Market place scam

[lil chris]

Just be aware of a scam on FB Market place. I posted my ad and within secs somebody asked is this still for sale. The thing was FB locked me from posting a ad and locked my ad because of suspicious activity, which has it turns out was the buyer.
He agreed the price but said he could not collect, he would arrange for UPS to collect and the money would be in a envelope.  He did not seem concerned I had no box for the item which made me suspicious too. This is where the scam is, I got a message from UPS saying the buyer was sending £500 not £400. UPS then wanted £100 up front for insurance.
So if you fall for this you pay the £100 and guess what UPS does not turn up, you just lost your money. Something I have learned is never pay up front. The email from alledgadly UPS looked dodgy probably a fake, probably based in Africa.

[ntpntpntp]

just so obviously dodgy I can't believe they even waste time trying it.

[lil chris]

I suppose Nick too many fall for it. Would you believe I messaged  FB and heard nothing no reply or anything, told them somebody tried to scam me. I put a post on FB warning people of the scam and complaining FB did not reply and they have deleted the post. Just shows you can not trust them.

[njee20]

This is a very old scam, I imagine Facebook have had so many thousands of notifications about it there's literally nothing they bother doing.

[lil chris]

Yes @njee20 I looked up scams on Market place and there are a few similar, any time when they pay you more money than the asking price beware. None saying that UPS would come with a envelope with the money, and then take the keyboard. What can go wrong a envelope with the money, of course they never turn up. The thing that annoyed me the most was they stopped my add almost immediately because of suspicious activity, but he had beat them to me. If they had told me what the suspicious activity was it may have saved me some hassle, I did not fall for it but others may have done.

[njee20]

I'm sure they do. It's been going for as long as internet shopping, so I'm sure a few must fall for it. It seems very obvious, why would any buyer ever pay more than the asking price, and ask for the difference up front? It's the same scam as the Nigerian Prince leaving you his fortune - you just need to pay the bank fees. Admittedly that prays more on the greed, but even so.