Woman lists LV bag for sale on Carousell, gets scammed out of $10,000
She put her designer handbag up for sale on Carousell, and ended up getting scammed out of $10,000.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, 28-year-old Lu said she had listed her Louis Vuitton bag for $3,400 on Carousell on June 21.
A buyer, who claimed to be interested in the bag, messaged her on the e-commerce platform.
"He said he wanted to buy it for his mother," Lu said. "So he asked if I could e-mail him photos of the bag."
Later on, the man told her that he had transferred the money through CarouPay and to check her e-mail for the receipt.
"I didn't set up CarouPay and I didn't know the process of doing so," the woman said, but added that she did so anyway as she trusted the buyer.
After clicking on the "confirm transaction" button in an e-mail sent to her, Lu said she was directed to what looked like the Carousell webpage, which stated that the buyer had paid for the item.
The page also provided instructions for her to complete the transaction, which included her entering her banking details.
After Lu did as instructed, she received notifications from the bank that $9,900 had been remitted abroad.
She immediately froze her account so the scammers could not make another unauthorised transaction.
"I found out that such scams had been rampant in Malaysia for some time," said Lu, who was later informed by police that her money could not be recovered since it was remitted to a foreign bank account.
Lu said she was devastated by the incident, but was eventually placated when her bank reimbursed her the full amount.
"Hopefully my experience will serve as a warning to others," she said.
Sharing a police advisory on its website, Carousell has advised users to be wary of buyers asking for an e-mail address or phone number on the pretext that these details are required for them to make an order.
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