Buying & Selling – top tips for staying safe:

1. When buying or selling, you should meet in-person to see the item and exchange money. The purpose of the Gumtree “For Sale” category is to encourage face-to-face, local, trading. For personal ease and safety, always ensure you take someone with you. If you're answering a home service ad, ask the poster to produce identity and proof of qualification before inviting them into your home.
2. Never send your item before receiving the money. This includes never mailing a cheque or using payment services like Bidpay, Western Union or Money Gram to pay for items found on Gumtree.
3. Never send or wire money to sellers or buyers. This includes never mailing a cheque or using payment services like Bidpay, Western Union or Money Gram to pay for items found on Gumtree. It is our belief that these forms of funds transfer are favoured by fraudsters.
4. Gumtree doesn't offer any sort of buyer protection / payment programs. Any emails you receive that talk about such systems are scams, even if they may have the Gumtree logo. If you receive any emails promoting these services, please report it to us.
5. Gumtree doesn't offer any sort of Live Chat Support. If you receive any emails containing a Live Chat link, please report it to us.
6. Please also take special care when buying expensive items like mobile phones, laptops, plasma TVs, airline tickets and even tickets for shows/gigs. When buying airline tickets we suggest you take the seller's name and ticket number, check the ticket exists and take responsibility yourself for changing the names.
7. When buying tickets for events please be aware that some tickets may have terms printed on them that limit the ability of the original buyer to sell them to someone else.
8. Never provide your personal or banking information (e.g. credit card number) to others over the Internet.
9. Make yourself aware of common scams and fraud. Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your help in any task.
10. Report it to us any attempted fraud or suspicious emails, ads, or other activity by community members. In case of fraud or illegal activity, we also recommend that you report it to the Police.
11. Use common sense. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Accommodation – top tips for staying safe:

1. View properties in person. Gumtree is a local community site and we encourage face-to-face, local, trading. People willing to rent a property without seeing it/ or the prospective tenant first, even if they claim that it is because they are currently overseas, are unlikely to be legitimate. For personal ease and safety, always ensure you take someone with you, or if you are inviting someone into your home ask to see personal identification first.
2. Never send or wire money to landlords. This includes never mailing a cheque or using payment services like Bidpay, Western Union or Money Gram to pay for items found on Gumtree. It is our belief that these forms of funds transfer are favoured by fraudsters.
3. Gumtree doesn't offer any sort of buyer protection / payment programs. Any emails you receive that talk about such systems are scams, even if they may have the Gumtree logo. If you receive any emails promoting these services, please report it to us.
4. Never provide your personal or banking information (e.g. credit card number) to others over the Internet.
5. Make yourself aware of common scams and fraud. Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your help in any task.
6. Report it to us any attempted fraud or suspicious emails, ads, or other activity by community members. In case of fraud or illegal activity, we also recommend that you report it to the Police.
7. Use common sense. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Jobs - top tips for staying safe:

1. You should find out as much as you can about the company from independent resources before taking up a position. If you are an employer, follow up on references and check on their authenticity.
2. Meet your prospective employers/ employees face to face.
3. You should NOT have to provide your bank account details when applying for a job (this should only be once you have accepted an offer and started with the company). If any jobs ask you for them, please report it to us
4. Unfortunately some scammers do target job seekers so please make yourself aware of the common scams out there. All the usual common sense rules apply - if it looks too good to be true it probably is!