Fake Ads on Facebook Marketplace

Maxi Pad on 21/10/2024 - 19:41
Last edited 21/10/2024 - 20:02 by 1 other user

It's an absolute epidemic of fake ads at the moment!
Typically with Boats and Cars, Caravans.

Goes like this…

"Yes, I still have it… It's available to see today or tomorrow…"

Then…..

"I've got someone insisting to transfer the money to me immediately…. I'll see how that goes…."

I never really get any further with this bot. But genuinely seems like most of the ads are doing this!

Most of the accounts are not new either. Possibly stolen accounts.

Who is responsible?

Russians? China? Bikies? Elon Musk? Gumtree?

Related Stores

Facebook

• 

  Sye on 21/10/2024 - 19:46

  +14

  Is this still available?

• 

  AustriaBargain on 21/10/2024 - 20:02

  Imagine having the confidence to ask someone transfer you money immediately and actually expecting there to be a chance they will do it.

  • 

    Gervais fanboy on 21/10/2024 - 20:11

    +2

    It’s a numbers game, one in a few hundred/thousand actually does it.

• 

  Drakesy on 21/10/2024 - 20:02

  +1

  Generally if the profile is less than 4 years old, it's a scam.

  These started popping up around covid.

  But it's through everything.

  • 

    Gervais fanboy on 21/10/2024 - 20:15

    And more often than not, it’s a Mohamed or a Khan.
    Pickup location(Vic scams) is generally in the city or in some shady western suburb.

    • 

      Maxi Pad on 21/10/2024 - 20:22

      +1

      I'm finding it's older accounts in country towns. Likely because people are less likely to be available to pickup.

      • 

        brendanm on 22/10/2024 - 18:01

        It's because those accounts have been stolen through phishing.

    • 

      Drakesy on 21/10/2024 - 20:47

      In WA its weirdly largely African names i'm seeing

  • 

    dirtybigbjelke on 22/10/2024 - 13:57

    +2

    There are mostly zombie accounts belonging to older people that have been taken over (poor password security?). The usual modus operandi is to advertise something desirable unfeasibly cheap. If you take a deep breath and look at other items for sale there will be dozens of fake ads with stolen photos and descriptions at 1/2 current market value, reliable cars, Boats and Campervans are popular. FB will never accept a report against these ads or sellers.

    • 

      brendanm on 22/10/2024 - 18:02

      +1

      This guy gets it.

• 

  brendanm on 21/10/2024 - 20:38

  +2

  If a $30k car is being advertised for $6366, it's not real, you shouldn't even make it to the bot stage.

  • 

    Maxi Pad on 21/10/2024 - 20:40

    +1

    But it could be a bargain!

    • 

      brendanm on 21/10/2024 - 23:22

      +1

      Ok, click on the person's name and it will tell you what else they have for sale, generally about 20-30 cars, motorbikes and caravans, all for approximately the same price regardless of value. It's honestly not rocket surgery.

• 

  JIMB0 on 21/10/2024 - 20:40

  +5

  Facebook is full of scammers and lowlifes. No point reporting it as facebook always finds it doesn't go against community standards.

  • 

    Gervais fanboy on 21/10/2024 - 22:29

    +2

    Fb spends most of its manpower moderating speech and shadow banning dissenting commentators, they don’t have the time to monitor scammers on marketplace.

• 

  iDroid on 21/10/2024 - 21:13

  Boats and Cars, Caravans.

  Not unique, there are sooo many scam fake ads for just about everything..

  Damn annoying really.

• 

  stuffandthat on 22/10/2024 - 10:07

  If I see they've been a member since 2024 I won't even bother. It's a scam.

  • 

    ihfree on 22/10/2024 - 10:36

    +3

    The accounts i've seen which have been involved with scams look to have been hacked overseas accounts which have often been older accounts.