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Spot scams before you pick up the phone

Kloufi gathers listings published on other sites. A fake listing or an attempted scam published there can therefore appear here too. Rather than pretending it does not exist, Kloufi tells you, listing by listing, and gives you what you need to decide.

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Why a scam can appear on Kloufi

Kloufi is a search engine, not a classifieds site: it reads the listings of Algeria's major sites and links back to the original listing. It sells nothing, collects no money and puts no one in touch with anyone. What the original sites publish, Kloufi shows, including the dubious listings that slip past them.

That is no reason to leave you on your own. Every listing shown on Kloufi goes through an automatic reading that looks for the known signs of fraud, and every listing page reminds you of the reflexes that protect you.

What Kloufi spots

Simple rules, written in French, Arabic and Darija, read the title and the description of every listing. They look for a request for payment before the item has been seen (a deposit by CCP or BaridiMob, Algeria's postal bank account and its mobile payment app, by Flexy mobile top-up or by Western Union), a seller who says they are abroad, an item “available in Tunisia” or “in France” on an Algerian site, contact forced through WhatsApp or e-mail with no possible call, urgency combined with a low price, promised winnings or an inheritance, a job offer that asks for processing fees or for your papers over WhatsApp, housing that cannot be viewed.

The price is compared with two benchmarks: the floor of its market (below it, a unit has almost certainly been lost at the source) and the median of comparable listings online, same brand and model for a car, same property type, same transaction and same wilaya (province) for a home. A price under 40% of that median is flagged.

  • “Caution”: one detail deserves your attention before any contact.
  • “Scam risk”: the listing shows one strong sign, or several signs, typical of fraud.
  • In both cases, the listing page shows what Kloufi found, word for word, and what it means.

What Kloufi cannot do

Kloufi does not verify advertisers' identities, does not see the exchanges that take place after the click to the original site and does not know sellers' contact details. A listing with no signal is not a safe listing: it is a listing in which nothing known was found. Conversely, an alert is not an accusation: a genuine seller may write “urgent” or prefer WhatsApp.

Listings that disappear from their original site are removed from Kloufi, and listings reported several times as scams by visitors are marked “Scam risk”.

The three reflexes that protect you

  • Never pay in advance without having seen the item: no deposit, no delivery fee, no top-up, no “processing fee” for a job.
  • Meet the seller in a public place and check the papers: vehicle registration, deed, land title, identity document.
  • Never give out a CCP or BaridiMob code, or a code received by SMS: no seller, no bank, no public office needs it.

Report a listing

On every listing page, the “Report this listing” button lets you say what is wrong: scam, fake listing, already sold, wrong price or other, with a comment if you wish. No personal data is requested. From three scam reports onwards, the listing is marked “Scam risk” for all visitors.

Frequently asked questions

Does Kloufi guarantee that a listing without an alert is honest?

No. Kloufi spots known signs; it does not read intentions. A listing without an alert is a listing in which nothing known was found. The three reflexes apply to every listing.

Is a listing marked “Scam risk” necessarily a scam?

No. It is a listing that shows one or more signs typical of fraud, displayed word for word on its page. It is up to you to judge, with those elements and the basic reflexes. A genuine seller has no trouble meeting you and letting you see the item.

What does Kloufi do with a report?

It is recorded with the listing, the reason and the comment, with no data about you. Three scam reports mark the listing “Scam risk”. Reports also help improve the detection rules.

Why not remove suspicious listings?

Because Kloufi is not their publisher: the listing lives on its original site, which alone can remove it. Kloufi marks it, explains it and removes those that disappear from their site.

What should I do if I have been a victim?

Report the listing on Kloufi and on the original site, keep the exchanges and the proof of payment, and file a complaint with the police or the gendarmerie, which have units specialising in cybercrime.

Try it now

Kloufi reads every listing for the classic signs of fraud, compares the price with the market and lets you report what is wrong. No detection is complete: the three reflexes remain yours.

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