Facebook Marketplace: A scammer duped us on this platform and broke into our home

Facebook has become a very popular site for advertising and selling products in the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. And, scammers are becoming increasingly active and bold in defrauding their victims on this platform.

Lucy True and Chris Forst (a couple of teachers from Derbyshire, a county in central England) recently had a baby, which meant they were in the middle of a very exciting phase in their lives, but it was just one of the many expenses. Was.

As you might expect, Chris didn’t have time to use his computer to play online games, so he decided to sell it online. Facebook Marketplace.

A potential seller contacted him through the site. The couple checked his profile and saw no reason to distrust him.

But things were not as they seemed.

With a three-month-old baby and only minimum maternity leave pay, Facebook seems like the perfect place for a young family to get some quick cash.

He uploaded photos and a description of the computer, and exchanged six or seven messages with the prospective buyer.

As Lucy explained to BBC journalist Hayley Comptom, the man did everything relevant questions And wanted to see the computer before buying it.

“We thought a real person would want to see it first,” he says, adding that there was nothing suspicious about the buyer’s Facebook profile.

“His photographs were of his wife and children. They told where he lived and where he worked,” he says.

Couple received at home And gave him something to drink. The buyer seemed to be a warm and friendly man, who also talked to them about his experiences and difficulties of being a father.

He even met the couple’s child.

“He seemed interested in us and Elodie,” Lucy tells the BBC.

After being shown the computer, they agreed to a price of $880.

Then the man opened what he saw Banking app on your phone, Lucy says it felt real.

“It was a very famous bank,” he explains. “Chris saw the home page and a transfer page.”

Chris wrote down his bank details on the buyer’s cell phone.

After 15 minutes, funds were not transferred, But they were reassured when the buyer showed them a text about transfers on the bank’s website explaining that they could do so delay For two hours.

Elodie was hungry and Lucy didn’t want to breastfeed her with a stranger in her house, so they let him go with the computer,

It was getting dark and the money was still not visible. The couple tried to call him but his number was blocked.

His Facebook profile had also disappeared. they realized it He was scammed.

“We felt guilty. He was close to our little girl, he had talked to her. It was our responsibility to take care of her.”

“He knew our direction. He made us feel unsafe in your own home With a new baby. “We feel humiliated.”

Chris and Lucy reported the scam to them The bank, your insurance company, the police and Facebook, but they say so No one investigated the matter.

“They (police) told us that we had handed over our property willingly,” says Lucy.

Lucy says Facebook wanted the links to the buyer’s profile, but the buyer blocked them so they couldn’t see it again.

“We had his phone number and our neighbors have pictures of his car from their security cameras, but no one was interested. I don’t think anything can stop them (scammers).”

A spokesman for Derbyshire Police says its officers told the couple to contact Action Fraud (the UK’s online fraud and crime reporting service) and reassured them about “future risks”.

But what happened to Lucy and Chris is not an isolated incident: they are part of a growing number of victims who are defrauded through Facebook.

For example, the United Kingdom has a high number of people reporting fraud on marketplaces quadrupled in the last four yearsAccording to Action Fraud.

There were 4,923 reports in 2019. figure jumped 20,735 Last year.

Action Fraud says no one is immune from becoming a victim and highlights some of the tactics employed by scammers to watch out for:

These tips sound very familiar to Emma Kilby, who was also a victim of scammers They used their company name To organize a fake craft fair.

“People trusted us as a company,” says Emma, ​​who runs Naughty Knits & Creative Crafts with her husband Andy in Leicestershire, a county in central England.

The couple is known for its loyal customer base.

One of them saw an advertisement for a company event and since it was not posted by Andy or Emma, ​​he suspected it was fraudulent.

The ad asked for $50 to set up a booth at an indoor or outdoor location at a craft fair. This set off alarm bells for Emma.

“We don’t have any outdoor space in the store,” he tells the BBC.

“I clicked on the profile and they didn’t have any friends and you could tell the photo was fake.”

Luckily, because they acted so quickly, no one lost any money, but it had a lasting impact on Emma.

“It made us feel very unsafe,” They say. “This could have really hurt our business. I don’t know how they can sleep at night.”

Nick Stapleton, co-presenter of the BBC TV program Scam Interceptors, says: Facebook is “full” of scammers.

But it does offer some simple tips that will help you avoid becoming a victim of these criminals.

“Behave online just like you would in real life,” he explains. “Let’s say if you’re dealing with someone you don’t know, you have to think about how they will then are not reliable until proven otherwise.”

“Facebook Marketplace is an add-on to a social network. You have to treat it like classified ads in the newspaper. You have no idea who is in that ad.”

“We don’t want anyone to fall victim to these criminals, which is why our platform has systems in place to stop scams,” Meta, the company that runs Facebook Marketplace, told the BBC.

“People can report this content with a few clicks and we work with police to assist them with their investigations.”

“We have a trained team of reviewers who investigate these reports 24/7 and take prompt action to remove content or accounts that violate our guidelines.”

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