The world of the internet is a double-edged sword, specifically speaking of purchases, as there are some quite reliable sites such as amazon and some somewhat more questionable. Well, there are pages that have payment methods that relate the buyer and seller outside of a legal method, and that makes some take advantage of the clauses.
Not long ago, a journalist from Mexico, Alejandra Ibarra, went viral by revealing a rather particular story, one in which the modus operandi of scammers is discovered in Facebook Marketplace. Well, the person in question was selling his iPhone 13a phone that supposedly already had a buyer within a few hours of going on sale.
I have been trying to sell an iPhone on the Facebook marketplace and have learned the modus operandi of scams first hand. Here are my two cents in case it helps someone.
Everything will be illustrated with the story of who was said to be called Ing. Jonathan.
Go:– Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul (@luoach) May 25, 2022
Here is the story told by Alejandra herself:
I can identify at least 3 members of the operation: #1 who coordinates, #2 who executes and #3 the person who makes the contact. Obviously, the first one I had contact with was #3. In this case, she was called Caro.
First sign of scam: someone contacts you by DM, but not through your marketplace ad. Or through the ad, but it asks for a cell phone number “to coordinate better” / “to agree well”.
Caro did the first, but I didn’t realize it until later…
We talked for a while by DM, he asked me about the status of the cell phone, if I had details, how much was the last price. The normal, then. I replied to everything and she told me that she was interested. I told him where the delivery was and that’s where Jonathan came in.
Caro told me that for the safety of the two of us it was better not to see each other, that her husband Jonathan could make the payment by transfer and he would send someone from a parcel service to pick up the cell phone. I gave him my number and I quickly received a Whats from Ing. Jonathan. I replied…
Obviously Jonathan is the coordinator of the group. We talked, he told me that he was very interested and was serious. He told me that he was going to make the transfer and he sent me a photo outside the bank. And here the good begins.
Just at that moment the one who executes the tranza enters. Ing. Jonathan had not yet entered the bank, nor had he transferred me, when he was already sending me a photo of who was going to pick up the cell phone. And there he began to press. Please leave because they were going to cancel the trip.
I insisted that he send me the transfer first and then I would attend to the person from Uber or DiDi or whatever. And he began to mark me one after another… Until he sent me a photo of the deposit.
Well, maybe I exaggerated, I thought, and Ing. Jonathan was a good person.
The insistent calls start again, one after another. I warn you that I am checking if the money has already fallen. I go to my online banking, check, and indeed the deposit is seen for $19,000.
But it just looks like a transaction, the money hasn’t landed in my account.
Ing. Jonathan insists that the Uber is going to cancel him. By now, much more than 5 minutes have passed. If it was real, I would have canceled it already. Why did you call him before, I tell him.
I advise you that I am calling the bank to verify.
While I’m talking to the bank, it calls me 3 times.
At the bank they tell me what I suspect: that it is surely a scam. Checks take 24 hours to clear and many times the source accounts have no funds, so the payment is not made.
Ing. Jonathan keeps scoring.
I answer and explain the situation.
He is not happy.
The threats begin, all by call.
What is going to report me? That he will go to the Public Ministry.
By message we only agreed on this, in which she calls me a scammer.
And that’s it. The show breaks down. I go back to Facebook and see Carla’s profile. She is not married. Ing. Jonathan stops responding. The Uber I guess is gone. And I get three identical messages from other buyers. He is tired. I tell them I don’t feel like scams. They stop responding.
Update.
editor’s note: In conclusion, it is always reliable to have a platform that serves as an intermediary between the seller and the buyer, the clearest examples being Amazon and Mercado Libre. Which little by little are stricter, all so that users feel fully confident in using the page. And this leads to Facebook Marketplace definitely not being safe.
Via: Alexandra Ibarra