Safety

Safety On Pin.tt

1. General advice on safety
   1. 1.1 Never do these actions
2. Most Common Scams
3. Scammers Tactics

General rules and advices on safety

Deal locally, face-to-face —follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts.

1. Make sure that you are working with real Pin.tt. Check your browser address field for Pin.tt, if some other website asks you to write your phone number or authentication code to gain access to Pin.tt - don't do that, that is a scam
2. Be aware if you encounter really cheap offers. If you see that price of some ad is really lower than average on the market - that may be counterfeit or low-quality product.
3. Do not extend payment to anyone you have not met in person.
4. Never give out financial info (bank account, phone numbers, card details, PayPal account, etc).
5. Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe, bank, or shopping center. Do not meet in a secluded place, or invite strangers into your home.

Never do these actions

• Never tell anyone authentication code that you've received in SMS from Pin.tt. Employees of Pin will never ask the code, only scammers.
• Do not rent or purchase sight-unseen—that amazing "deal" may not exist.
• Never accept cash without checking for counterfeits. Check cash thoroughly to avoid counterfeits.
• Never wire funds (e.g. Western Union) - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.

Most common scams

Scammers do not have Trinbagonian numbers so they are acquiring verification codes from users. Scammers pick out a random ad on Pin.tt and send the owner of this ad an email, claiming to be interested in the item being sold and then proceed to ask for the verification code, which is sent to users via SMS from Pin.tt

Be very careful searching for:

• Animals, such as dog breeds, rare parrots.

• Phones and technology related items such as new Smartphones, macbooks, camera’s etc
• Cars and boats, new cars and boats with a very small asking rate.
• Properties that are supposed to be in Trinidad and Tobago, but seller requires you to send them money abroad.
• All ads priced half of the normal average market price.

Scammers Tactics

Scammers are messaging the owners of the ad pretending to be interested in the product and then stealing money through wire systems.These scammers, message users through the messaging system or by text message showing interest in the product.

They usually give out a story: ”I am not able to go to the phone right now”, “I am on a ship, please give me your details so I can proceed with payment”, “I am buying this product for my family member abroad”,etc.. They use the information to gain money and the product being sold.

Some common scammers use the following:

• Someone requests wire service payment via Western Union
• Deal often seems too good to be true, price is too low, or rent is below market, etc.
• Scam "bait" items include apartments, laptops, TVs, cell phones, tickets, other high value items.
• Scammer may (falsely) claim a confirmation code from you is needed before he can withdraw your money.
• Some common countries currently include Nigeria, Romania, US —but they could be anywhere.
• The rental may be local, but owner is "travelling" or "relocating" and needs you to wire money abroad.
• The scammer may pretend to be unable to speak by phone (scammers prefer to operate by text/email).
• Distant sellers ask for a partial payment upfront, after which they will ship goods
  1. He says he trusts you with the partial payment.
  2. He may say he has already shipped the goods-He hasn’t shipped anything.
  3. The deal often sounds too good to be true.

Be careful & Stay safe