Greg's Corner

Used car scam finds new home on popular platform

By Greg Collier

In the time since Facebook Marketplace launched, it has dethroned other platforms like Craigslist and OfferUp. By sheer popularity, many consider Facebook Marketplace the king of classifieds online. However, just because something is popular, that doesn’t necessarily make it good. McDonald’s has sold billions of burgers, but no one calls it fine dining.

Facebook Marketplace has attracted a new demographic who may have been hesitant to use Craigslist due to its sketchy reputation. Since Facebook provides a single destination for many people, the convenience of Marketplace lends it a sense of legitimacy. And now that Facebook Marketplace stands at the top of the mountain, its users are experiencing the same pitfalls that befell Craigslist users before them.

For example, a very common used car scam has found its way to Facebook Marketplace. A woman from Nashville found a used car for sale on Marketplace. However, the seller said they couldn’t bring the car to the Nashville woman. The seller allegedly said that her husband had recently died, and she was getting ready to deploy with the military. The buyer was told that the seller had arranged for ‘eBay Services’ to deliver the car. According to the seller, once the car is delivered, the buyer has five days to inspect the car before the money is released to the seller. The buyer paid the seller $1000 for the car, but later, the seller asked for an additional $1000 for delivery insurance to be paid in gift cards. It was then the buyer realized she was being scammed.

Even if someone is buying a car through eBay Motors, eBay does not deliver the vehicle. They’re definitely not going to deliver a vehicle that wasn’t listed on their platform. Anyone who tries to tell you that a vehicle will be delivered through eBay is trying to scam you.

This scammer also went all in with their sob story. Typically, the story is that a spouse died, and it was their car, or they’re being deployed and need to sell the car quickly. In this instance, the scammer used both stories to attempt to pull on the buyer’s heartstrings, and it worked. Always be wary of an emotional story attached to a too good to be true deal.

Lastly, just because an online marketplace has a slick appearance, that doesn’t make it safer than a platform that doesn’t. In our opinion, Facebook Marketplace with their modern interface is just as problematic as Craigslist, whose interface still stuck in the 1990s.

We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention that both of those platforms are also mostly unmoderated, while Geebo.com moderates every ad to try to mitigate the chances of a scam.