{"id":451,"date":"2026-08-04T02:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T00:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/?page_id=451"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:22:32","slug":"beware-of-scams","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/beware-of-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware of Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b6c89d69f8acfe440b0ee67a2ac730a9 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>CRIME IS EVERYWHERE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Unfortunately Classifieds fraud and scams are extremely common on websites<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Never pay before seeing an item &#8211; meet in a public place<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">watch out for fake &#8216;proof of payment&#8217; or &#8216;too good to be true&#8217; prices and goods<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Common Classifieds Scams<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fake Proof of Payment:<\/strong> Buyers send a fake SMS or bank notification showing payment before collecting goods<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Vehicle and Deposit Traps:<\/strong> Sellers ask for a holding deposit on a car before you even view it<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Overpayment Fraud:<\/strong> Buyers &#8220;accidentally&#8221; pay too much via EFT and ask the seller to refund the extra cash<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pet and Freebie Cons:<\/strong> Pets are offered for free, but you are repeatedly asked to pay unexpected transport or medical fees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Essential Safety Tips<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Inspect Before You Pay:<\/strong> Never transfer money or hand over cash until you have physically examined the item<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Meet Publicly:<\/strong> Choose a busy, well-lit public area for exchanges. Many South African police stations offer safe zones for online marketplace trades<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Verify the Money:<\/strong> If accepting an EFT, wait for the funds to officially reflect in your bank account, not just an SMS notification<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inspect Profiles:<\/strong> Check how long the buyer or seller&#8217;s social media account has been active. Brand-new profiles are high risk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CRIME IS EVERYWHERE! Unfortunately Classifieds fraud and scams are extremely common on websites Never pay before seeing an item &#8211; meet in a public place watch out for fake &#8216;proof of payment&#8217; or &#8216;too good to be true&#8217; prices and goods Common Classifieds Scams Essential Safety Tips<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-451","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/451\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/witbankhub.co.za\/Classifieds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}