5 ways to protect yourself from social media marketplace scams

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In recent years, social media marketplaces have dethroned other online destinations to become the go-to spots for buying and selling in your city, town or neighborhood. These platforms are used for goods ranging from computers and clothes to appliances and sports gear. They're easy, convenient and free — one popular social media marketplace currently engages one billion active users. But just like any popular online phenomenon, these virtual markets have also become a breeding ground for crooks.

Social media marketplace scams were one of the fastest growing scam types in 2022, experiencing a 184% increase over 2021 incidents. It's become such an issue that the sites themselves have taken to educating users on how to identify and report scams targeted toward both buyers and sellers.

Protecting yourself from falling victim to these scams involves investing in the right tools and adopting more astute online habits. Here are five tips for staying vigilant.

1. Install rock-solid software

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2. Ignore deals that seem too good to be true

One of the most common tactics for social media marketplace scammers is the honey trap. A seller might sweeten the deal so much it's like you've hit the jackpot. But if the price you're being offered is way below the item's retail value and significantly lower than similar products being sold on the platform — even secondhand ones — then the deal could be a dud. If you choose to follow through with it, it's best to show up in person and test the product before you fork over a single cent. This way you'll avoid another common scam, too — products (especially electronics) that don't work.

3. Vet the seller/buyer profile

One of the biggest selling points of an online marketplace built into a social media platform is that it gives you the ability to review the profile of the person you're doing business with to make sure they're legit. A history of activity, comments from friends and associates, interactions in groups and other "signs of life" help you piece together a picture of the person you're dealing with. If the user's profile doesn't have a history beyond days, weeks or even a few months, it could have been created for the express purpose of scamming people.

4. Keep all communication on the platform

When a social media site provides the platform for a marketplace, it also holds its users to certain standards. So it's best to communicate with the buyer or seller on the platform only. Sometimes scammers will try to lure you offsite — say to text message or email — then try some of their shady tricks on you. One of the more common ones is asking you to verify that you're real by receiving a code via text message and then repeating it back to them. But this could be the scammer tricking you into sharing a two-factor authentication code, which they might use to try to hack into your account.

5. Never pay a deposit up front

In some cases, a seller might tell you the item you're interested in is in high demand, and they'll ask you to pay a deposit to hold it. Then — you guessed it — the seller just disappears. These kinds of scammers create an illusion of scarcity, but the reality is they never intended to produce a product to begin with. So, unlike other kinds of online shopping, don't fork over payment until you see (and even test) the product.

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