12/22/2023

Scammers Are Ruining Facebook Marketplace

There need to be greater protections for the site's users

This year, I decided to get rid of my Amazon starter couch and buy a real one. So I listed the generic, velvet-green futon on Facebook Marketplace, thinking some college students or recent New York transplants would happily scoop it up at a discounted price.

Since September, I have received many inquiries about this couch—nearly all from people who are likely scammers. They respond to the listing and offer me full price in Facebook Messenger from the jump (maybe my first clue, a real Facebook Marketplace veteran knows to haggle). Then, they ask some basic questions that are already in the item’s description: “Where are you located?” “What’s the condition?” Once I’ve repeated myself and given the cross streets closest to my home, there comes another refrain: The buyer either says they must pay now, so that I would take the item off the listing, or so that their husband/brother/son/mover, you name it, can come pick up the futon later that day.

Because it seems no real person would offer to send payment over Zelle before ever seeing that the futon is real, I didn’t accept any of these offers. If I did, it’s likely these people would have sent a phishing link—either as a text to my phone number or in an email—disguised as communication from Zelle, looking to drain me of more money than the couch is worth. For now, I’m stuck with this futon, folded up in the corner of my tiny apartment. So far I’ve been unable to use Facebook Marketplace for its intended purpose: buying and selling useful things among my neighbors.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.