A warning to Etsy Sellers

As users of the internet most of us are aware that we should protect our personal information as well as we can. But as there is a new scam happening with increasing instance on Etsy I thought that I should post a little reminder....

The scammer(s) on Etsy are convoing sellers to ask for personal information to apparently pay for items by cheque or bank transfer BEFORE they have actually bought anything from the store. They are asking for Name, Address, phone number, email address and bank details! My advice is to stick to PayPal as your preferred method of payment (which is relatively safe) and if you receive a convo like this then reassert your payment policies and forward the convo to abuse@etsy.com

You should never take part in business transactions you don't feel comfortable with, nor reveal private information to those you don't trust.

I guess because my husband is a computer security expert I am more aware of this stuff than most. For instance did you know that posting your full name, telephone numbers, email addresses, home address and birth date on your Facebook info page is a welcome invite to identity thieves! They will happily use them to create bank accounts and other fraudulent accounts like credit cards and phone bills in your name. Even worse you can hand over your bank details, social security numbers of drivers licence numbers to anyone who feels like going through your trash... Always shred any information like this before throwing it away. Identity theft is ugly when it happens, and as it is increasing all the time so does the chance that it will affect you.