2 examples of FB Marketplace scams

And what to do if you find yourself in one

I’ve been slowly accumulating crap in my garage and decided to get ambitious and let it all go using FB Marketplace. Right now however, I’m batting 0/2 on those reaching out not being scammers. Below are both encounters so that you can see the commonality and get an idea of what to look out for.

Scam #1, Grandma in the middle

Why, Grandma, what an unusual way of reaching out to me on FB Messenger you have

4 red flags right here in the first instant.

🚩 #1 Reached out directly on messenger instead of through marketplace

Marketplace facilitates conversations related to purchases directly, if someone tries to send you a “cold” message you’ll get a warning from messenger asking if it’s okay to allow them to send messages. This is the first hint that something is going on. Chances of a scam at this point are pretty high, because in order to message someone directly about an item they are selling they actually have to take your name from Marketplace and look you up in messenger.

🚩 #2 “Using messenger without Facebook”

This is another big red flag, it’s easier to create fake messenger accounts than it is to create fake facebook accounts, (as you can look up…