You hand over the goods, the buyer shows you a message that says the money has landed, and they are gone. An hour later your account balance has not moved. This is the fake alert scam, and it catches market traders, POS operators, online sellers and ordinary people selling a phone on a Saturday afternoon.
The good news is that almost every version of it fails against one habit. Here is how the trick works and what to do about it.
The one rule
Only your own banking app, your own account statement or a call to your own bank confirms that money has arrived. A text message does not. A screenshot does not. A “transaction successful” screen on someone else’s phone does not. If you have not seen the money in your account, you have not been paid.
Everything else in this article is a variation on that rule.
The common tricks
- The fake SMS. A message arrives that looks like a bank credit alert, with the right format and sometimes the right bank name. Anyone can send a text that looks like that. Real alerts are worth knowing about, but they are never proof by themselves.
- The edited receipt. The buyer shows you a screenshot or PDF of a successful transfer. Editing one takes a few minutes with free apps.
- The fake transfer app. Some apps are built to look like a banking app and show a success screen without moving any money. The buyer holds the phone up and lets you see the screen, but never lets you check your own account.
- The “it will reflect soon” line. Real transfers are usually instant. If someone says the money is pending and will reflect in a few minutes, and you should hand over the goods in the meantime, you are being pressured.
- The overpayment. The buyer says they sent too much by mistake and asks you to send the difference back. The original payment never arrived or will be reversed, and now you have sent real money.
- The rush. A fraudster almost always has a reason you must act fast: a flight, a lecture, a sick relative. Urgency is how they keep you from checking.
How to protect yourself as a seller
- Check your balance, not a message. Open your banking app or dial your bank’s USSD code, and look for the credit with the right amount and sender.
- Do not hand over goods until you have seen the money. If the network is poor, wait or move somewhere with a better signal. A genuine buyer will wait with you.
- Never refund an overpayment straight away. Confirm the original amount is really in your account, and wait until it has settled before sending anything back. Better still, ask the buyer to request the refund through their bank.
- Keep records. Screenshots of chats, phone numbers, account details and the time of the meeting will matter if you need to report it.
- Meet in a safe public place. A shop, a bank branch or a busy open space is better than a street corner or an isolated car park.
If you run a POS business, the same rule applies with extra force. Confirm that the money is in your account before you hand over cash, and be suspicious of anyone who wants to rush or who keeps your attention on their phone.
If you have been scammed
- Contact your bank right away, using the number printed on your card or on the bank’s official website. Tell them the time, the amount and the account that supposedly paid you. Speed matters.
- Report it to the police. Keep the report number.
- Save everything: messages, call logs, screenshots, account names and numbers.
- Be careful about anyone online who offers to recover your money for a fee. Recovery scams target people who have just lost money.
Recovery is never guaranteed, but acting quickly gives you the best chance.
Scams are not only about alerts
The same habit, which is to verify with the source and not with the person asking, protects you against most other tricks too. It applies to anyone claiming to be your bank and asking for an OTP, and to anyone offering unusually high returns. We covered that side of it in our guide on how to spot a Ponzi disguised as Bitcoin. If it feels rushed, secretive or too good to be true, slow down. Honest transactions survive a few minutes of checking.
