34% of Facebook Marketplace Ads May Be Scams
You might have heard people say: if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
And that may be good advice to anyone buying things from online marketplaces.
Especially after a UK bank found that as many as 34% of adverts on Facebook Marketplace could be scams.
Facebook Marketplace is a part of the social media site where anyone can buy or sell things.
Fraud experts from a bank called TSB looked at 100 adverts on Facebook Marketplace, and they found that 34 of them may have been scams.
They investigated adverts selling things like watches, cars and handbags. The fraud experts contacted each of the 100 sellers and tried to find out whether these items were really for sale or if they were scams.
They pretended to be buyers and they looked for common tactics used by scammers.
For example, some sellers sent the fraud experts to scam websites. Others asked for money before sending anything or did not want the item to be seen before it was bought.
The fraud experts found an iPhone 13 for sale for $106. The advert said it was a new phone but these are sold for $629 by Apple.
When they contacted the seller, they were sent to a scam website to make the payment.
Matt Hepburn from TSB said it was time for social media companies to do a better job at removing scam adverts.
Facebook says on its website that people buying on Marketplace should do any research they can to make sure an item or an advert is real.
