Watch Out: Scammers are Getting REALLY Clever

I usually like to think of myself as pretty savvy when it comes to navigating the world of online buying and selling. Long before Facebook Marketplace, growing up my mom was a frequent Craigslist or eBay user, so I've never thought twice about purchasing things from online advertisements. As a relatively young adult, I also consider myself pretty capable of spotting online scams and schemes, but just recently I found out just how easy you can be tricked.

The Scam that Almost Cost Me $1,000

My family is in the market for a second car and Facebook Marketplace offers a plethora of options, but last week I saw a post from an old co-worker looking to sell some items for an elderly relative going into assisted living.

I should've known, anything that seems too good to be true probably is. The post offered a 2015 Honda Cr-V for $6,500. Looking back, the price was far too low for a car with only 44k mileage, but I thought it was just 'priced to sell.'

So I immediately reached out to the friend who posted what I thought were only two cars, but later found out were part of a MASSIVE post that offered more than a dozen cars, jet skis, mowers, a boat, pool table, small construction equipment, electronics and even a Rolex listed for $5,000.

After messaging back and forth with the person, something started to feel off...

So, I trusted my gut. I decided before pressing send on the $500 Apple Pay payment I had poised to go to an unknown number- ask a personal question that this person could EASILY answer.

And that simple question, "where did we work together?" Saved me.

The person then responded in a clearly, badly translated way before blocking me on Facebook so I couldn't warn others.

When I reached out to the REAL accountholder via a different social media channel, she expressed her apologies and confirmed her account had been hacked.

However, most concerning- when I reported the messages and account to Meta, I was met with a response that Facebook found NO ISSUES with this account.

Moral of the story is...trust your gut; if it seems too good to be true- it probably is.