Facebook Marketplace has over 1 billion active users selling smartphones, furniture, beauty products, toys, used cars, and houses. Scammers exploit Facebook’s security holes and reach out to unsuspecting users to trick them. The Marketplace is also ideal for scammers to infiltrate to defraud users and steal money or personal data.

Unlike Amazon, in Facebook Marketplace, sellers and potential buyers are in direct contact via the Messenger app and can exchange messages. It is up to each scammer to try to convince the users and extract money or other valuable data, such as their passwords, bank credentials, or even their id numbers.

How to Spot a Scammer

I recently had a similar experience on Facebook Marketplace. I used the platform to sell an old piece of furniture. Scammers were the first to appear. They approached me by private messages and asked me if the product was still available, and they were also willing to learn more about its price. The first suspicious sign I noticed was the content of the messages.

The messages were in Greek (as was the ad I had posted) but with grammatical or mental errors. They were translated with some online tool, like Google Translate. At the same time, the senders were non-Greek users, which was also suspicious as it would be very unlikely that a New Zealand resident would be interested in a piece of furniture sold in Greece.

In addition to showing an immediate interest in my product, the scammers also tried to convince me that they were interested in buying it as quickly as possible. However, they suggested various payment methods, such as UPS, which is uncommon in the Greek market. A simple search can easily discover that the profiles that attracted me were fake. Their messages had grammatical and spelling errors, they were miles away, and they had few photos on their profiles and few friends.

It is undoubtedly very easy to fall victim to a scammer through Facebook Marketplace, especially in cases where someone wants to sell a product desperately and is looking for a good deal.

What are Facebook marketplace scams?

Facebook scammers use quite a few methods to steal your money or credentials. The most common scams on the Facebook buying and selling platform are the following:

Counterfeit Goods

Scammers can also be sellers. They usually sell counterfeit goods and try to deceive you with lookalike goods or services bearing fake trademarks.

Unusual payment methods

When you are asked to provide an unusual form of payment, you should be very cautious about proceeding. Scammers usually ask to use an unusual payment method so they can trick you.

Payment in advance

A scam seller will usually ask you to pay for a product in advance and as soon as possible. Accordingly, a scammer buyer will try to convince you that they want to pay you immediately, and with various tricks, they will try to get your card details or bank account passwords from you.

Fake payment receipts

Fake payment receipts are among the most popular scams on the Facebook Marketplace. Scammers send an old receipt from another transaction and thus try to trick users.

What do we do in case of fraud?

Report to the police at your local store and to cybercrime prosecution. You should also report the Facebook user and their profile and place a report to Facebook directly through this link: https://www.facebook.com/help/196126404168290/?ref=u2u 

How to avoid Facebook Marketplace scams?

We do not give out our card numbers under any circumstances.

We only use known payment methods.

We check the profile of the buyer/seller very well.

We make personal contact with the seller/buyer to make sure that they are a real person.

We are not in a hurry! Scammers always move fast and are always in a hurry. Someone who wants to buy or sell an item will have no problem waiting a few days.