I have 2 items on FB Marketplace. A set of speakers and a sub-woofer. A buyer found them and put in an offer for both at whatever price I had there which is in the few 100s. Then this person messaged me saying they would to pay for it now and to give my "full name" and email address for Zelle'ing me the money. I said don't worry let's meet at this location and I hand over the item, you Zelle me the money on the spot. This person insisted on paying me right then over Zelle because his brother won't have the cash.

I very politely told him I did not need any pre-payment. After this person realized I was not budging, they stopped all discussion and not messaged me back. It's been 3 days.

I think it is a scam of some sort.

Your job is to tell me how it works. Cuz I have no clue. He/she was asking me for my email address in order to Zelle me the number.

Here's part of the conversation.

maybe he thinks youre scamming him?

I got a lot of these trying to get into my google accounts. Like, "Hey so I know you're legit, what's your contact info?"

Then they try to reset your password and say "If you're legit, what is the code google just sent you?"

They used the word legit a lot.

And they always looped someone else into the discussion.

jopatura said:

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You would get an official looking email from Zelle that said you needed to unlock Zelle for Business by paying a $$$ fee, but you would get it back as a discount on the transaction.

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Don't think so

Or any other number of things. When step one is something not normal for a transaction, there's usually a scam to follow.

Zelle does require your phone number and name. If I add someone as "Aggie 1" to my contacts and try to send them money, Zelle throws a warning that registered name and contact name don't match. I think this may have been legit. The buyer may have backed out because he got worried that this seller is really really insistent on meeting up for whatever reason.

The two I see most often are the account password reset attempts and the Zelle scam, and at least 75% of the time I get the same story about someone else coming to pick up the item because the buyer is at work or some ***** When someone goes for the Zelle scam, I always send them my Zelle QR code and say, "Here's my business Zelle account." 100% of the time they go radio silent after that.

Of course, if you get a generic message saying "Is this item still available?" 99.9% of the time it's a scam.

infinity ag said:

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jopatura said:

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You would get an official looking email from Zelle that said you needed to unlock Zelle for Business by paying a $$$ fee, but you would get it back as a discount on the transaction.

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Don't think so

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The one I've seen is that THEY are using a "business" account which requires a minimum transaction amount for more than you're selling for. It's the classic "I'll send you $500 to pay for the $100 item since that's the minimum for the business account, and then you send me $400 back."

I've bought and sold a fair amount of stuff on marketplace and never encountered scammers. I must be a lucky guy.

Why would a business account scare them?

Drawkcab said:

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nvm that makes no sense. no idea,.

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Why don't you just use eBay?

Cash only.

Drawkcab said:

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Why would a business account scare them?

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because the scam revolves around them sending you a phishing link that indicates you need to open a zelle business account to receive your money from them.

Zelle has enough insecure features I would only use it to transfer funds to people I know in real life.

Couple of years ago I was looking for some hard to find items and located them on what appeared to be a legit e-commerce site. I put in the order, but it never asked for payment. Next day I was contacted requesting payment via Zelle. No option for PayPal, venmo, or any other method. Started googling the website where I ordered and found all sorts of scammy comments. Also found out Zelle offers no buyer protection. I told the guy to cancel my order. Never heard from him again.

Drawkcab said:

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Why would a business account scare them?

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The scam is they say you have to get a business Zelle account, which allegedly requires you to pay a fee for registration. They send a link that looks like a real Zelle page for you to pay the "business account fee," but the payment goes straight to them and as soon as you make the payment the scammer blocks you and disappears.

By telling them it's my "business Zelle account," it gets ahead of their scam and they know they aren't getting anywhere with me.

Sea Speed said:

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I've bought and sold a fair amount of stuff on marketplace and never encountered scammers. I must be a lucky guy.

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Indeed you must be. Every time I list something I get hit up by scammers within minutes. I generally only sell musical instruments and related equipment, so I've joined specialized marketplace groups where the members are usually vetted by mods as having a bona fide interest in the items being sold there.

Every single contact I've received for such items from the general Facebook Marketplace has been a scammer.

lancevance said:

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Zelle does require your phone number and name. If I add someone as "Aggie 1" to my contacts and try to send them money, Zelle throws a warning that registered name and contact name don't match. I think this may have been legit. The buyer may have backed out because he got worried that this seller is really really insistent on meeting up for whatever reason.

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I have speakers on sale. They are somewhat heavy, I am not shipping them anywhere. I have it in the ad that if you are interested, we will meet outside this particular restaurant. I don't want anyone coming home and I don't want to go deliver anything. Meet at a common public place that people frequent. I have sold a lot of stuff this way.

So first red flag was this guy agreeing to both items for the listed price. People usually bargain. They were both $250+. Then he insisted on paying me when people want to pay last. If this was legit, he would want to see the item first and then pay after he knows that I am not selling him a lump of coal.

"for whatever reason" makes me worry about YOU.

Ryan the Temp said:

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The two I see most often are the account password reset attempts and the Zelle scam, and at least 75% of the time I get the same story about someone else coming to pick up the item because the buyer is at work or some ***** When someone goes for the Zelle scam, I always send them my Zelle QR code and say, "Here's my business Zelle account." 100% of the time they go radio silent after that.

