How to not get robbed on facebook marketplace
7 FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE SCAMS (and how to avoid them)
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how's it going everybody my name is eric
and in this video we're gonna talk about
seven facebook market scams what they
are and how to avoid them hopefully
you're watching this video in
anticipation of the scams and you
haven't actually already been scammed
and you're just doing research wondering
if you've been scammed thank you guys so
much for watching if you haven't already
please give the video a thumbs up if you
aren't already subscribed to the channel
consider subscribing so you don't miss
another video and let's get into the
scams first scam is what we like to call
the deposit scam this is when you're
messaging back and forth on facebook
marketplace or whatever app you're using
offer up kijiji craigslist you and the
seller are messaging back and forth and
they ask for a deposit however they're
very very pushy about the deposit and
the item's been up for a long time and
something just doesn't feel right i
personally was on facebook marketplace i
found a cell phone and the posting said
the item was listed for over two weeks
then the seller started a message thread
with me saying that two other people
were interested in it and the first one
to send a 15 deposit will get the phone
he had very very low ratings and one of
his ratings actually said that he likes
to do the scam so it gave me the heads
up that that's what it was and i didn't
send him a deposit it was a scam there's
other variations of this deposit scam
such as a deal that's way too good to be
true for something like exercise
equipment that's what somebody on
instagram gave me a first-hand account
of an exercise equipment deposit scam
the deal was way too good to be true
they ended up sending a deposit getting
an address getting a u-haul and then
showing up to a random person's house
with a u-haul thinking that they were
gonna buy exercise equipment and it
ended up just being a scam not to say
that every single deposit that you would
make with somebody on facebook
marketplace is a scam because i've
accepted deposits as a seller before the
surefire way to not get scammed with the
deposit scam is to never send a deposit
however there are situations where i've
received deposits i don't think i've
ever sent anybody a deposit if the buyer
asks to send me a deposit i've done that
so i've done that before because i'm not
going to scam them the only way to avoid
this scam is to not send a deposit and
then meet up in person in a public place
during the day and give them cash for
the item if they continue to make
excuses about meeting up it's probably a
deposit scam the next game we're going
to talk about is the fishing for
information scam this also takes place
when you're sending messages back and
forth and that's when the seller is
trying to get things such as your phone
number your email address or other
contact information that they could
either sell to a third party or they
could try to hack your email and get
access to other accounts so they could
either put you on a calling list a
mailing list or they could sell that
email to hackers somewhere that could
try to hack your stuff they could send
you phishing emails that could try to
bait you into giving them passwords and
then they get access to other accounts
and do nefarious things the easiest way
to avoid this scam is to not give out
personal information if somebody asks
for it on facebook marketplace i always
just say hey we're on messenger right
now we're in direct communication i
don't need to exchange email or a phone
number because i get a lot of spam email
and i get a lot of spam calls i'm not
comfortable giving out my email or my
phone number we can just message on
facebook marketplace and i've never had
a problem with that now we're going to
talk about some in-person scams and the
first one is the cash in the envelope
scam you're the seller they're the buyer
you're trying to sell
something they give you an envelope with
some cash in it and when you grab the
envelope and fiddling with it you're
kind of distracted they actually grab
the item out of your hands and or off
the table and run just it's similar to
just getting robbed honestly however
they use envelope with cash in it as a
distraction or they could give you an
envelope with cash in it that's short on
money and hope that you don't count it
and the way to avoid either of these is
to have them count the money in front of
you so they open the envelope while
you're still holding on to the item the
macbook or whatever they're counting the
cash in front of you maybe on a table in
a public setting starbucks mcdonald's
and that way you can verify that it
actually is cash because i've heard of
scams where people don't even have cash
in the envelope they're just using it as
a distraction to grab the item and run
or that proves that there was not the
right amount of cash in the envelope
when meeting up in facebook marketplace
you do want to meet in a public setting
this is going to reduce the chances that
somebody just grabs your laptop and runs
you can meet in a starbucks that has
cameras and you're also going to want to
be aware of how you're positioned in the
starbucks or mcdonald's you're going to
want to have your back to the door so
the person would have to run around you
and also position yourself kind of
deeper into the establishment not super
close to the door that way there's
obstacles in the way and you're kind of
in front of them blocking the door so if
anything sus happens you might be able
to stop it before they get out so the
next scam is a little bit different and
that's just the less cash scam they will
fold the cash with a bigger bill on the
outside
but there is smaller bills on the inside
and this is actually one of the ways
i've personally gotten scammed because
i'm very trusting as soon as i met up
