am I paranoid? feels like a scam.

[vash]

if I put up a WANT TO BUY post somewhere, or respond to some FBMP ad.

it feels like a scam immediately when someone responds to me, and tells me..

"I am posting for a friend. he/she said there is a lot of interests and I should call them immediately at 888-get-scam."

it has happened 3x to me. I just let it fall off my brain and let it go. seems unwise to call a mystery number.

thoughts?

[id10t]

high scam potential

figure any legit human will be replying as a normal person does (though ai driven bots...). via the same medium or perhaps a pm if on a forum like here

[masraum]

Yep. That's a scam.

You just retired. Congrats! You aren’t old and gullible yet.

[wildthing]

Yeah, posting for a friend, and creating a sense of urgency are two of the tactics scammers use, among other things.

[Cajundaddy]

Real buyer- Hey I am interested in your Kayak, I'd like to see it tomorrow are you free? Have cash, no games.

Scammers- "I have a friend..." "Will you take $200 for it?" "I can pay with gift card" "I accidentally sent you a check for $1000, send me $800" back" "Can you ship it to Florida?"

[sc_rufctr]

Reading Facebook Market Place ads is good for my self esteem.

Basic English seems to be a challenge for most of them.

[dad911]

The 'good thing' about facebook marketplace, as opposed to craigslist and ebay, is the ability to check someones posts and profile.

If I'm selling, the following goes in my post: "If it's shown, it's available, do not ask. The first message needs to include when you want to pick this up, no holds, first come.

When I'm buying, it's either an intelligent question, or a cash offer to pick up in person at their earliest convenience, if their profile seems to check out.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Reading Facebook Market Place ads is good for my self esteem.

Basic English seems to be a challenge for most of them.

I've read that is intentional. The people that don't pick up on the bad grammar/spelling/whatever are easier to scam than folks that realize that the grammar, spelling, etc... are off. They still may be able to scam the folks that recognize the issues, but it's likely to take longer or result in them backing out at the end. So the bad grammar, etc... is meant to weed out folks that'll waste time.

[zakthor]

I once added a cryptic turing test question to an ad. Funny noone understood what i was asking but the non-scammers all apologetically tried to figure out what i was on about.

Recently sold a coffee grinder. Took 6 weeks i had 8-9 people all trying to nickle and dime me out of $10, same people for ever a month. Oh they can be there in 20 minutes… Kept saying no. It was like they were in it to fish for a deal instead of actually wanting the item. Finally some straight up buyer came and just paid full price. I learned that people buying coffee grinders are a bunch of flints - probably high on caffine.

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've read that is intentional. The people that don't pick up on the bad grammar/spelling/whatever are easier to scam than folks that realize that the grammar, spelling, etc... are off. They still may be able to scam the folks that recognize the issues, but it's likely to take longer or result in them backing out at the end. So the bad grammar, etc... is meant to weed out folks that'll waste time.

It could be but… ive bought and sold with people that couldnt spell or do grammar and they pretty much behaved like one might expect.

Im going with Hanlons razor on this ine:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by dad911

The 'good thing' about facebook marketplace, as opposed to craigslist and ebay, is the ability to check someones posts and profile.

If I'm selling, the following goes in my post: "If it's shown, it's available, do not ask. The first message needs to include when you want to pick this up, no holds, first come.

When I'm buying, it's either an intelligent question, or a cash offer to pick up in person at their earliest convenience, if their profile seems to check out.

And yet on facebook the items with those messages are often as not sold and seller forgot to take down the ad… you might mean well but the world doesnt abide. To me it seems polite to ask. Ive bought tools from people with angry ads and theyre the nicest people in person - i feel bad for whatever past trauma was responsible for the angry facade.

Its the internet - part of the job of interacting is getting a good whiff of each others buttholes.

[WMichelsen]

Originally Posted by zakthor

Its the internet - part of the job of interacting is getting a good whiff of each others buttholes.

This ^^

I just match the energy of the post.
If I'm listing, and get the canned "Is it still available?", I simply reply "Yes." then see where it goes. If interested, they'll come back with better interaction.
Weirdly, they sometimes come back with "How low you willing to take?", the obvious reply is "How much you willing to pay?"

If I'm buying, and the post has the angry anti-scammer rant, I just figure it's an old guy who doesn't post much, but heard about all the dark corners of the cyber world.

Back to the OP, yes, that's a standard scam 99%. If the first interaction is to redirect to some other third-party comm (email or text), without substantial reasoning... definitely scam.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by zakthor

It was like they were in it to fish for a deal instead of actually wanting the item.

For some potential buyers, getting a 'deal' is objective number one...whether or not they end up with the item is secondary.

I know a few people like this...they'll simply walk away from a fair deal over a few bucks