Gloucestershire Police are advising residents about the dangers of transferring money to strangers.

The warning follows an incident in Dursley in which a local woman became the victim of a scam.

The victim had advertised a motorcycle for sale in a personal sales publication and she was contacted by a potential buyer. The buyer said they would send a cheque for an amount that exceeded the cost of the bike, requesting that the woman send the “change” via wire transfer. After banking the cheque the woman transferred the “change”, which was over £2000, to the buyer. A few days later the buyer’s cheque bounced and the bike was never collected, leaving the woman thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Crime Reduction Officer for Gloucestershire Constabulary, Paul Francis, said; “Fraudsters and thieves are always thinking up new ideas of how to separate you from your hard-earned cash, and this is just one example of the type of trap it’s easy to fall into.

“We would advise that if you are selling any items, either through a publication or over the internet, that you only accept the correct amount of money for the item and do not transfer any money unnecessarily to the buyer.”