Of course, if you get a generic message saying "Is this item still available?" 99.9% of the time it's a scam.

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I get a lot of "is this still available" messages and then they go silent but many actually compose their own message. You may be on to something. I have 11 items on sale as I am clearing out my house as I have too much junk over the years. I will watch that in the future.


Hmm!
I also get a lot of password reset attempts lately. Maybe those emails I get (sometimes 203 a day) is related to my selling.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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Why don't you just use eBay?

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eBay means shipping, no?
These are heavy household items. I sold a very heavy karaoke machine a couple of weeks ago. It would cost a fortune on eBay to ship and eBay also charges fees which can be sizable. I am also selling a 10 year old desktop I assembled myself. It is somewhat heavy too.

Yes, I could do the cost benefit analysis but I don't have the time for that. Small high priced items, it makes sense though.

I used to sell stuff on Amazon too but they now want my SSN.

Leeman said:

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Cash only.

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Well, I do Cash or Zelle. Initially just cash but someone asked if Zelle was okay for something worth $20 so said let's try it. Works pretty good and I see the money in on the spot.

No checks.

ac04 said:

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Drawkcab said:

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Why would a business account scare them?

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because the scam revolves around them sending you a phishing link that indicates you need to open a zelle business account to receive your money from them.

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Ahh.... that seems plausible but does it really work?
Let's say I click but I already have a Zelle account through my bank. Do I need to open another one for this transaction?

What is the specialty about Business acc?

jopatura said:

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You would get an official looking email from Zelle that said you needed to unlock Zelle for Business by paying a $$$ fee, but you would get it back as a discount on the transaction.

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But if this was the scam, why the heck would I pay a fee to receive money, even if it supposedly comes back later?

Seems too complex. Works with greedy people. This buyer probably could not fathom why I was saying no to money now rather than later!

infinity ag said:

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ac04 said:

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Drawkcab said:

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Why would a business account scare them?

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because the scam revolves around them sending you a phishing link that indicates you need to open a zelle business account to receive your money from them.

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Ahh.... that seems plausible but does it really work?
Let's say I click but I already have a Zelle account through my bank. Do I need to open another one for this transaction?

What is the specialty about Business acc?

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the link to open the business account is fake. you send them the fee to open the business account and then they disappear. its a scam, there is no actual money being sent to you and you're not actually opening a zelle business account.

The Dog Lord said:

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infinity ag said:

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jopatura said:

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You would get an official looking email from Zelle that said you needed to unlock Zelle for Business by paying a $$$ fee, but you would get it back as a discount on the transaction.

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Don't think so

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The one I've seen is that THEY are using a "business" account which requires a minimum transaction amount for more than you're selling for. It's the classic "I'll send you $500 to pay for the $100 item since that's the minimum for the business account, and then you send me $400 back."

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Are people really this stupid?

Lake08 said:

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The Dog Lord said:

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infinity ag said:

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jopatura said:

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You would get an official looking email from Zelle that said you needed to unlock Zelle for Business by paying a $$$ fee, but you would get it back as a discount on the transaction.

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Don't think so

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The one I've seen is that THEY are using a "business" account which requires a minimum transaction amount for more than you're selling for. It's the classic "I'll send you $500 to pay for the $100 item since that's the minimum for the business account, and then you send me $400 back."

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Are people really this stupid?

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I'm a banker. You wouldn't believe the things people fall for.

Duckhook said:

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Lake08 said:

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The Dog Lord said:

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infinity ag said:

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jopatura said:

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You would get an official looking email from Zelle that said you needed to unlock Zelle for Business by paying a $$$ fee, but you would get it back as a discount on the transaction.

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Don't think so

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The one I've seen is that THEY are using a "business" account which requires a minimum transaction amount for more than you're selling for. It's the classic "I'll send you $500 to pay for the $100 item since that's the minimum for the business account, and then you send me $400 back."

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Are people really this stupid?

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I'm a banker. You wouldn't believe the things people fall for.

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Had an old boss fall for the give you more $$ you refund me the extra trick once when selling a boat.

Ryan the Temp said:

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Of course, if you get a generic message saying "Is this item still available?" 99.9% of the time it's a scam.

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I see so many people mention this in their listings.. and my brother and I were arguing the same thing.


I've bought and sold easily several dozen, maybe 50 items, a few thousands bucks worth over ~2 years.
Literally every single item started with 'is this item still available' for the conversation.

I don't know why people think that equates to scam. To me, it equates to laziness (that's the prefilled message) AND, well, it's the first thing I would ask anyway! Or in the case of selling, it gets the conversation going, assuming I indeed haven't already sold it and forgot to remove listing.

my first reply to 'is this still available' is 'it is, when can you see it or pick it up'

The reply to THAT response easily weeds out the scams from the real people, in addition to just looking at the profile of the person.. no friends, no picture, foreign country, etc.. scam.

When I see the profile pic is some dude in a broncos shirt or at a bar or outside.. literally almost anything, plus info in the 'about' section like where they live, etc.. OK this is likely real.

It's common for sellers to take that approach to that message because the scammers run bot accounts that use that automated message almost exclusively. Doing more than that requires more sophisticated bots.

ETA - If someone in the Trombone Marketplace group sent me that message, I would certainly look at it different than the general FB Marketplace. It's all in the context.