ABUSE / FRAUD / INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT

FRAUD

What are the things that potentially fraudulent SELLERS do?
• Ask you to wire money into an International account. Seller may ask you to send payment overseas and will only accept Western Union or another money transfer service (e-Gold).

• List an address that is different from the address on their item detail page.

• Recommend an unfamiliar escrow or payment service.

• Not be up front about the authenticity of items for sale.

• Will not provide you a verifiable telephone number.

• Try to convince you not to use payment services that offer protection (accepted services are those like Escrow.com & PayPal).

• Will repeatedly not answer phone calls or email.

• Continuously provide excuses about why you haven't received an item.

• Sell suspected copies of software, music, or videos.

• Refuse to give you a working shipment tracking number.

• Sell an expensive popular item at a suspiciously low price.

• Try to convince you to first communicate outside of MadNonnie by listing their email address or their web page address in the item's description.


What are the things that potentially fraudulent BUYERS do?
• Ask you to wire money into their account.

• Buyer offers high-value (but fake) cashier's check in exchange for your item. The value of the cashier's check often far exceeds your item and the buyer asks you to wire the balance via money transfer service. Banks will often cash these fake checks AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE CHECK FAILS TO CLEAR. Scam often involves a 3rd party (shipping agent or a business associate owing the buyer money). We would strongly discourage you from wiring money.

• Recommend an unfamiliar escrow or payment service.

• Place large orders to be sent to a foreign location.

• Say they will pay you half of what's due before they receive the item, and the other half payment afterwards.

• Will not provide you a verifiable telephone number.

• Pay with an international credit card or cashier's check.


How can I avoid fraud?
Nonnie believes that buying items locally – where you can inspect the item, meet the seller, and pay at the time of pickup or delivery -- is the surest and safest way to handle a transaction.

On the other hand, some people find that situation a little too uncomfortable and would rather not give you any more personal information than necessary. Please respect that seller’s privacy. If you cannot agree on how or where to carry out a transaction, then just don’t buy their item. Find another seller. For national items, we strongly suggest taking the following measures to protect you from fraudulent sellers:

• Use MadNonnie’s system as much as possible.
When communicating with sellers on MadNonnie always do it using the Email Seller link on the page that details the item. An email will be sent out to the seller with your email address and all transactions will be conducted between you and the seller directly via our system. This way, if we are notified of a seller's fraudulent activity, we will have your contact information to reach you and provide you with the information. Since our classifieds system is always free, there should be little incentive to take communications off line.

• Know what you are buying.
Before making an offer to a seller, ask questions to learn more about what they are selling. You can send a seller a pre-sale note, and then make your offer when you are comfortable with purchasing the item. We also recommend checking retail prices and other members' prices for comparison purposes. Remember, if the price looks too good to be true, it probably is.

In particular, be careful when purchasing high-tech goods, especially when prices are far below retail. Certain high-end items such as flat-panel displays, notebook computers, and cell phones are likely targets for scammers. In many cases, it's appropriate to ask for a serial number before sending payment.

• Ask for sellers address and telephone number
Once you have negotiated the price and have decided to buy the item, ask for the seller’s phone number and call him/her up at a random time to make sure he/she is receiving the calls. Honest sellers should be able to provide this information. If they cannot give you this information, buy at your own risk. Having a seller, who has a registered telephone number at the other end, will make the seller more track-able and hence less likely to be a fraud.

• Use a payment method with fraud protection
We highly advise AGAINST sending payment via wire transfer. Many fraudulent sellers only accept money by wire transfer, Money Gram, or bank transfer because buyers cannot get their money back and sellers cannot be tracked. If you are within the US and must pay by money order, we suggest using a postal money order. Postal money orders can be investigated, while other money orders cannot.

There are many forms of payment that provide protection for buyers. Credit cards, escrow services such as Escrow.com, C.O.D. shipping, and online payment services like PayPal, offer varying degrees of protection.

• Track your shipment
Most major shipping companies allow people to track shipments while they are in transit. We recommended getting a tracking number from the seller, so you can monitor your item in transit. Make sure you are familiar with the seller's shipper, and be aware that there are fake shipping companies on the web, which pretend to track a false shipment.

Report Fraud to MadNonnie
abuse@madnonnie.com

What do I do If I got scammed?
We're here to do what we can to help. You can get advice about (or report) Internet Fraud by calling the National Fraud Information Center toll-free, 1-800-876-7060 (from outside the U.S., Canada, or Puerto Rico, dial 1-202-331-8590) Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern Time.




INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT

What kind of posts are not allowed on MadNonnie.com?
Nonnie prohibits the listing or sale of any items that are illegal, under any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation at local, state, provincial, national or international law.

The following type of listings are prohibited on MadNonnie.com: Postings of any franchise, pyramid scheme, “club membership”, multi-level marketing, distributorship or sales representatives arrangement, or other business opportunities which requires an up front of periodic payment, recruitment of other members, sub-distributors or sub-agents, or pays commissions only (except for postings that make clear that the available job pays commission only and clearly describes the product or service that the job seeker would be selling, in which case such postings may be permissible).

Other items that are specifically prohibited include:

• Alcoholic Beverages

• Blood, Bodily Fluids and Body Parts

• Burglary Tools

• Counterfeit currency, stamps or coins

• Embargoed Goods

• Illegal Drugs & Drug Paraphernalia

• All types of illegal services and products.

• Hazardous Materials

• Identity Documents, Personal Financial Records & Personal Information (in any form, including mailing lists)

• Items that encourage or facilitate illegal activity

• Obscene Material and all types of Pornography

• All type of offensive material

• Pictures or images that contain nudity and other Nonnie “no no’s”.

• Prescription Drugs and Devices

• Stocks and Other Securities

• Stolen Property – especially if it’s from our house!

• Tobacco Products

• Used Cosmetics – gross!

If you see an inappropriate ad or content, email the ad link to tattletale@madnonnie.com.


ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR

Telephone harassment
If someone has put your phone number or street address in a post on MadNonnie and you are receiving unwanted calls or visitors, please email the details to us at abuse@madnonnie.com and follow the instructions below.

• Please put 911 somewhere in the subject line of your email.

• Include the URL or post ID number, if you have it.

• If you have not seen the post, or if you are not familiar with MadNonnie, please give us as much information as you can. Try to answer all of the Who, What, When Where, and How questions as best as you can. For instance, tell us the zip code you are in and category it's probably posted under.

NOTE: If your issue does not involve urgent telephone harassment or unwanted visitors to your home or workplace, please follow the procedures described directly below under "other harassment". Please DO NOT designate your message as 911!


Other harassment
Please contact us via email at abuse@madnonnie.com if someone has posted personal information about you on the site, such as your email address or picture. Be sure to include the URL or post the ID number of the post so we can find it quickly.

Abusive email
If you receive an abusive email response to one of your posts, please forward it to abuse@madnonnie.com. We don't get involved in disputes, but we may be able to provide advice in cases of persistent unprovoked attacks.

Depending on the circumstances, you may also want to forward the details of the abusive email to the sender's email account provider (i.e., Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL).