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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Mabel Banfield-Nwachi and Zoe Wood

‘The wire began to smoke’: how to avoid counterfeit scams on Vinted and other resale sites

A woman holding a phone
Scams on online marketplaces are common. Photograph: Photononstop/Alamy

When Maheen found a brand-new Dyson Airwrap for the bargain price of £260 on the resale website Vinted, she was thrilled. The seller’s reviews were all five-star, and she trusted in the buyer-protection policy should something go wrong.

Sold new, an Airwrap costs between £400 and £480, but Maheen did not suspect anything was amiss. “I had used Vinted many times and it was simple and straightforward. Nothing had ever gone wrong,” she says.

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