SAPS warning about Facebook Marketplace

[mylesillidge]

Criminals prowl Facebook Marketplace in South Africa

The South African Police Service has issued a warning to South Africans buying or selling goods through Facebook Marketplace and other online trading sites.

It followed an incident in Motherwell, Gqeberha, on Wednesday, where a person looking to buy a car on Facebook Marketplace was targeted by armed criminals, robbed, and a vehicle was stolen.

 

[Hemi300c]

Does not go against our community standards...............

 

[saor]

Saw a R40k synth listed for R3500 in Delft. Pics also show up elsewhere. Trap much?

Facebook

www.facebook.com

 

[FiestaST]

"Common sense" & situational awareness goes a long way to avoid unsavoury situations.

 

[RedViking]

SAPS making a difference one warning at a time

 

[saor]

SAPS making a difference one warning at a time

Set up SAPS alerts on your phone then you can always be up to date and avoid danger. Stay alert. Stay safe. Stay SAPS.

 

[ArmatageShanks]

I once let a MASSSIVE Nigerian man into my house when I was selling a dressing mirror, usually I'm not afraid of strangers but that guy wouldn't even flinch if I punched him

 

[WollieVerstege]

This is a crime as old as time itself. Had a friend who was kidnapped, robbed and taken to an ATM to draw money after going to buy something he found in the "Snuffelgids".

 

[saor]

This is a crime as old as time itself. Had a friend who was kidnapped, robbed and taken to an ATM to draw money after going to buy something he found in the "Snuffelgids".

The used market here is so kak with so many crooks taking their chances.

 

[Corelli]

Ever saw the amount of fake and stolen iphones on FB Marketplace. Its honestly insane.

 

[garyc]

There were some recent news articles where the Federal Trade Commission said that Facebook was the primary platform where people lost money due to scams in the US, bigger than text and email scams combined.

 

[Neverwhere]

I sold a fridge on FB marketplace as well as a couch, and received well over 100 messages both times. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say 90+ percent of those were scammers.

When I listed the fridge, I didn't realise how prevalent it was, so I spoke to a bunch of them, and many had some version of a story where they have a friend with a van in the area, and he wants to quickly come see it, and then they'll send the money via eft. I almost went for it at first, but then got the same kind of message from 2 others. What are the odds that there are so many people who all have friends in the area who want to come inspect the fridge, and then they'll do an online payment and the friend will transport it lol.

I was checking their profiles to see if they're real people, and at first glance they look real, with 100's of friends, and some activity. But when you look a little closer you see that the vast majority of their friends are just business pages, or musicians/band pages, or random nonsense. They'll have like 10 real people, and the rest is all random nonsense meant to trick you when you see they have several hundred friends.

 

[chrisc]

Another trick is to list an item as being in a Cape Town suburb. When you get there, it has just been sold but his "brother" has one at his house in Worcester. He calls him and he says its there but you must pay now

My own brother in law lives in Robertson and can get there in 45 mins, so I ask the street address

The address turns out to be a vacant plot in the Worcester industrial area. I confront this seller and he says the map is out of date. But I say, the Google Maps photo is dated 4 months prior and it is vacant