The Trouble With Facebook Marketplace

livemint.com:

Users of Facebook Marketplace say the once-straightforward process of buying and selling there has become anything but. Buyers say they’ve encountered counterfeit listings, payment cons or products that don’t match what was promised. When sellers are scammed, it’s often by a “buyer" showing fake payment confirmation, or they’re inundated by messages that ask, “Is this still available?" The Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker database is filled with hundreds of reports from Facebook Marketplace users who allege they fell prey to fraud on the platform.

The Marketplace section within Facebook’s app launched in 2016 to enable users to exchange items with one another locally. It has since grown into an online bazaar where people can buy goods from virtually anywhere. While it still serves a purpose for people selling their belongings—and many great deals can regularly be found—users, financial institutions and online shopping experts say the quality of the experience has diminished.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms says it invests in tools to detect fraudulent activity, and provides measures people can take to protect themselves from scams. (See below for tips.) Peter Panduro, a 32-year-old software engineer in Sweden, for years used Marketplace to declutter his home or prepare for a move—even to sell a car. When he posted some photography equipment for sale there in December, things had changed.

Instead of inquiries from people in his area, Panduro said he received suspiciously vague, similar-sounding messages from accounts based all over the world. “The moment you upload something, you get an avalanche of spam messages from bots," Panduro said. “They are rarely close to me, and they all say the same thing." Overwhelmed, he