Police are becoming concerned about Facebook Marketplace scams as a number of fraud cases have been opened with them.
Captain Raymond Sebonyane, spokesperson for the West Rand District Police and Krugersdorp Police Station, explained they recently opened many fraud cases pertaining to people who had bought items on Facebook, deposited the money and never received the items.
The Facebook Marketplace is a great way to get rid of your old junk and make a few bucks, or to pick up awesome finds at discounted prices,” Sebonyane said, and added that unfortunately there are people out there ready to rob you.
“There are also people who love to cause drama and will try to ruin your good name as a seller.”
For this reason the police have put together some tips you can use to protect yourself:
• Always exchange at the same time – never give people an item and allow them to make payments later. Exchanging the money and the item at the same time is always your best bet.
• Do research about the seller.
What you can look out for:
• Does the person live in your area? If they are on a local scale page but don’t live near you that is a red flag.
• Do they have a lot of friends or just a few? Scammers tend to have either just a few friends, or many friends with names that sound made up.
• Do a quick reverse-image search on their profile picture. If it comes up as someone else, you know you are dealing with a scammer.
• No personal picture is a bad sign too. If their profile picture is of a car, flower or some inanimate object be wary, especially if they exhibit other signs of a scammer.
