Selling on FB Marketplace and Buyers Trying to Use UPS

Lollyrs58

Hi

Ive sold on facebook market place with no issue. This week Ive had two buyers attempt to buy and use UPS as an agent for delivery. I thought it was ok at first until they asked for my email address, and then said as it was a cash transfer they would ask me to "buy" insurance to cover the payment of £75. The insurance was £50 and the buyer was willing to reimburse this. The email I had linked to an online voucher company that asked you to buy a unit and then a code would be supplied to get your cash.

Ive never heard of anything like this so told the buyer Id rather use paypal at which point she went off line. Ive had another request today and told the buyer straight away that I thought it was a scam, at which point she deleted the messenger messages. Ive tried to report to facebook but their system of reporting is Dire.

Has anyone experienced this and should we be warning people that its a scam ?

Lorraine

soolin

It’s an obvious scam. There is very little point in trying to warn general users as many sellers seem determined to be scammed despite warnings.

I’ve got despondent even trying to warn buyers about using bank transfers , I just keep being told how safe it is as banks will just give them their money back if it goes wrong. I despair. 

Lollyrs58

cheers - frst I had heard of it and as I try never to part with my money if I dont have to I thought Id mention it.

mg328

Exactly the same thing just happened to me.  I came onto this forum as I was suspicious when he asked for my email address.  You have confirmed my suspicions so have reported him straight away.

Thank you! 

DCFC79

[Removed by Forum Team].

She cant do anything with an address and email address.
Maybe no one will turn up.

TripleH

She may be genuine, her name indicates that she may not be native English and that she could have moved from Denmark.

But, yes if your gut etc is warning caution, then always follow that.

soolin

TripleH said:

She may be genuine, her name indicates that she may not be native English and that she could have moved from Denmark.

But, yes if your gut etc is warning caution, then always follow that.

If the situation was the same as the initial post then this was 100% a scam. There is no grey area, no ‘it might be genuine’ but it’s a 100% scam and if ‘buyers’ profile was still showing on Facebook they should be reported urgently. It’s either a fake account which could be out there scamming others, or a hacked account in which case reporting it might alert facebook to the hack.

I see several of these warnings a week across various forums, unfortunately usually after a person has been scammed. 

soolin

[Removed by Forum Team].

I am getting more and more disappointed with facebook, I do try and report the more blatant ones but I already have a warning from facebook about how many reports I submit- so can't risk reporting too many.

dreamvendour

Hi all, thanks a lot for this thread, it helped me identify fraudsters! I am selling a cabinet and got two messages from French people asking to give my address and email address and that they'll send UPS or Chronopost who will give me the money. I told them I've never heard of that and started researching, they both said they knew the postman that's why they'll bring the money. I thought, what's the likelihood of that coming from two people in France? They know a person in every county in the UK? As the current cost of petrol won't justify the cost of the item and this being shipped too. Seems like a scam to me. Esp after reading this. Then I said "I don't feel comfortable giving my email address here" and they immediately removed their profile from being visible. Best not sell at all, DO NOT do anything that looks even a little bit dodgy. I'm going to sell it to a local seller who will come in person and collect  

Wildeeee

I've just been contacted by someone called Emeline ********* on Facebook wanting to buy an item I have for sale in Facebook marketplace.  She appears to be a little old lady in Belgium holding a dog, which I very much doubt. Wanting to buy my pretty average farmhouse chair. She offered to send payment by UPS Courier  in exchange for the chair.  Thought I would check this out first with your forum and see it has happened before. I said yes to her, and sure enough as your members said would happen she has now asked for my email address etc.

I have now Blocked her.  So beware this scam is still doing the rounds on Facebook 25/10/22

GadgetGuru

I will never let anyone arrange their own courier. I will always simply ask them to cover the cost and I will arrange the courier from my side. That way you know everything is legit.

On one occasion I have had an expensive item collected by an Uber driver - but this is only after I have been paid via Bank Transfer and have ether funds safely in my account. I had also had a phone conversation with the buyer beforehand - hence why he trusted me with the transfer in the first instance. 

When selling outside of eBay, I'm always happy to have (in fact I generally recommend) a quick phone call to discuss the item, cover any questions the buyer may have, etc. Considering some of my items are £1000+ I would rather spend the time doing this then deal with any repercussions later!