Too many of us have been there before—we find an amazing deal online and purchase the item feeling great, only to realize later that we have been duped. We get upset. We get frustrated. And then we move on with our lives.
But for one savvy businessman, two online classified scams set off a more than $20 million mission to drastically improve the person-to-person buying and selling experience.
On a quest to find a new printer, Dr. Lucas Lu turned to online classified for what he thought was a good product at a great price. For $35, this printer was a steal—one that turned out to be too good to be true. He purchased the printer and promptly set it up, only to discover it was broken. Upset about receiving a defective product, Dr. Lu tried to reach the seller that sold him this junk. The seller had disappeared, and Dr. Lu was out $35 for a useless printer.
While that experience was less than ideal, Dr. Lu wasn’t ready to give up on online classifieds just yet. Great deals could, after all, be found, right?
He used the popular online marketplace to find someone who could build him a website, eventually paying thousands of dollars. But when the seller provided the code for the finished website, it was broken. Yet again, Dr. Lu spent his hard-earned cash and received nothing in return. When he demanded a refund, the seller admitted he was broke and had no money to give back to him.
Enough was enough. Fooled twice by online scammers, Dr. Lu was determined to make the buying and selling experience better for everyone—safer, smarter, and significantly less sketchy.
That’s where the 5miles app, a new type of mobile marketplace, comes in. It’s mobile, it’s visual, but best of all, it’s safe. Dr. Lu and a few big names in the venture capital world have invested millions into 5miles to ensure the buying and selling experience is simple and secure. The app confirms that the person you’re dealing with is real and accountable by verifying the user’s Facebook, phone number, and more. Thanks to Dr. Lu’s woes, 5miles is making scams a thing of the past.
Well I was very close to getting scammed on this 5miles app. I did report the incident. And this would have been over a $500 scam!!