A young mum has revealed how cruel scammers tried to rip her off after she listed a $20 baby rocker on Facebook Marketplace.
Sydney’s mother, Danise, was putting some of her old things on the site when she was contacted by a scammer posing as a buyer.
The conversation started normally but quickly became a red flag with the scammer asking her for money as an ‘insurance policy’.
A young mother has revealed the moment someone tried to scam her over Facebook Marketplace
First, they approached her to ask if the baby rocker was still available, which is a typical first question from buyers on the platform.
She quickly agreed and added a smiling emoji to the end of her reply.
The scammer responded by admitting that the price suited them, but that they were too busy to pick up the rocker themselves.
“I will send a FedEx mail carrier to your home to give your money in cash and pick up the item,” they wrote.
But Denise thought she could offer to help and asked where the buyer worked.
‘Is it close? Maybe I can drop it off if you are, said the busy mother.
But instead of thanking her for her kind gesture, the scammer sent another message about FedEx.
“I explain, a FedEx agent will come to your home to give you an envelope containing your money and after you confirm your money, he will give the item to ship to me,” he wrote.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the mum said this is when she should have realized something was wrong, but “it was early in the morning” so she didn’t click for a few more minutes.
“People in the area are usually really nice, so you always want to give them the benefit of the doubt,” she said.
But instead of calling the scammer out on their questionable behavior, she simply accepted.
The mother tried to sell a baby rocker when she was asked to pay the buyer for insurance on the item
“Okay, if that’s easier for you,” she said.
They then asked what time she would be home tomorrow before asking for her first name, address, total amount and an email address.
She replied asking for the FedEx courier to arrive at 11 a.m.
The scammer then demanded money.
“The shipping cost is on my account but there is an envelope insurance cost that you have to pay, but at this point don’t worry, I will add it to the original amount,” he said.
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This confused Danise, who asked what she had to pay.
The scammer explained that the insurance was for the $20 that the FedEx man would bring to her door.
He told her ‘not to worry’ about it as he wanted to add it to the $20 he owed her for the rocker – so she wouldn’t be out of money.
“It will be given to you in cash when the postman comes,” they said.
It was here that Danise seemed to have had enough.
“Sorry, I don’t want to do this, the item is only $20,” she said.
The scammer doubled down and told Danise: ‘Well at this point I don’t know but the FedEx service will tell you by post that you will receive at your email address but at this point don’t worry I will add the cost of insurance to the initial amount so you don’t have to waste a single penny, so if you agree I will contact FedEx,’ they said.
The message thread between the couple ends here, and Danise reported the profile to Facebook.
“I have reported this person, but I’m sure these people can create any new profile and do the same, so be careful,” she said along with the screenshots.
And people in the Neutral Bay community group where the screenshots were posted weren’t surprised by the scammer’s attempt to extort details.
‘It happened to me on Gumtree through WhatsApp. I reported it and Gumtree told me to take my mobile number off the site and just use their messaging platform, haven’t had any issues since. And only trade with locals on the FB marketplace. It’s getting crazy out there, one woman said.
“Yes, I had one yesterday too.. My recommendation is that from the first point of contact, make it clear that you will only accept cash on collection or a direct credit to your bank account,” said another who had been notified of using a PayID scam for something they sold.
‘They said they were transferring me $700 via PayID and I had to click on the link in the email to sign up for PayID and then transfer them back $300. I received fake emails that looked like Commbank PayID etc.. It’s all just a waste of time,’ the woman complained.
Another had been caught with a sophisticated scam on Facebook.
‘I was scammed on FB through an ad for Witchery Clothes. Looked very legit. I ordered a jacket, paid with CC. When I checked my CC statement, the payment was not to Witchery. I looked at the receipt for my payment and the contact was in a Gmail account,” said another.
Others said they have seen the exact same FedEx scam and are now ‘deleting’ anyone who messages the package company.
It’s not clear if Danise ended up selling her baby rocker after the awkward correspondence with the scammer ended.