Facebook marketplace scam

Hydra19 · September 2023

I listed a guitar for sale yesterday on the marketplace and had 5 messages about it, all seem like legit profiles, asking about the condiition then they say they'll take it and will send over (each message was different) a DPD courier, or son, or husband, or brother to pick it up while asking for my PayPal so they can pay in advance.

None of them asked any questions a guitar player might, and some of them referred to it as item, and not one was intersted in picking it up themselves. How does this scam work exactly? Anyone know? I've had a few of these on gumtree but never 5 in the same day as I posted the listing.

It seems there is a lot of scams going on via the Facebook marketplace, so be careful out there.

GoldenEraGuitars · September 2023

I played along with this one, I definitely wouldn’t have sent PayPal or bank details. I usually go along with it to see how far they push it, this was the end of the messaging, just another fake account.

digitalscream · September 2023

Move to OT, because this is a general thing (and definitely not classifieds).

Devil#20 · September 2023

You should only ever deal face to face with FB Marketplace. Never leave a deposit unless it's a piffling amount you don't mind losing. Talk to them on the phone if possible.

Woodandwires · September 2023

I had one once, kept him strung along for ages, agreed that they could send someone over etc. when they asked-for the details, I f#*ked them off. He got quite shirty, telling me he would Sue! Threatened he would contact Interpol! He really was upset, that was a good day.

theatreanchor · September 2023

Yep. Have had this. I don’t post on there any more.

Snags · September 2023

theatreanchor said:

Yep. Have had this. I don’t post on there any more.

If that's the only reason, it's a bit extreme. The courier scams are easy to spot, and well known, and go away with a polite "no thanks".

I have far more success selling on Marketplace than here. Interestingly it's mostly the lower value items that attract the scam posts, too.

Nitefly · September 2023

So, as the OP asks, what's the scam?

BillDL · September 2023

Do they then "recall" or cancel the PayPal payment after somebody has picked it up?

goldtop · September 2023

Nitefly said:

So, as the OP asks, what's the scam?

Once you start communicating with them, they say they will send a courier with cash. Great, you say. Send your email address and collection address, they say. You do, happy that your item is sold, and you can start planning your GAS.

An email arrives from DPD/FedEx, telling you that the booking is now made, yay! But before collection you must buy insurance to cover the amount of cash that the buyer is sending. Buyer says don't worry, he will include this extra insurance money with the cash for the item. OK, you say.

DPD/FedEx/etc sends you an email to make payment for the insurance. It's not that much. But it will not be via PayPal, bank transfer or anything traceable. Instead it will be something like an Apple/Amazon gift card. You will be told to buy it online, then send the code to DPD/Fedex/etc. You do that.

And that's the scam. The DPD/FedEx emails were fake. The buyer has the code that he can sell on. Your email address will be sold, too, as an easy mark.

The item that you were trying to sell sits sadly on the shelf, making you feel like a mug every time you see it out of the corner of your eye.

Hydra19 · September 2023

Ok, so in essence, it costs you email address and whatever the gift card amount is. And of course, there was never anyone coming over to collect it, yesterday one of them told me their husband in law is coming...that was weird, it's usually just husband or brother in law

Thanks to goldtop for explaining the scam. None of them replied again so at least they're not persistent.

theatreanchor · September 2023

Snags said:

theatreanchor said:

Yep. Have had this. I don’t post on there any more.

If that's the only reason, it's a bit extreme. The courier scams are easy to spot, and well known, and go away with a polite "no thanks".

I have far more success selling on Marketplace than here. Interestingly it's mostly the lower value items that attract the scam posts, too.

If I don’t sell here, I sell on eBay or Reverb. Anyway, I deactivated Facebook, so it’s irrelevant.

Wazmeister · September 2023

I'm currently dealing with some fuckin donkey on FB Marketplace; he has a Strymon Big Sky Midnight Ive been after... proper tool, thinks he's clever, but I paid with full fat Paypal so he'll come unstuck...

A propa Japs Eye...

alalalkasar · September 2023

Woodandwires said:

I had one once, kept him strung along for ages, agreed that they could send someone over etc. when they asked-for the details, I f#*ked them off. He got quite shirty, telling me he would Sue! Threatened he would contact Interpol! He really was upset, that was a good day.

The guy I did this to threatened to report me to Scotland yard.

CavemanGrogg · September 2023

goldtop said:

Nitefly said:

So, as the OP asks, what's the scam?

Once you start communicating with them, they say they will send a courier with cash. Great, you say. Send your email address and collection address, they say. You do, happy that your item is sold, and you can start planning your GAS.

An email arrives from DPD/FedEx, telling you that the booking is now made, yay! But before collection you must buy insurance to cover the amount of cash that the buyer is sending. Buyer says don't worry, he will include this extra insurance money with the cash for the item. OK, you say.

