Marketplace scams: how the process works in 2027

Buying and selling between strangers works because a platform sits in the middle holding the risk. Nearly every marketplace scam is an attempt to move you out of that middle (off the platform's messaging, off its payment system, off its dispute process), while keeping the feeling that you are still protected by it.

So the first question in any deal is not "does this person seem honest?" It is "if this goes wrong, who do I complain to, and what can they actually do?" If the honest answer is nobody, the price does not matter.

Buyers and sellers face almost completely different attacks, so this page treats them separately.

If you are buying

Your money moves first, so nearly everything depends on decisions you make before it does.

What the pressure looks like

The price is well under everything comparable, and there is a reason given for it: a move, a bereavement, a divorce, a business closing.
The seller wants to talk on a messaging app rather than in the platform's own chat.
Payment has to be by a method you cannot reverse, and there is a reason for that too: the platform's fees, a broken account, a bank problem.
There is a deadline. Someone else is coming to see it. The deposit holds it.
You cannot see the item in person, and inspection is discouraged.

Any one of these can be innocent. Two together is where deals stop being worth doing.

The set-ups that catch careful people

The listing that does not exist. Photos taken from elsewhere, a description that reads like it was pasted, a location that shifts between messages. Search a distinctive phrase from the listing and a reverse image search on the photos; if either shows up in a dozen other adverts, you are done.

The deposit to hold it. For flats, rentals, vehicles, and event tickets. Nothing is being held, because there is nothing there.

The fake middleman. An "escrow service", a "shipping company", or a "buyer protection programme" contacts you by email confirming the funds are safe and asking you to pay a fee or release the money. The whole apparatus, including the emails and the website, is part of the scam. Real payment protection lives inside the platform you are already using and is visible in your account there, not in an email that arrived to tell you about it.

The vehicle or heavy-item shipping story. The seller is deployed, relocated, or abroad; the item is with a shipping agent; pay and it will be delivered with a return period. There is no agent and no return period.

Tickets and codes. Anything that is just a number or a barcode can be sold repeatedly to different people and works only for whoever arrives first. Buy from the official resale route where one exists.

Counterfeits and the wrong item. More often a not-as-described dispute than an outright theft, which is why it matters that you paid in a way that supports a dispute at all.

Buy so that a dispute is possible

How you pay	What you get if it goes wrong
The platform's own checkout	The platform's protection programme, and a record it can see
Credit card	A dispute or chargeback with the card issuer
Debit card	A dispute, but under different rules than a credit card, and several are time-limited
Instant bank-to-bank transfer	Very little; treat it as cash
Cash on collection, item in hand	Nothing formal, but you inspected it and nothing was shared
Gift card codes	Nothing. This is never a legitimate way to pay a stranger
Cryptocurrency	Nothing. Transfers do not reverse

The pattern is simple: a seller who insists on the bottom half of that table is insisting on a deal you cannot complain about.

Before you hand over money

Keep the whole negotiation in the platform's messaging. Off-platform conversations usually cannot be used as evidence in a claim.
Ask for a photo taken now, showing something specific: the serial number, the item next to today's handwritten date, a particular angle. Stock photos cannot produce it.
For anything with a serial or registration, check it against the manufacturer's or the official registry's own service, not a link the seller sends you.
Read the seller's history and how the account behaves: age, other listings, whether feedback is generic and clustered. A brand-new account with an expensive listing deserves collection in person.
Do not send identity documents to a private seller. There is no legitimate reason for a stranger to hold a scan of your passport or licence.

If you are selling

Sellers get attacked differently: the goal is usually your account, your bank details, or the item plus a reversed payment.

The code request: the most important one on this page

A buyer asks you to prove you are real, or to confirm you are not a bot, by sending them a verification code they are about to text you. Sometimes they say the platform sent it. Sometimes they say it is for a "verified seller" badge.

Never send it. That code is arriving because someone is standing at a login or a sign-up screen with your phone number in it. Reading it out either hands over one of your accounts or lets a new account be created in your name and used on other people. There is no version of this that is legitimate. Codes sent to you exist to prove you are you, and they are never proof to anybody else.

The same goes for any request that you register, verify, or "activate" something to receive a payment. Money you are owed does not require you to release it.

Payment tricks aimed at sellers

The screenshot. A confirmation image showing the payment sent. Images prove nothing. Only your own banking app or the platform's own record does.

The email from "the platform". A message saying funds are held pending your confirmation, or that you must upgrade to a business account, or that you should send the item first and payment will release. Check your account by opening the app yourself. Never through a link in the email.

The overpayment. Too much is sent, with a story, and you are asked to refund the difference or forward it to a courier. The original payment is later reversed or was never real, and the refund you sent was your own money. Refunds go back the same way the payment came, in full, and never to a different account or person.

The chargeback after delivery. Ship only to the address the platform has on record, keep proof of postage and tracking, and photograph the item and packaging before it goes. For high-value items, use a service with signature on delivery.

The buyer's own courier. A collection arranged and paid for by the buyer, with a label they supply, removes your evidence and often your recourse. Use your own shipping account.

If you are meeting in person

Meet in daylight in a busy public place. Many police stations offer a designated exchange area for this; use it if there is one near you.
Take someone with you, and tell a third person where you are going and when you expect to be back.
For large items where a home visit is unavoidable, arrange for someone else to be there, put valuables and mail out of sight, and do not give a tour.
Cash in hand, counted, before the item moves. Check large notes. For expensive items, meeting inside the bank is normal and reasonable.
Do not share your address until a deal is agreed, and consider a meeting point rather than your door.
Leave if it feels wrong. No item is worth a bad five minutes, and a genuine buyer will reschedule.

Reading the listing and the account

A short standard check, whichever side you are on:

How old is the account, and does its activity look like a person or like a template?
Is the description specific (flaws, age, reason for sale), or is it generic and adjective-heavy?
Do the photos look like this person's home, or like a catalogue? Are there photos at all beyond the first?
Does the story change between messages? Distance, availability, and payment method drifting mid-conversation is a strong signal.
Does the other side answer direct questions directly, or redirect to urgency?

When something goes wrong

Stop paying and stop shipping. Including the extra payment that is meant to release the deal.
Contact the payment provider first if money has moved. Say you were defrauded, and ask what the position is for that payment type.
Report inside the platform (the listing, the account, and the conversation), before blocking. Reporting first means the platform can still see the account.
Keep the evidence: the listing page, the full conversation, payment references, tracking numbers, and the account name and handle.
File a report. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission takes consumer fraud reports and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center handles internet-enabled crime. Local police matter where there was a physical meeting or a threat.
Check your accounts if you shared anything beyond the deal itself, and follow scam reporting and recovery for the wider clean-up.

If you sent a verification code, treat it as an account compromise: change the password on that account and on your email, sign out all sessions, check recovery settings, and work through account security.

Specific situations

The seller says paying outside the platform saves us both the fee. Is that reasonable?

The fee is what buys the dispute process. Off-platform, you have a stranger's word and an irreversible payment. A genuine seller who wants to discount can simply discount.

Is a deposit ever normal?

For a private sale of a physical item, rarely, and never to hold something you have not seen. For rentals and vehicles, use whatever formal process exists rather than a private transfer, and see the property or the vehicle first.

Someone paid more than the price and wants the difference back. What now?

Refund nothing. Refunds go back through the original payment method, in full, and only after the money is genuinely settled in your account. Ask the platform or your bank to look at the payment before you act.

Is it safe to give a buyer my phone number?

Prefer the platform's messaging. A phone number is a lever for account recovery and for the code trick above, and it follows you long after the deal is done.