Facebook Marketplace scams: how to spot one before you pay

Facebook is where most online-marketplace fraud now starts. The US Federal Trade Commission counted $2.1 billion in reported losses to scams that began on social media in 2025; online shopping was the most reported kind, and more money was lost to scams that started on Facebook than on any other platform. In Canada, people reported a record $704 million in fraud losses in 2025, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre estimates that only 5 to 10% of fraud is ever reported.

The good news: buyer scams are repetitive. Almost all of them need you to pay before you see the item, or to leave Facebook’s chat. Learn those two moves and the rest is detail.

The 30-second listing check

Run this on any listing before you message. Each line is a pattern Meta, the FTC, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre or the Competition Bureau warns about.

1. The price is far below similar listings. A cheap price is the bait. Compare it with the other listings for the same thing, and with what similar items really sell for.
2. The seller can’t meet or show it. “Out of town for work”, “deployed”, “moving out of the country”, “my cousin will drop it off”. A local item with no local seller is the most common setup.
3. They want money first. A deposit to hold it, an e-transfer before pickup, gift cards, a wire, crypto, or Zelle, Venmo, Cash App or PayPal Friends and Family. Meta advises against deposits without first checking the item and who owns it.
4. They want to leave Facebook’s chat. WhatsApp, a text, an email. Off Facebook, there is no record Facebook can act on, and no warning when a link is dodgy.
5. The profile is new, empty, or selling the same item in several cities. Open the seller’s profile and their other listings. Ten identical PS5s across three provinces is not a person clearing out a basement.
6. The photos are stock, copied or don’t match. Run a photo through Google Lens. If the same picture turns up on a store site, an old listing or a different city, walk away.
7. There is pressure. “Lots of interest, first to pay gets it.” Meta lists pushing you to move quickly as a red flag. A real seller can wait the hour it takes you to drive over.
8. You get a link to an outside checkout, escrow, courier or “protection” page. Meta warns that these links lead to fake sites built to take your card or bank details, and Kijiji says it does not partner with any shipping, inspection or escrow company.
9. The wording is generic. “The item”, copied text that doesn’t fit the photos, and odd spelling are signs the CAFC lists. Ask a specific question; a scripted seller often can’t answer it.
10. Anyone asks for a code. A seller who wants to “verify you’re real” by reading back a code sent to your phone is stealing your number or your account. The FTC’s verdict on sharing a code you didn’t request: “That’s a scam, every time.”

One flag means slow down and ask questions. Two means walk away. Payment first or a code request means walk away on their own.

Buyer scams, one by one

Rentals

Rental scams use copied photos, rent below the local going rate and a landlord who can’t show the place. The FTC counted about 65,000 rental scam reports since 2020 and $65 million in reported losses, and about half of the reports in the 12 months to June 2025 said the scam started on Facebook. Never pay a deposit or first month’s rent before you’ve toured the place with the real landlord and signed a lease.

Tickets

Tickets are easy to fake and easy to sell twice. Buy through the venue or its official resale site where you can, and accept only a transfer inside the ticketing app. If a friend’s account is suddenly selling tickets, call your friend: hacked accounts sell a lot of tickets that don’t exist.

Pets

Pet scams use a breeder’s stolen photos, then ask for fee after fee: shipping, a crate, insurance. Meet the animal before you pay anything, and treat a request for a delivery fee as the end of the conversation.

Phrases scammers use

These are typical lines, written out so you can recognise them. None of them is proof on its own, but each one is worth a second look.

Deposit and payment first

• “Lots of interest. Send a $50 deposit and I’ll hold it for you.”
• “E-transfer first and it’s yours, I’ll bring it tonight.”
• “I only take Zelle” or “PayPal friends and family only, no fees that way.”
• “Can you pay with Apple or Google Play gift cards?”
• “Just cover the shipping and insurance and the courier brings it to your door.”

Moving off Facebook

• “Text me at 416-555-…, I don’t check Messenger.”
• “Add me on WhatsApp, it’s easier.”
• “What’s your email? I’ll send the invoice.”
• “I need to know you’re real. I’ll send a code to your phone, read it back to me.”

The seller who isn’t there

• “I’m out of town for work, my cousin will drop it off.”
• “I’m moving out of the country and need it gone this week.”
• “I’m deployed overseas, the car is with a shipping company.”

Pressure

• “Someone is coming at 6, but if you pay now it’s yours.”
• “Facebook takes a fee, let’s do it outside.”

Good signs

Good signs don’t prove a seller is honest, but they are hard for a scammer to fake:

• A receipt, the original box or the manual.
• One owner, with service or maintenance records (for cars and bikes).
• The seller is happy to video call, or to show the item working when you arrive.
• Local pickup, at their home or a public place, at a time that suits you.
• For a car, the ownership or title in the seller’s own name, matching their ID.
• A profile with history: years on Facebook, past listings, seller ratings.

Where to report a scam, by country

Report the listing, the seller’s profile and the Messenger conversation inside Facebook first. On a listing, open the ••• menu and choose Report listing; on a profile, use the same menu; in Messenger, open the conversation details and choose Report. Then report to the national centre where you live.

Already paid?

Speed matters more than anything else here.

1. Call your bank, card issuer or payment app now. Card payments can be disputed with a chargeback. PayPal Goods and Services has a dispute process. E-transfers, Zelle, gift cards, wires and crypto are usually final, but banks can sometimes stop a payment that hasn’t been collected yet, so ask anyway.
2. Save everything. Screenshot the listing, the seller’s profile and its web address, the whole conversation and your payment receipt. Scammers delete listings and profiles quickly.
3. Report it. Inside Facebook, and to the national centre in the table above. If you paid through Facebook’s checkout, open a Purchase Protection claim: see what Facebook’s buyer protection covers.

How Sift flags scams

Sift is a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji. On a computer, it reads each listing’s text and puts small chips on the photo, so the warning is there before you write a word:

• “Check this” chips for deposit or payment first (e-transfer first, gift cards, wire, Zelle, PayPal friends), contact off the platform (WhatsApp, “text me at”, phone numbers, email addresses), a remote seller (“moving out of the country”, shipping only for something you’d normally pick up), and a price under half the going rate on the page.
• Green chips for good signs: one owner, service records, a receipt, the original box, a clean title or Carfax, warranty left.
• One-click checks: run the listing photo through Google Lens to catch a stolen picture, or see what the item sold for on eBay.

It doesn’t catch everything. Sift points at wording and prices; a careful scammer can write a clean listing, and a listing with no chips is not a safe one. The chips say “Check this”, never “scam”, because the decision stays yours. Sift runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer, not in the Facebook app. On Kijiji, the same scripts turn up, and Sift flags them there too.