It is against GeckoOptical.com terms of use to duplicate ads from other classifieds and auctions within GeckoOptical.com. This is exceptional to sponsors only, who are allowed to duplicate their goods into the optical classifieds.

A fraudulent person could copy and submit an ad from auctions or from other web sites. Here shown is a sample picture used on eBay auctions. Such a picture leaves a camera mark within the bottom right hand side. Marked pictures are not allowed within GeckoOptical.com

Now has the person who posted the ad into GeckoOptical.com the owner of the item described? Or have they just simply duplicated the ad from some where else? You should always get as much information from the person presenting the ad. Ask for a serial number if need be. If they are genuine they should be able to send you more pictures of the item and answer your questions promptly.

If you are not getting replies back from your e-mails or the replies sound overly dubious. Please report the user to GeckoOptical.com and the user will be immediately banned and reported to their Internet Service Provider.

Always get as much information on the item you are buying. If your suspicious with their replies and descriptions. Best pass by that seller. Also one who does commit fraud is a serious offence in any country.

Report it to the police or an embassy - consulate that one of their citizens has caused possible fraud. Have as much proof ( your e-mails ) with you to support your claim. Also report it to your local police.

Confirming the buyers address is checked against the credit card billing address maintained by that persons credit card company. The fraudulent buyer will give you the stolen credit card correct billing address, but then ask it to be sent to another address.

With BidPay.com a money order won't be sent if the owners credit card address does not match the address to where the item is to be sent. This is the same safety measure with PayPal.com

Personal cheques and bank cheques must always clear before sending your item. After all a cheque is no more than a piece of paper of no value until it is cleared. Have your buyer aware of possible delays in clearing. There has been reports of counterfeit money orders. So make sure all funds clear first before sending goods.

A typical SCAM can read as follows:

We are interested in buying your 8" Dobson telescope at advertised rate of $300. Goods to be picked up from your location for onward shipping to London. Cost and modalities of shipping to be born by us. Payment for the purchase is by cheque through a debtor in US. The debtor owes us higher than our purchase. He will therefore be sending you a cheque for $5,000 to cover the cost of our order, as well as the Shipping costs. On receipt of the cheque, you will cash and deduct the cost of our order .The balance you will send as we would instruct you to the Agency that will ship the Goods to us. If this arrangement suites you fine, please send us your address where to send the cheque, as well as the name to be on it. Also send us your phone number for easy communication.

How did they do that?
'Phishing' is the most common method that criminals use to try and steal your ID. By creating a mock email that looks as though it's come from your bank or an online service such as PayPal or eBay, the email asks that you reply with your account details or to click on a link that'll take you to a web site to enter them. The quality of these forged emails varies considerably, ranging from basic text-only efforts to impressively detailed HTML versions that include images and graphics. However, they're similar in that they always ask for your personal details via email, something that your bank or any other trustworthy organisation would never do.

Key logging
The second most popular tool for ID thieves is a malicious piece of software called a key logger. This sits on your PC like a virus and records all of the keys that you press on your keyboard. By monitoring what program you have open or, more usually, what web site you're visiting, it can record bank account information, credit card numbers and more. The key logger then sends these details back to its creator who can see where you went and what you typed in, providing him or her with the wherewithal to discover your log-in and account details.

This online approach by criminals involves them putting in very little work and, thankfully, staying safe from them involves just a small amount of effort on your behalf.

The first measure you should take is to have an up-to-date firewall and anti-virus program installed on your computer. Many modern internet security programs now include safeguards that will not only provide protection against malicious software and hackers, but will also detect phishing emails and other scams that ask you to divulge personal information.

An internet security program will also pick up and block key loggers, preventing them from installing themselves in the first place and blocking their transmissions home in the instance that one does infect your PC.

Keep the personal private
Secondly, you should keep your personal details private at all times. If you do get an email asking to provide your account details, you should contact the organisation or business in question first to check that it really did come from them.

Finally, use your common sense. If you get an email or visit a web site that doesn't seem right, trust your instincts and leave.

Choose a long password. The more characters your password contains, the harder it is to crack. Each character added to your password increases the total number of combinations possible. A long but simple password can be as secure as a short and complex one -- and often easier to remember.

Use a combination of letters, numbers (0-9), and standard symbols (! @ # 0 ^ & *) to make your password more difficult for others to guess. Also remember your Yahoo! password is case-sensitive (capital letters are different to the same letters in lower case), another option to remember when thinking of a good password. A good technique is to pick a favorite phrase or lyric for your password. It can be shortened by substituting characters or taking out vowels, rather like you might do in text messages. If you choose, you can just use the whole sentence or phrase. e.g."2Fast2Furious"

Don't use personal information that someone could easily guess or work out, such as your birthday, child's name, or phone number. Also, avoid obvious passwords such as "123456," "test," "password."

If you use a password generator, don't share any personal information. There are a number of password generator programs available online to help you create a random password. These passwords are generally harder to crack but also more difficult to remember. Some password generators are found in the Yahoo! Directory category for System Utilities.

Mix up your password, but keep it memorable. Try substituting letters with characters or numbers. You can also take out vowels or consonants from words.

For Example:
The phrase "Fredsboy" can be made into "Fr3d"
The phrase "Too fast too furious" can be made into: "2Fast2Furious"
The words "cat" and "dog" can be combined into; cAt5DoG
Good Passwords are:
Unique. Do not use a password you already use for another account, such as your bank account PIN. Difficult to guess. Don't use common words or names. At least 7-characters long made up of both lower and upper-case letters, numbers, and symbols.
Bad Passwords include:
A complete word from any dictionary (English or other). Your login name in any form (as is, reversed, capitalised, doubled, etc.) Common names, such as the names of family members, pets, or friends. Based on any information easily obtained about you (e.g., license plate numbers, telephone numbers, employer, school name, car brand, street name, etc.)
All the same digit or letter (this significantly decreases the search time for password cracking software.) Any obvious sequence of characters (e.g., 123456). Obvious to anyone watching you enter them (such as "qwerty").