with somebody i handed them the item
they handed me the wad of cash and while
i was counting it
they got away and i was like are you
serious dude and he drove off i didn't
position myself where i could have
stopped the guy we were not meeting
inside of a building we were outside of
building and he was actually still even
in his car oh it's a bad idea to do deal
through a car window to begin with
although i've done it in the past i'm
also very trusting it was during the
whole corona virus where people were
sketchy about meeting up in person so he
just rolled his window down we tried to
have the transaction that way but it
ended up being the less amount of cash
scam right in my face and i am down a
nintendo switch for 35 dollars that i
had listed for 350 so with the less cash
scam you're also going to have them
count the money out in front of you
while you're still holding the item meet
in a public place preferably outside of
a car where there's other people around
hopefully there's cameras inside of a
building and position yourself a little
bit away from the door read the
situation and hopefully those things
will help you not get scammed with less
cash than they're actually supposed to
pay you for the next scam i want to talk
about is the straight up fake cash scam
you are the seller they are the buyer
they are handing you cash they could
have even counted the cash however it's
fake cash and in today's society with
venmo cash app paypal all of that you
don't handle cash a lot anymore you
might not know what fake cash feels like
and then you get scammed because it's
fake cash a one surefire way to avoid
this is to get a counterfeit marker
they're very inexpensive off of amazon
keep one in your car keep putting your
purse all you're going to do is take the
cash
take your marker you draw the marker on
the cash if it turns gold or it looks
yellow it's good if it's fake cash sorry
i don't have any fake cash but
if it's some other type of paper if you
mark on it it's going to turn black fake
cash it's gonna turn black monopoly
money it's gonna turn black
very simple marker you can get a
multi-pack off of amazon for pretty
cheap i will put a link to it in the
description having one will save you
some aches and pains forever being
swindled with fake cash and it has
happened not to me but to people on
instagram that have reached out and it's
an awful scam people who do it should be
ashamed of themselves the next scam is
more of just thievery it's specifically
for bicycles motorcycles dirt bikes
things that people can say that they're
test driving and then literally just
drive away and steal your item it hasn't
happened to me but it has happened to
people you're the seller they are the
buyer you're meeting up somewhere they
take your bicycle out for a spin and you
just never see them in order to avoid
this scam you need to take a picture of
their driver's license before they go on
a ride and ask for cash in hand before
they go on a ride cash in hand before
they take a test drive isn't even that
rude it's very very common in at least
selling buying and selling motorcycles
because somebody could drop the bike or
the motorcycle and damage it or crash it
and then just be like oh i don't want to
buy it because of that but cash in hand
it mitigates that liability and it's
just a smarter practice for people that
are trying to steal via the drive away
method the test ride method so that's
how you avoid just straight up getting
your bike or motorcycle jacked method of
a scam last but not least the new inbox
electronic scam this is when you're the
buyer they're the seller they have a
brand new electronic that they're
selling significantly cheaper than
retail they have an excuse why they
couldn't just return it to the store
that it was like a gift or that it the
receipt's been past 30 days or something
and then you meet up with them you buy
it you take the item home and then you
find out that it's just full of like
bricks or rocks or trash and they
already have a pretty significant amount
of your money and then they just block
you on facebook marketplace way to avoid
this is to open the item up in front of
them if you're buying the item for
yourself or for a friend then you should
have no problem doing that if you're
trying to resell the item
it gets kind of iffy there you could
take a picture of their driver's license
if you didn't really want to open the
sealed item you could weigh the item and
research how much the item's supposed to
weigh if it's grossly over or under it a
lot of times there will be a product box
weight on amazon and you could use that
as a reference but apparently there are
people scamming these brand new inbox
items by filling them with trash and
then resealing them it's a whole
operation but you can avoid it by
opening it up in front of them or taking
a picture of their driver's license and
taking them to court down the road if
something goes wrong taking small claims
court you could do that so that was the
seven scams i'd like to go over with you
guys today if you have been scammed by
one of those seven let me know about in
the comments section if you've been
scammed by something completely
different that i'm missing or a new scam
let me know by the comment section as
well just remember to be aware of your
surroundings if something feels off
feels weird the way that they're texting
you the excuses something probably is
wrong and make sure to look at the car
that you're meeting up with have they
removed their license plates because
that is a sure-fire way to realize that
they are trying to do something fishy if
they remove their front or back license
plate on the vehicle meet in public
places during the day stay safe thank
you guys so much for watching if you
haven't already please give the video a
thumbs up don't already subscribe to the
channel consider subscribing and i'll
talk to you in the next video bye
[Music]
20 minutes
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