TWINT scams in private sales: today's schemes and how to protect yourself

Anyone selling privately in Switzerland will sooner or later be contacted by scammers. Since 2025, cantonal police forces have reported a sustained wave of phishing attacks aimed specifically at sellers on classifieds platforms. Bern's cantonal police alone recorded more than 70 cases and around 100,000 francs in damages by May 2025. The good news: virtually every scheme fails if you consistently follow a few simple rules.

Scheme 1: the buyer who makes you pay

A supposed buyer responds quickly, asks hardly any questions and wants to pay immediately via TWINT. Then they send you a link or QR code, allegedly to "confirm" or "release" the payment. In reality, you end up triggering a payment yourself or entering your TWINT or card details on a fake page.

Remember: to receive money with TWINT you never need to scan a code, open a link or confirm anything. Money simply arrives. Any supposed "receipt confirmation" via a link is fraud.

Scheme 2: the fake Swiss Post courier

The "buyer" claims to have arranged a Swiss Post courier who will collect the parcel and hand you the money or take out insurance. A link follows to a deceptively real-looking Post page asking for card details and an SMS code. Swiss Post offers no such private courier service. Break off contact.

Scheme 3: the forged payment confirmation

You receive an email that looks like a platform or bank confirmation: "The buyer has paid, please ship the item." Since 2026, scammers have even been inserting themselves into genuine purchase processes, using real platform emails as a trust anchor before continuing on WhatsApp.

Remember: only your own account counts. Money has arrived only when you can see it yourself in your banking or TWINT app – not when a screenshot, email or text message claims it has.

Scheme 4: the move to WhatsApp

Almost every scam attempt starts with the same sentence: "Can we continue on WhatsApp?" Off the platform there is no moderation, no filtering and no trail. Serious buyers have no problem staying in the platform chat. On shopitnow, first contact therefore runs through the moderated chat, which filters known fraud patterns.

The seven ground rules

• ·Stay in the platform chat until the sale is agreed. Anyone pushing for WhatsApp right away is out.
• ·To RECEIVE money: never scan codes, never open links, never enter data.
• ·Trust no payment confirmation by email, SMS or screenshot. Check your own account.
• ·Never hand over card details, your TWINT PIN or SMS/activation codes – not even on the phone to an alleged "support" agent.
• ·Distrust excessive urgency: instant purchase without questions, overpayment, courier offers are classic red flags.
• ·Hand over the item only once the money has actually arrived, or choose cash on collection.
• ·If in doubt: break off contact and report the profile. If harmed: contact your bank/TWINT immediately and file a police report (cybercrimepolice.ch).

What shopitnow contributes

No marketplace can prevent fraud entirely. We reduce the risk in several layers: first contact runs through the moderated chat with a fraud-pattern filter, commercial sellers can verify themselves via the Swiss commercial register (Zefix) and carry a visible badge, and reports are reviewed by humans. For vehicles and machinery, listings are deliberately contact-only ads: viewing and closing happen directly between the parties – with no advance payment to strangers at all.

Frequently asked questions