Buys iPhone on Leboncoin but receives ratatouille
A 16-year-old man from Saint-Lys, south-west of Toulouse, was scammed after ordering an Apple mobile phone from the online classifieds platform Leboncoin. On 17 August, the young man was in for a nasty surprise when he received his parcel, as he did not receive the product he had hoped for...
An order for 264 euros on the classified ads site Leboncoin
Buying and selling online between private individuals always involves a degree of risk, and this sometimes leads to unusual misadventures. A 16-year-old resident of Saint-Lys, south of Toulouse, was the victim of a scam, and his misadventure is unusual. Although his story may make you smile, it reveals more about the dangers of online transactions.
This man from Haut-Garonne went to Leboncoin, a classified ads site for private individuals, to buy a mobile phone. Once he had found the rare gem he was looking for, the young man contacted the seller to use the secure payment function offered by the well-known buying and reselling site. A system that he thought was secure for the purchase of his Apple iPhone 11 for 264 euros.
He finds a tin of ratatouille instead of his second-hand iPhone
Happy to have picked up a bargain, the young man was soon disillusioned when he received his parcel a few days later. He was in for a funny surprise when he picked up his parcel at a relay point and found not a single iPhone. Instead, he found a tin of cheap ratatouille, packed in a polystyrene box.
Thinking it was a joke, the young man went to the supermarket where he had collected his parcel at a relay point. However, they were unable to do anything for him and advised him to call Leboncoin directly, even though he had made the payment via the site's secure payment solution.
The parcel received by the young man containing the jar of ratatouille - © Crédit photo : France Bleu
The seller also lodges a complaint
While waiting to hear back from Leboncoin, the young man contacted the seller who had ripped him off. However, the seller would have none of it, and totally denies having sent a tin of ratatouille instead of the iPhone as planned. In fact, the seller claims to have dropped off his parcel with the iPhone 11 inside at a relay in Seine-et-Marne. The alleged seller then took the initiative and denounced a scam by the 16-year-old.
The latter then lodged a complaint with a gendarmerie on Monday and hopes to obtain a refund from Leboncoin, which also suspended the fake transaction on Monday.
Secure your transactions between individuals on Leboncoin with Obvy
As this mishap has shown, the secure payment system offered by Leboncoin is not as secure as it claims to be. Fortunately, by using a payment solution such as Obvy, which is specially designed to secure transactions between individuals, you can be sure of foolproof protection against scams.
Whether your transaction is by hand or by delivery, Obvy protects you against 100% of payment and delivery scams, for all your transactions from €1 to €200,000. Even if discussions have already started with the seller or buyer, insist on being paid by our payment method. If the person you are dealing with is legitimate, they will have no problem with it. If they refuse to use a 100% secure payment method, you can start to get suspicious.