In the past year, Netsafe has received a steady stream of reports about trading platforms including Marketplace.
“We see that those increased numbers will [result in] more problematic transactions, more scams, [and] more rip-offs,” Netsafe’s chief online safety officer Sean Lyons said.
Trade Me isn’t perfect, said Lyons. But because it makes money from successful transactions, the platform has an interest in allowing sellers to verify themselves and their addresses.
Platforms that make money from advertising such as Marketplace have a vested interest in increasing traffic, even if some of that is dubious.
“Marketplace is allowing people to communicate with other people.”
Marketplace sales have few or no protections. Unless you pay with a credit card, or PayPal, it’s unlikely you can claim back any losses, and even then it may not be easy.
Ping, on Trade Me offers some protection. Deals gone wrong may be refunded.
Late last year I sold dozens of items mainly via Trade Me, but also Marketplace, while downsizing to move.
Deals on either site can go wrong, but the worst I had on Trade Me was people trying to lowball me. On Marketplace, scammers tried their tricks over and over again.
On a home gym listed on Marketplace, “buyers” more than once claimed they’d paid NZ Post for the item and would be sending a truck to pick it up. Yeah right.
Another common scam involves buyers claiming they’ll arrange delivery but sending a link or QR code that requires you to either enter your bank details, or make a payment for insurance.
Lyons said Netsafe was seeing a worrying trend where scammers use real addresses of people or businesses that sell real products, to convince the buyer they are real.
“In some cases, we’ve heard of people turning up at [homes] and businesses, complaining that they’ve been ripped off. That’s when an online scam turns physically dangerous.”
There are seller scams as well, where the seller asks buyers to pay a deposit or in full before picking up. The scammer takes the money then blocks the buyer, goes silent or closes the account.
Sellers also need to be very wary of bank transfers at the time of exchanging the goods. Buyers have been known to produce fake bank receipts.
Scammers often operate out of scam farms in Myanmar and other countries. Or they may even simply be bots.
Lyons said anyone using Marketplace or similar platforms needs to ask themselves before transacting how much they know about the account they’re interacting with.
“Where is this transaction going to take place? What protections do I have?” If not, pull out of the deal.
Canterbury Police warned at the end of last month to beware of meeting at unusual locations. Criminals could be selling stolen goods, or plan to steal whatever you’re selling.
If you do meet in public, choose locations with security cameras, such as a bank, or even the carpark of your local police station, which will scare off people with nefarious intentions.
Paying in advance of a pick-up is risky, especially for high-value items such as cars. Cash or online banking transactions aren’t protected with either platform. And anyone who asks to be paid in gift cards is a scammer. Only scammers overpay and ask for their money back.
In a statement, Meta said it planned to introduce verification tools to combat scams. It’s currently testing the use of facial recognition technology to detect and prevent celebrity-bait adverts. The press release didn’t mention Marketplace and the company did not reply to a request for more information.
A Meta spokeswoman told the NZ Herald: “The safety of our users is of utmost importance, and we continue to work with industry, the Government and law enforcement to protect Australians from scams.”
She said in the last quarter that it removed 1.2 billion fake accounts and 322 million pieces of spam and that it was introducing online anti-scam warnings to educate people on ways to spot scams.
