What is the scam with Facebook marketplace collections?

[Wristfolds]

Trying to sell a nice bike on Fb marketplace. So far only offers from ppl wanting DPD collect to pay/my bank deets as they’re far away. The profiles are all a bit suss- names that look too old for the young influencer style pics and often they say their son will collect (they all seem young to have adult kids!)

I’ve just said no I’d rather deal direct but wondered what the scam is? Just they grab it and go? Or some more elegant con…

That is a scam

as far as I understand it they say they’ll get a courier to pick it up, yiu agree the deal then they come back to you and say you need to pay insurance for the courier service which you’ll get back.

It doesn’t seem massive amounts but I guess it all adds up for them? £30-50 a go?

oh I see- I’ve not got far enough for them to ask for money I just thought it sounded weird so said no :)

I think so, I think next stage is to ask you for money to insure it

I had the same and never went that far either but read on other forums that’s the scam!

I don't know the ins and outs of how they do it but the old 'courier' scam seems to have made way for 'family member will collect'. If you ask them if they live locally or will have to travel they will give very vague answers so this is another good filter.

It's not impossible that somebody might want to send a family member to collect something, I've thought about it myself in the past, but the checking step would definitely be 'because they only live down That Road just up from the chippy, and I live in This Street on the other side of town by the supermarket'. The scammers just say 'oh, they're local, 30mins away' or similar.

Oh and the ones who want to pay by PayPal and send their 'son' to pick it up. It will be collected and then they do a chargeback so have both the item and their money.

Scammer agrees to buy item and pay by PayPal with uncle/son/courier collecting.

Scammer sends a message saying payment made by PayPal.

You receive an email from 'Paypal' saying you've received a credit of £400 to your account. However due to new limits/governance/regulations introduced on (recent date), Paypal withdrawals are only accepted once £500 has been received to your paypal since x date.

Person tells Scammer this. Scammer offers to send a further £100 to your paypal to meet the £500 limit as long as you pay it straight back to them by bank transfer as they need it for shopping that evening and withdrawing from paypal can take a day.

Further email received from 'Paypal' saying £100 received, your balance is now £500 credit. Person makes bank transfer of £100 to Scammer.

This is one version and I only know because a relative was recently caught out unfortunately. The emails were UNBELIEVABLY genuine looking. The Facebook profile was 4 years old (long con!) and genuine looking. The scammer was a pro, the messages offering the extra £100 were hesitant and 'worried', they stressed that it was a risk to them, would the buyer definitely return the extra £100 as it was money they couldn't afford to lose etc.

It all appeared so genuine, relative didn't actually check their paypal balance until it was too late.

The scam is it’s all a lie to get all your details off you. They say they’ll send a courier to collect the item and bring you the cash (no courier would ever do this or even provide this service). So let’s say you agree to this. They then say you have to pay for the insurance for the courier to transport your money. What happens next is they ask for your name, address, contact number for the courier, email address. Let’s say you provide it all. They then email you a link to pay for the insurance. You then click that link and pay the money. You’re then out of pocket by the amount you’ve just paid and they have all your details including the card details you just input to pay for the fake insurance. Sadly too many people fall for it and other scams just like it.

It's usually the dpd one. You'll get a message saying you need to pay a small amount in insurance which will be paid back in cash on collection, or course there's never any collection.
Then other one is they'll send you money by PayPal goods and services. Once collected they'll tell PayPal it hasn't been delivered. PayPal will ask you to provide tracking which you don't have and they get refunded.

I think I’ve just avoided being a victim of this as I grew suspicious when the online payment wasn’t straightforward. However, I’m aware this scammer now has my email address, first line of my address (could easily gain my postcode) and my account number and sort code, plus my full name. Does anyone know how worried I should be about them having all this info and not hat if anything I can or should now do?

I would be worried if I were you. As you say, the scammers now have pretty much all your personal details, including those of your bank account.

I would contact your bank asap and tell them what has happened, then follow the bank's advice.

The bank said essentially that acc no and sort code actually allow them to do very little. It’s identity theft that is a bigger possibility, but not what they were aiming for so hopefully they won’t bother iyswim

I thought paying by paypal goods and services meant you were covered! Thanks for the warning.

Reported!!!

Really??? It looks quite genuine to me 😂😂

Reported

So what is the only safe way to sell om FB marketplace? Inssist on cash on collection?

Please report all scammers to FB

I don't sell on market place for this reason - too many scammers. I now sell on our local FB groups, cash on delivery

I’ve started saying ‘no problem! We are actually a family haulage firm- let me know your address and we can get it there for free, all insured!’ Then watch them squirm trying not to provide their address or instantly block me…