10/12/2023
Unfortunately, FB Marketplace has become a reasonably safe place for scammers whose main goal is to steal identities, phish for bank routing and SSN (fake jobs), steal EBT/SNAP benefits, play on your heartstrings with some "down and out" story about having to sell expensive computer or other electronics that don't exist, offer a free car, offer car detailing or duct cleaning work, tell you that Walmart, Texas Roadhouse, Longhorn, and other restaurants are giving away free food, bags, or gift cards (they'd go bankrupt if legit), etc. Another biggie is the 50% off counterfeit USPS Forever stamps that the USPS states come from China. The scammers also "Like" and have other fake accounts "Like" their own posts.
Look at the profiles of people posting these SCAMS. A good indication of a scam is a locked or anonymous profile. Others are from overseas (India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tbilisi, Bangladesh) offering you "too good to be true" money to work a night shift - "transportation provided."
TIP: Distance To Tbilisi From Atlanta is: 6309 miles / 10153.35 km / 5482.37 nautical miles. That's A LOT of "provided transportation" for those seeing these ads on the Atlanta Marketplace page.
Most FB users can spot these scams but some can't. It's no fun to have your identity stolen - we've been there, done that. So, if just one person avoids identity theft because of our efforts at Scammy Buster, job done!
See this FB account for screenshots of articles covering some of the current scams. FB might take down some of the scam ads when reported, but others remain with a notice from FB that the "content adheres to FB community standards" - even if FB has issued a scam warning about the scam ad being reported. We're sure there's a money trail there somewhere.
