More Scams

Because we don't want to scare you too much we can tell you that more than 99% of all of the auctions on TradeMe are completely safe. You're generally dealing with nice people.

However anyone trading on online auction sites needs to be aware of the potential scams that can and do take place. TradeMe is no exception. In fact they host more scams than any other New Zealand auction website, just because they're the market leader. It comes with the territory.

The Romanian Scammers

This group still constitute TradeMe's biggest scam problem. They regularly post between ten and fifty scam auctions every day.

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Indonesian Scammers

This scam targets sellers instead of buyers. It's less common on TradeMe than other scams but still manages to earn the perpetrators thousands of dollars each year.

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Art Fraud on TradeMe

Art fraudster Peter Vink convinced buyers that his imported "Hong Kong Horrors" were original artworks. He made a lot of money conning gullible buyers on TradeMe - ScamBusters shut him down in 2005.

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Shakma - a Local Scam

Local scams are harder to spot but they do exist. This scammer raised over $20,000 on TradeMe within a week then promptly left the country.

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Cain's iPod - a good news story

Poor Cain - first he got ripped off in an iPod scam - then TradeMe promptly disabled him for being underage. We helped.

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Remember, you can use our forums to freely discuss scams. While you'll need to register to gain access to this area, registration is free and we'll never release your contact details to any third party.

Other scams

There are a few other scams on TradeMe which astute buyers should be aware of.

    Read about them here...