RESIDENTS who use the internet to purchase goods have been warned to be vigilant by police.

A number of complaints have been made to the Isle of Man Constabulary about people paying for items that they have not received.

PC Kath Giles from the Ramsey Neighbourhood Policing Team said: "Please be very vigilant when purchasing items over the internet and only use the safe and secure payment methods such as PayPal. 

"A number of persons have purchased items in the region of £5,000 recently and at the last minute have been informed that there is a problem with the PayPal payment method. 

"Once payment has been made through their bank the purchasers have not received their goods and investigations have revealed that the 'sellers' are operating from overseas, non UK countries, making it almost impossible to detect them."

Police have asked members of the public to consider the following when purchasing items over the internet:

- Never let a fraudster educate you on how a money transfer service works - only take advice from the money transfer company.

- Never ignore the warnings or make false statements on money transfer documents. The information is there to protect you.

- Do not pay for items bought online, including via auction sites, using a money transfer service. Providers of money transfer services are not responsible for the satisfactory receipt of goods or services paid for by means of a money transfer.

- Never share details of a money transfer with a third party to prove the availability of funds. Doing so may enable the money transfer to be paid to that third party. This is known as a 'proof of funds' fraud.

The police have also warned that many people can become victims of fraud due to a relationship they have over the internet leading to a long term "honey-trap" romance.

Their advice is simple – Never send money to, or share details of a money transfer, with somebody that you do not know.

What do you think? Have you ever been caught out? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below: