant item which involved shipping it to an oil rig.

She too has been scammed in the process and has contacted the police.

Police Constable Davy Cumming stressed that proper use of this site should not present a risk but that fraud can occur when buyers and sellers deviate from the procedure.

He said: “This has been a common problem here recently.

“We advise people to use eBay’s own safety procedures and PayPal to stop this sort of thing happening.”

Meanwhile local trading standards manager Peter Fergie had this advice.

He said: “You need to be careful. If you go off-site, you lose your security blanket.

“That is the main reason why big sites have safeguards in place.’’