The fake shipping-label / "I'll send you the label" scam
How it works: You list a high-value item — console, phone, designer bag. A "buyer" agrees to your price immediately and says they'll send a prepaid UPS/USPS label so a relative can pick it up. You get an email with a real-looking label and a fake PayPal/Zelle "payment pending" receipt. The label is paid for with a stolen card; PayPal reverses the charge within days and you've shipped the item for nothing.
Dead giveaway: Real Marketplace buyers don't send their own shipping labels. If they insist on a label they generated, walk away. Only ship using a label YOU paid for, with tracking and signature confirmation.
The overpayment / "refund the difference" scam
How it works: Buyer "accidentally" sends $400 for a $200 item via Zelle, Cash App, or a fake PayPal email. They ask you to refund the $200 difference. The original payment never lands (or reverses), and your refund is real money to the scammer.
Dead giveaway: No legitimate buyer overpays by hundreds. Any conversation about a refund before the payment has cleared in your bank account is a scam.
Off-platform payment request (Zelle, Cash App, Venmo, gift cards, crypto)
How it works: Buyer or seller pushes the deal off Marketplace to WhatsApp or text within the first two messages, then demands payment by Zelle, Cash App, Venmo Friends-&-Family, gift card, or crypto — methods with no buyer/seller protection.
Dead giveaway: Marketplace's Buy Now (Checkout) is the only payment path with built-in protection. Cash on local pickup is fine. Anything else is a red flag.
The Google Voice verification-code scam
How it works: "Buyer" claims they need to verify you're real before driving to pick up. They send a 6-digit Google code to your phone and ask you to read it back. The code creates a Google Voice number tied to your real phone — used for future fraud against other victims.
Dead giveaway: No real buyer needs a verification code from you. Anyone asking you to read back a code from a text is hijacking your number — every single time.
Fake-listing rental / car / pet deposit
How it works: Below-market apartment, car, or puppy listing. "Owner" is out of state or traveling, asks for a holding deposit by Zelle/Cash App/gift card. The listing is stolen from Zillow, AutoTrader, or a breeder's website.
Dead giveaway: Never send a deposit for a rental, car, or pet you haven't seen in person with verifiable ownership. Reverse-image search the photos — stolen listings show up on other sites within seconds.
Bait-and-switch on local pickup
How it works: You agree on a price for a working iPhone / PS5 / power tool. At pickup the box has bricks, a broken unit, or a counterfeit. By the time you check, the "seller" is gone with your cash.
Dead giveaway: At pickup: power the device on, sign into your own account, run the camera and speakers, and test serial numbers against the manufacturer's check page BEFORE handing over money.
Meta / Marketplace "account suspended" phish
How it works: DM or email claims your listing or account was reported and will be suspended in 24 hours. Link goes to a lookalike Facebook login page. They take your credentials, change recovery email, and run scams under your name.
Dead giveaway: Facebook does not message about suspensions through chat or random Gmail addresses. Always check facebook.com/support directly — never click a suspension link.
Fake "is this still available?" link / phishing DM
How it works: Buyer's first message is a link "to confirm the listing" or to a third-party "escrow" site. The link harvests your password, payment info, or installs an info-stealer.
Dead giveaway: Marketplace shows the listing inside its own UI. There is never a reason to click an outside link to confirm a listing exists.
The pickup-robbery setup
How it works: Higher-than-asking offer for an expensive item, insists on cash, picks a quiet meet-up address — often a residential street or unlit lot at night.
Dead giveaway: Always meet at a police-station "safe trade zone," in daylight, and bring a second person. If the buyer pushes back on a public meet, cancel.
Fake escrow / fake PayPal Business
How it works: Buyer or seller insists on "PayPal Business protection" or a third-party escrow site. You get an official-looking email asking you to send tracking AND pay a small "verification fee" to release funds. Both are fake.
Dead giveaway: PayPal never asks the recipient to pay a fee to release funds, and Marketplace has no built-in escrow partner. Any escrow site you've never heard of is a scam.
Buyer claims item never arrived / files chargeback
How it works: After a Buy Now / shipped sale, buyer claims the package never arrived or arrived empty, opens a chargeback, and keeps the item. Especially common on phones and trading cards.
Dead giveaway: Always ship with tracking AND signature confirmation on items over $250, photograph the packed item and the label together, and keep the receipt. This evidence wins almost every Meta Purchase Protection claim.
Triangulation: scammer drop-ships your item with a stolen card
How it works: "Buyer" pays you for an item you don't have, then orders it from Amazon/Walmart on a stolen card and has it shipped to themselves. You get paid, ship nothing — but weeks later the real card-holder disputes the charge, the bank reverses YOUR payment, and Amazon's fraud team links the address to you.
Dead giveaway: If a buyer asks you to drop-ship something from a major retailer they're naming, refuse. You are being set up as the fraud's middle leg.
