How to avoid scams when buying in Kinshasa

Never pay before you have seen and held the item. Almost every scam works by reversing that order: you are asked to send the money first, for a reason that always sounds excellent at the time. An honest seller has no reason to refuse letting you look first.

On Le Cointar, payment happens directly between you and the seller: the platform never receives that money and therefore cannot give it back. This page exists because that freedom assumes you know how to protect yourself.

• The deposit to "reserve" it — the seller says someone else is interested and asks for a small amount to hold the item. The money leaves, the seller disappears. An item is not reserved by sending money to a stranger.
• The price that is too good — a phone at half the market price is not a bargain, it is bait. Always check the usual price range before getting excited.
• The seller in a hurry — "I'm travelling tomorrow", "it's the last one". Urgency is a scammer's main tool: it exists to stop you thinking and checking.
• Delivery against advance payment — the seller offers to have a third party deliver, provided you pay first. You will see neither the courier nor the item.
• The fake transfer — the seller shows you a screenshot of a Mobile Money transfer. A screenshot takes thirty seconds to fake. Only the SMS from your own operator, on your own phone, proves a transfer happened.
• The stolen item — a device sold with no receipt, no box, at a low price, by someone who refuses to meet anywhere but on the street. You risk losing both the device and your peace of mind.

• Pick a public, busy place, in daylight: a shopping arcade, a bank entrance, a restaurant. Never a home, never an isolated plot, never at night.
• Bring someone with you if the amount is significant. Two people are far harder to intimidate than one.
• Tell someone where you are going and why. Send them the listing link before you leave.
• Do not display cash. Keep it on your phone in Mobile Money and only transfer once the item is in your hands.

Take your time. A seller who rushes you during the inspection has something to hide.

• Phone: switch it on, check the screen for dead areas, test the camera, speaker and microphone by making a call. Check the phone is not locked to an iCloud or Google account — the most common defect, and it makes the device unusable.
• Computer: switch it on in front of you, check it boots all the way to the desktop, test the whole keyboard and look at the battery health.
• Car: start it cold, not after the seller has warmed it up. Ask for the documents and check the name matches the person in front of you.
• Property: never pay a deposit before seeing the place and the ownership document. Be wary of an intermediary who refuses to put you in touch with the owner.

Report the listing from its page: reports are reviewed by our team, and a removed seller loses their history and their Cointar Score. That is what protects the next buyer.

Keep everything: the conversation, the number, the transfer SMS, the listing. If the amount is significant, these are what the police will ask for. Since Le Cointar never received the money, the platform cannot refund you — but it can remove the seller and share what it knows at the request of an authority.