With the world gaining more benefits from technological advancements, there is also the flip side of the coin gaining something out of it. By that, we mean the curses, not the boons. We have all heard of hackers and how they manipulate people’s data and take advantage of it. And we also have heard about scams that happen during online purchases. Today, we will talk about some Facebook marketplace scams that have been wrapping around the good side for quite a long time.
So, recently, you must have heard of the world Facebook marketplace. If you are not familiar with the term, well, let us explain to you what FB marketplace is.
We all know about traditional markets where you buy your daily groceries from. Well, online marketplaces are quite the same thing except there is no face-to-face contact. And the dealing is often either done on Cash On Delivery or Online transactions. Facebook marketplace is just an online marketplace where you can buy and sell items online. This is the place where you can meet a lot of small business owners who are selling their products and services online.
After this has launched several years back, it gained popularity with counting days because of its simplicity. On the upside-down of the good side, numerous numbers of scams took birth. They multiplicated over time and now the Facebook marketplace is full of scams that can make you penniless in just a few hours.
For your safety, to stay aware of such malpractices, we have made a compilation of several common and uncommon scams that are usually happening in the marketplace nowadays. We hope that this blog is helpful to you.
Seller requests payment in advance
This is probably something you can imagine happening to you. The seller would ask you for an advance of the product you told them you would like to purchase from them. Scammers usually ask you to pay for an item in advance and when it comes to delivery, you, might not receive any item that you ordered. The seller might show you in a video call the item and end up not delivering that to you. To prevent such scams you can ask them to carry out the whole procedure in the Cash On Delivery mode. This is why you should avoid purchasing the items without inspecting them beforehand. You can agree to meet the seller in a suitable palace and then ask them to bring the product with them. It is always better to first see the item and then pay for it, even if it is an advance.
Taking the transaction somewhere else
Fake sellers use this method to draw money from the customer’s bank account. You can identify a scammer immediately if they tell you to carry out the transaction elsewhere like a chat app or something like that. Malicious apps can be used in this case. They want to take the transaction elsewhere because little evidence will be existing on the Facebook app if they take the transaction elsewhere.
A few scammers might call you up and ask you to send the money to a link they have provided while staying on the call. You should be aware of such scammers. The links they provide was basically designed to take money out of your online bank account or wallet. In order to avoid this, you should ask the seller to stay on the Facebook app itself and then carry the transaction only through known and legal money transaction apps.
Apartment rental listings
This started around the time covid-19 took a stroll all around the world. Since the whole world was in the phase of lockdown, it became physically impossible to check the apartments or houses. Scammers took opportunities for this. The agents would literally show some fake houses/apartments and list them and then put high pressure on the customers to pay in advance or buy the property. After the lockdown phase vanished, these sorts of scams got reduced. In order to avoid these scams, you must ensure that you check the house/apartment physically and then make a deal with the agent in a legal way. If anything in the air smells fishy, instantly backup from the plan.
Scamming with the gift cards
Some Facebook sellers might ask you to fill out a form with all personal information and say that it is actually for a gift card or a coupon which they can avail in their first/next purchase. Another type of gift card scam that happens is- the sellers will accept only gift cards as the payment for an item/service you purchase from them. When they use a gift card, there is no transaction that is being recorded virtually. Gift cards are completely anonymous and that is where this sounds like malpractice. If the seller is not willing to record a transaction virtually while you are purchasing an item from them, it is a scam and you should avoid that transaction. If you do have a gift card, and want to ensure you are not getting scammed, make sure you know how best to identify that it is genuine. For instance, you can identify a valid steam card picture as it will have the relevant alphanumeric codes with the trademark of Steam company imprinted on it.
The Google voice scams
Some scammers have the intention to take away personal information from you and then use it to make their own account but in your name. The other party might ask you to send the verification you receive from Google. And obviously, they will ask for your phone number beforehand. The code you should not tell them is a way your identity will be verified if you tell them.
Likewise, if a buyer wants to come to your place and see the product, never tell them the full address. Always tell them a nearby landmark like a street nearby yours and then, ask them to call you up when they are or close to that location.
Likewise, never hand out your personal information like your date of birth or who you stay with or your full address, or any sort of code. This would prevent making secondary accounts and hacking all your information.
Fake goods
When you see an advertisement, remember to remind yourself that not always the original product looks like this. This can be because of some color corrections. They may be of much inferior quality or they might come in the wrong size. This is why you should never believe in online products from unverified sellers. They might show you on a video call or in photos what the product looks like. They might even give you fake assurance and guarantee of good quality but hand you over a wrong thing after you pay them. In order to avoid such facebook marketplace scams, you should be extremely careful of the product you purchase. You can ask the seller to meet you and show you in person and then come to a decision about buying the product. Advertisements on Facebook can be quite misleading. Before handing out the money to the seller, make sure you physically see the product.
Summing up: is Facebook marketplace safe?
As we said, a coin has two sides. One is good while, the other has to be bad. You should be careful enough before you purchase any service or product from a seller over the internet. A lot of scammers have taken place in the last few years which has made people penniless. But this should not be the case. You should be careful enough before handling any case. Remember to not hand out any personal information or your full address, pay the seller through verified online transaction apps and be careful (for both the buyers and sellers can get scammed). You can also lock your Facebook profile in order to take preventive measures from scammers. Learn how to lock your Facebook profile through DigitalSushma.
We hope that this blog has achieved success in explaining to you a few Facebook marketplace scams to be aware of in the future. Subscribe to our blogs to read such helpful blogs.
