Does this sound like some sort of scam on Facebook Marketplace?

kissenger

kissenger

kissenger

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I have a MacBook Pro advert on Marketplace. A guy messages me. We agree a price of £900. (£100 under asking). He turns up the next day to collect…

He says he took an Uber to get there. He seems really nervous and he’s wearing a mask outside even though I’m not. I try to convince him he doesn’t need the mask but he won’t take it off. I was a bit sceptical with it being Marketplace and I wanted to see if he was who the pics showed (very hard to tell). While we were chatting I ask him where he came from and he said a different place to what his FB profile (which barely contains any info) says. So, he inspects the MacBook a bit, asks a few questions, and in the end says he’s happy with it but that he didn’t bring the money. At this point I’m even more sceptical so I butt in to say I’d like payment by IBT in any case. He says he will go home, send half the money so that I hold it and come back tomorrow to collect. He leaves and I send him my details. After that I check him FB profile again and it’s gone.

I could be worried about nothing and I still have the laptop, but I can’t help feel like he was trying some sort of scam. What do you guys think?
 
Semple said:
This would have been my first guess, although it seems a lot of effort to go to for a £900 laptop. I suppose burglars get away with a lot less these days.
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It's not just the laptop, it's are the other things in the property worth taking?, Is it a nice estate, are the other properties In the area and would they have valuables inside? Nice cars on the drives, etc. Does the OP live alone, house alarmed, how many locks on the doors?, Etc. Anyway it sounds like it was a scam and it has been foiled, but I'd be keeping a vigilant eye on you and your neighbors for the time being.
 
The mask? I'd do the same as they did. There's a pandemic going on and getting worse. Yes, I know we're all supposed to pretend the pandemic has disappeared. But it hasn't.

Wrong address on a scanty Facebook profile? Maybe they moved and they don't really use Facebook and/or don't fancy broadcasting usable personal information to the world (hence the scantiness of the profile, in both cases). It isn't mandatory yet.

But going to an arranged place to buy an arranged thing and not bringing the arranged payment? That's a red flag. Deleting the Facebook profile afterwards? Red flag.

Maybe there's a legitimate explanation. Maybe they were really nervous about being outside for some reason. A phobia, maybe. Maybe they were suspicious of you and lied about not having the money on them. Maybe they were nervous because they were carrying a lot of cash on them. Maybe. But I think you're right to suspect a scam. What details did you give them and are those details useful to a scammer?
 
Angilion said:
The mask? I'd do the same as they did. There's a pandemic going on and getting worse. Yes, I know we're all supposed to pretend the pandemic has disappeared. But it hasn't.

Wrong address on a scanty Facebook profile? Maybe they moved and they don't really use Facebook and/or don't fancy broadcasting usable personal information to the world (hence the scantiness of the profile, in both cases). It isn't mandatory yet.

But going to an arranged place to buy an arranged thing and not bringing the arranged payment? That's a red flag. Deleting the Facebook profile afterwards? Red flag.

Maybe there's a legitimate explanation. Maybe they were really nervous about being outside for some reason. A phobia, maybe. Maybe they were suspicious of you and lied about not having the money on them. Maybe they were nervous because they were carrying a lot of cash on them. Maybe. But I think you're right to suspect a scam. What details did you give them and are those details useful to a scammer?
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I gave bank details for the IBT. Unless I’m mistaken they can’t do anything with those. The rest was just casual chat about jobs etc.
 
Hunterlit said:
It's not just the laptop, it's are the other things in the property worth taking?, Is it a nice estate, are the other properties In the area and would they have valuables inside? Nice cars on the drives, etc. Does the OP live alone, house alarmed, how many locks on the doors?, Etc. Anyway it sounds like it was a scam and it has been foiled, but I'd be keeping a vigilant eye on you and your neighbors for the time being.
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From my reading of the OP the look over the laptop was done outside. OP mentions the potential buyer was wearing a mask outside. So he shouldn't have been able to get much of a view of what's in side / security set up. It's one of the reasons if i sell anything on gumtree/fb then i tend to have the bits outside on the driveway / behind the back gate when they come to collect.

But i agree, it's definitely an easy way to scope out potential victims.
 
Sounds like he was going to attempt to scam you, and then realised you weren’t going to fall for it and left.

There’s a lot of scam guides going round TikTok and other social media at the moment, I imagine some people are just starting out and don’t really know how to pull it off properly yet.
 
Semple said:
From my reading of the OP the look over the laptop was done outside. OP mentions the potential buyer was wearing a mask outside. So he shouldn't have been able to get much of a view of what's in side / security set up. It's one of the reasons if i sell anything on gumtree/fb then i tend to have the bits outside on the driveway / behind the back gate when they come to collect.

But i agree, it's definitely an easy way to scope out potential victims.
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I did invite him in. He seemed keen to do it outside.
 
Pretexting occurs when a thief has done prior research on your personal information, and uses this information to bait you to release more sensitive information, such as a credit card number or Social Security Number. The schemer will call you on the telephone, and lead you to believe they are a business that requires this information. Most people tend to believe them, since they have their name, address, and telephone number.
 
Linking your Facebook account to a physical bank account ready for when you get cancelled for wrong speak/think. I'd go along with the whole 170 genders thing if I was you OP.
 
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