Firewood, wood briquettes and the like are sometimes offered on the Internet in the marketplace or in online shops at surprisingly affordable prices. But caution is advised with such advertisements, as fraudsters are often behind the supposed bargains.

Firewood fake shop Holzheiz.de

At the beginning of the month, a 59-year-old woman from Husum came across the online shop called Wood Heating while searching for hardwood briquettes on the Internet. There she decided to buy 950kg of hardwood briquettes at an absolute bargain price of EUR 305.66. After she had placed the items in her shopping cart, she was redirected to a payment page for the payment process, from where she was supposed to transfer the amount to a French account. The woman complied. When she didn't receive any further messages from the online shop after the purchase, she became suspicious and researched on the Internet. This is how she found out that the provider was a so-called fake shop. She filed a police report.

Be careful when purchasing wood on Facebook Marketplace

On Thursday, September 15th, 2022, a 50-year-old man from Rehburg-Loccum was looking for firewood in the Facebook Marketplace. He came across an advertisement offering a cubic meter of firewood for EUR 50. The 50-year-old contacted the seller and they agreed on a price of EUR 300 including shipping for a purchase of 6m³. Again, a real bargain.

The condition was that 150EUR had to be paid in advance. The Rehburger complied. After the amount had been transferred, the seller asked for a receipt for the deposit. The buyer complied with this too. What the Rehburger had not expected, however, was that the wood dealer then vehemently claimed that he had not received any payment and demanded that the deposit be transferred again to another account. The 50-year-old then reassured himself that the transfer to the specified account was correct with his bank and became suspicious. After he threatened the seller with a refund, the seller deleted the ad and contact broke off.

The police warn

The police advise you to be skeptical about obvious bargain offers online, as fraudsters are often hiding behind these advertisements.

Try to use reputable regional providers who will deliver wood or pellets to you on account or ask friends about good experiences with such providers.

If you still use an online shop for your order, first research the retailer online and only use secure payment methods. Caution is particularly advised when it comes to foreign bank details of a domestic dealer. But even German bank details do not guarantee absolute security. If you have doubts about the credibility of the dealer, it is better to refrain from purchasing.

If you have already been affected by this scam or have received inferior goods, you should report it to your local police station or online to the state's online guards

Further general information from the police on the subject of fake shops can be found here :

Source: Nienburg/Schaumburg police station

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