Facebook Marketplace Scam: A Scam to Watch out For (1st Hand Experience)

As I prepare for my upcoming move to New York City I’ve opted to put some items (car, washer/dryer and a mountain bike) up for sale. In doing so, someone suggested that I try Facebook Marketplace – so I did.

The posting process was simple, but no less than two hours after posting my mountain bike to the Marketplace I received an email that immediately raised a few flags in my mind.

In the first correspondence the sender asked about the bike, used bad grammar and claimed to be from Canada – it just seemed fishy. For some reason the original email has disappeared from my Inbox, but my reply and several other emails are below. I responded simply to figure out if he was indeed a scammer.

As you read this, see if you can figure out the scam.

Me – “I’m the first owner of the bike and it’s in excellent condition. The final price is $800, which is $200 less than I have it listed for on Craigslist. You’d also have to pay for shipping – I’d take it to the local bike shop and have them ship it – probably cost $100 max.

I won’t be sending the bike until payment is received in the form of a certified check. You could also wire the money to my bank account.”

Derek (heryson.dman@yahoo.com) – “Thanks for your mail, I really do appreciate it, Well Everything sounds well and I guess that the bike is in excellent condition? I am okay with the price. So, I would want you to keep all other buyer’s off and also delete the advert from the website. Concerning payment my client will issue you a check, since I don’t have the funds in your currency. FOR CONVENIENT AND EASY TRANSACTION,I HAVE A SHIPPING AGENT THAT WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PICK UP as soon as you receive payment for the Item.I will therefore need the following information of you to forward to my client before he sends payment.

NAME IN FULL……..
ADDRESS IN FULL….
CITY…….
STATE…
COUNTRY……….
ZIPCODE…….
CELL/OFFICE/HOME
PHONE NUMBER.
EMAIL ADDRESS

I await your urgent response.

Thanks

Derek”

Me – “Um, you can mail me a certified check – the only info I’ll be giving you is my address. This seems very scamish.”

Derek – “Thanks for the reply and the information you sent and am very happy,well its all good, I want you to delete the Advert from the Website. Concerning payment I have just contacted my Client now and he has said he will issue out a check of nothing less than $3,800 to your contact address in which you will remove the asking price after cashing it at your bank, so i would want you to get an extra $100 for your running around and then send the rest of the money to my shipping agent via western union money transfer SINCE I WILL BE HANDLING THE SHIPMENT so that they will use for all their flight charges and for the insurance of the shipment when being shipped and also I would want you to do this for me because the shipper also has some other shipments of mine to handle for me in the state. I hope I can trust you on this? The information of the shipper will probably be sent alongside with the Check or when my agent is been assigned by his company for my shipments. I will notify you if my client has sent the payment and he will contact you to confirm the details you gave to me, So that there won’t be any mistake whatsoever when sending the payment. Looking forward to complete this transaction with you. Get back to me as soon as possible so that we can proceed with the transaction..

Note: All western union charges and bank fee for cashing must be deducted from the Shipping funds..

Thanks

Derek”

Me – “This is a scam. I’m now going to mark your email address as spam.”

The Scam

Here’s how I think this would have played out. Had I proceeded he probably would have sent a check of some sort, hoped I’d cashed it and then sent him the balance… only later to be contacted by my financial institution to learn that the check bounced. By then I would have already mailed this guy a large chunk of change.

Puzzled

Maybe it was a freak thing, but it sure seems strange that this guy reached out to me so shortly after I posted something on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve got stuff on Craigslist where I figured I’d surely have scammers reach out to me, but it hasn’t happened yet.

I’d proceed with caution if/when you use Facebook Marketplace… or any other online resource for that matter.

And no, I’m not saying you shouldn’t use online resources for things of this nature, but do use common sense and when your gut says, “this seems too good to be true,” listen, because it probably is.