Are online scammers getting worse?

It seems like online scammers are everywhere. Last week I listed an old cot for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Within five minutes I had six messages from different people asking me if it was still available. I was over the moon that it would be sold so quickly. Except not one of those people was genuine.

Each ‘person’ pulled me into general chit-chat, asking me about the condition of it, why I was selling it, and all the usual questions you would expect. Before getting out the big guns and trying to secure their scam.

Two of them told me their brother/partner needed to collect it as they were working and would I take a bank transfer. Another asked if I would accept PayPal which I stupidly said yes to and gave them my email address. i realised they were online scammers when I got a dodgy email asking me to accept the payment by clicking a link. I also got the well-known ‘I’m sending a courier who will give you the cash’ from three of them! Each time I clocked what was happening I called them out, and they then immediately left the chat.

What’s in it for the online scammers?

In each instance of the above, the scammer is trying to get hold of your data in some way or another. With PayPal and the courier scam, they send you an email asking you to input card or bank details. The webpage you input them into will then disappear and the online scammers now have access to your accounts. The bank transfer is also another way they’ll get you by asking you to authorise the payment via a link in an email. it’ll ask for your card info and bam! they’ve got your money. Nice, hey?

It’s soul-destroying how these people work. And it’s never-ending, you can’t escape them. In fact, they’re getting worse. For each one, I report them and the accounts will close. But it takes them no time to set up another fake account to target some other poor sucker trying to sell a bit of furniture online.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the scammers also operate as sellers too. Posting fake adverts for a deal that seems too good to be true, then asking for the money upfront, or a deposit to secure it for you. They then take the money and disappear.

How do they operate?

There are so many new ways they’re coming up with scam ideas too and trying to legitimately sell or buy something on Marketplace is getting harder and harder. I was also caught out on Facebook another way recently after setting up a business account for The Joy. I got a message telling me my page had been reported and was going to be taken down unless I clicked the link in the message, filled out my details and queried the complaints.

I was so worried when I got this message, genuinely convinced I was going to have to start a lengthy battle to keep my page open. The link asked me for my login info, I tried to put it in but it kept bouncing back and telling me my details were incorrect. Before I knew it, I’d been blocked from logging in to my own Facebook account and my password had been changed. Luckily, I realised instantly and got the password changed to a new one straight away. I reported it and now lesson learnt, since then I’ve had three messages all very similar.

It’s so sad that people feel that the only way they can earn money is by stealing it through these endless scams and that users who actually want to buy something or sell something online without any worries are now doing so on edge, questioning every email or message they get.

What can we do?

My advice? If you’re selling something and get the generic ‘Is this still available?’, look at the profile of the buyer. Look if they seem real or fake – do they genuine friends? Do they post? Are they members of groups? If they seem legit then make sure they’re the ones collecting the item and will be paying in cash. Meet them in a public place with someone else and just be wary. I’ve sold endless things on this platform without any issues, so it still is a great place to earn some extra cash. We just need to be on guard for those that aren’t there for the right reasons.

If you’re worried about scammers or think you’ve been scammed visit Facebook’s customer support page. Or if you’ve got a story to share with us, please contact us here.