DPD/FedEx/etc sends you an email to make payment for the insurance. It's not that much. But it will not be via PayPal, bank transfer or anything traceable. Instead it will be something like an Apple/Amazon gift card. You will be told to buy it online, then send the code to DPD/Fedex/etc. You do that.

And that's the scam. The DPD/FedEx emails were fake. The buyer has the code that he can sell on. Your email address will be sold, too, as an easy mark.

The item that you were trying to sell sits sadly on the shelf, making you feel like a mug every time you see it out of the corner of your eye.

Not that all of these shops are local to me as in the village I live in, but all are located within 10 miles of me. The local Tescos - I mean to use the ''S'' this time as there are 4 local to me, ASDAS, Sainsbury, M&S and Post Offices, all limit the number of gift cards, Amazon vouchers, Netflix Vouchers, Apple vouchers, Google Vouchers, and Microsoft, Playstation and Nintendo vouchers, you can purchase at a time due to just how prevalent this scam is and often people fall for it, And it isn't just that they limit you to buying no more than 2 gift cards, but there is also a value limit, so you can either buy 2 gift cards or a single gift card worth £100 at a time - it's actually meant to be per day but if the check out staff are satisfied you are buying them for the ''right reasons'' and not to pay off scammers as in if you bring 3 gift cards to the check out the staff will ask you questions about them and if satisfied they let you join the que again to buy more gift cards

Nitefly · September 2023

Thanks @goldtop I get it now. Seems like an awful lot of faff for a few quid though! And people actually fall for this?

goldtop · September 2023

Nitefly said:

Thanks @goldtop I get it now. Seems like an awful lot of faff for a few quid though! And people actually fall for this?

Yes, and yes (but very few).

There's a Microsoft Research paper that shows that the scams are deliberately designed so that most people won't fall for them. This is counter-intuitive. But the scam can only work if the only sellers who engage fully are the properly gullible. No point wasting time on people who are unlikely to do the last bit (gift card code).

CavemanGrogg · September 2023

Nitefly said:

Thanks @goldtop I get it now. Seems like an awful lot of faff for a few quid though! And people actually fall for this?

A hell of a lot of the scams involving payment via gift cards are actually carried out by children, and it's not done to make money, but rather to make purchases on the various platforms that use the gift cards, literally to buy in game purchases like skins for Fortnite. MMO's and online games - especially COD, friends and I got into during lockdown was and probably still is full of kids trying to pull gift card scams, send me ''X' amount in Steam/Microsoft/Playstaion/Nintendo vouchers and I will max out your character, prestige your character, max out your resources ..... all within a matter of hours, obviously something impossible to do, yet a hell of a lot of people still fall for it.

Emp_Fab · September 2023

What's the point? If they're only making the cost of a small insurance policy premium, probably a trivial sum, why bother?

hollywoodrox · September 2023

I’ve just had two results selling on marketplace ,an E series strat & an Arturia minilab
Amazingly both competent & normal, I usually have to deal with complete nutcases & frauds

goldtop · September 2023

Emp_Fab said:

What's the point? If they're only making the cost of a small insurance policy premium, probably a trivial sum, why bother?

They spend all day, every day doing it because Facebook serves up millions of gullible people every day, and there is 0% chance of being caught.

Haych · September 2023

A few years ago I sold a piece of heavy exercise equipment on Facebook marketplace.

I placed the ad and had a few time wasters make contact and then somebody messages me and tells me they'll send a van with cash, and his mate is the driver. I rolled my eyes and waited for the scam but nothing happened.

So I agreed, I had nothing to lose except a bit of time if he didn't turn up, and I was doing other stuff anyway so it was hardly an inconvenience.

Mid-morning a 7.5 tonne lorry turns up outside the house, the driver knocks the door and hands over £500 in cash. I helped him with the machine into the back of his wagon and off he went.

Everyone was happy.

Be vigilant, of course, and walk away the moment something smells off, but not everyone is out to rip you off.

goldtop · September 2023

^ Yup - genuine buyers do exist there, too.

I sold a '59 LP Jr on FB Marketplace to someone who was going to fly in from Europe, get a mate to collect him from Stansted and buy - all on a Sunday. Really? But he did - lovely chap, constantly busy gigging (in a globally successful tribute band). He did a bank transfer on the spot, which I was a bit nervous about. All was good.

sorbz62 · September 2023

I moved back from Canada last year after 10 years, where I sold loads of items on FB Marketplace without one single scam. When I arrived here, I was shocked to find that 90% of replies to my ads are scams, mostly from Mohameds, Ahmeds, Noors or Nasheems. It a waste of time ..... but entertaining taking them for a ride at times!

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