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Just been on Facebook marketplace via a link on here. Noticed a table saw for sale, decent price, not super cheap and local.
The seller also has items for sale in towns 200 and 100 miles away. He’s only got 5 friends on FB. There are a couple of other ads similar where when I click on the seller they have little FB activity and items for sale in brum, London & Portsmouth etc.
Are these scams? If I’m not paying for something until I get there and see it in the flesh how would a scam work?
Yep, scam.
You can report them, but you'll continue to see the same pictures over and over again IME.
Yes, one of the pics looked like something similar I’d seen before IIRC.
How does the scam work then?
One of the reasons I came off FB was the incessant scam postings - both in marketplace and groups. I was censured for marking them as scam, sent auto warnings for reporting them constantly, and yet the scam posts remain.
FB is, via auto algorithm and workflows, helping the scammers do their job.
How does the scam work then?
A few unsuspecting people send money online or get hooked into filling in a form for data. Additionally, a few will be targeted as being rather thick for FB clone or hijacked accounts.
You okay hun ?
Call if you need a hug x
How does the scam work then?
Facebook Marketplace is an unregulated market place with no moderation or rules or buyer or seller protection - but conveniently each buyer and seller has their whole life history on display including examples of all the social engineering scams they fall for day in day out. Its a scammers paradise full of easy marks, empty of any consequences - the way it works is its like shooting fish in a barrel
They do moderate all for sale posts but I think it's more to stop items being sold which they don't allow, or are illegal. Pets, children, weapons, drugs, knock of cigarettes etc.
Basically I think they're worried that Facebook suffers reputational or legal damage from becoming a market for illegal items. With fraudulent posts, it's the buyer that's at risk and Facebook doesn't care about that.
That said, it's a very active market place and as long as you're sensible it's a great way to buy and sell. But it does open up vulnerable people to a world of scams. It does feel like in the end there will need to be more assurance around user ID to get a balance.