Hello guys,
For the first time I’m trying to sell something online here in Belgium. Since I posted ads on FB marketplace and [2ememain.be](https://2ememain.be) yesterday, I got a few similar requests where sellers ask for my address, name, price of article (even tough it is clearly stated in the ad) and my email to send me courier with cash and pick up my stuff. One guy also asked for my bank account to allegedly transfer money there and then arrange pick up with courier.
Giving these sellers appeared quite fast and behave in a similar way, I suspect there might be something scammy, but it is not clear for me what the scheme could be?
Is it a normal practice to buy stuff this way, or I just don’t see yet how I’ll get in trouble if I will accept what they offer and provide them my details? I’m selling car tires if that matters.
I will appreciate advice on that and would love to learn what is the trick behind if this is a scam indeed.
Thanks!
12 comments
when selling on FB expect the first 3 responses to always be bots attempting some kind of courier scam.
Ive started using 2dehands.be again instead. You can filter out “new” to try and filter all the stores selling new stuff on it…
No, it’s 100% a scam.
Only deal in person, in a safe place, cash only to avoid being scammed.
The scam will be a fake payment (through a fraudulent credit card linked to paypal, for example), or a fake e-mail representing the payment. They will try to go outside of the platform. Take a look at r/scams for more details on how these scams work.
Never trust a person who wants to send you a delivery company with cash. It’s a trap.
Never send personal information unless you are sure of the buyer.
Depends a bit in what you are selling . But avoid listing your phone number or any other details online . 99.9 of the stuff with couriers is a scam . Open up a second banc account you use only for stuff like this (free in most banks ) so in any case they can’t clear out your main account .
As said, always a scam. First 15-20 messages you get will be scammers. They are pretty easy to spot if you check out their fb-profile. Mostly empty, with a few profile pics (that often don’t match the name).
If you have the time, you can have a bit of fun whit ’em, just for your own amusement🙂
2dehands is the better option if you want to avoid these scammers
When it feels weird it’s a scam. I moved my dishwasher to my parents when I gave up on selling it. I got a message the same day asking if it was still available. I said it was still available, but that I just moved it to a different province. Their response didn’t refer to this at all. Obvious bot is obvious.
Scams and frustration, is what you may expect.
I didn’t have any chance with FB. 2ememain worked for me.
But yeah, scammers. They’re easy to spot if you look for them though. If they ask information readily available in your ad, ignore them. Specify how the payment should occur (I advise cash or app, but never trust anyone else phone if you use an app. They can use a fake app that confirms a payment that never occurred). Bank transfers are fine too, but don’t give / send anything until you received it.
I just kinda try and get a bit of a conversation going. I give an approximate address (just the town/district) until I’m sure I’m going to meet up with them.
All the people seriously underbidding, saying they’re going to pick it up right away are blocked immediatly.
I ask for either cash payment or payconiq
I only do cash/local pickup and clearly state this in my ads. I also offer this if I buy something via those routes, so they know I’m probably more legit than other rando’s.
The amount of scammers is ridiculous.
for 2dehands punt be :
Remove your phone number from your profile. They will try to contact you by sms / whatsapp, and then ask to do shimmery payment systems. Don’t.
I have had mostly good experiences, but I always did payments on the (controlled) chat of tweedehands be. Majority of the people are trustworthy.
This scam in belgium is so popular on FB that it is just not usable for selling electronics.