Michelle Concha loves shopping on Facebook Marketplace.
“They’ll have a price, but if I think that it’s a little too high, and then they meet me at my price, then I definitely feel like a winner,” said Concha.
But along with getting a good deal using social media, Consumer Reports says you can also get scammed.
The amount consumers have lost to all types of social media fraud grows every year — totaling $770 million in 2021.
But no matter how sophisticated scammers are, there are ways to protect yourself.
Think about where the sale will take place.
Meet in a public, well-lit area — and never give away your home address
Consider a police station, some even have designated parking spots where security cameras monitor Marketplace meetups.
Never exchange cash
Facebook Marketplace recommends a secure person-to-person payment method, but CR says not all P2P apps are the same.
“For each of these apps, don’t assume that their default settings are ones that manage your privacy, security, and also have the best policies for helping you get your money back in case of an error,” said Delicia Reynolds Hand, Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports looked at four popular peer-to-peer apps: Apple Cash, Cash App, Venmo, and Zelle — and found that none of them reimburse users for sending money to the wrong person or sending too much money by mistakenly adding extra digits to an intended amount.
As for Michelle Concha, she has a tip for shopping on Facebook Marketplace — take a peek at the seller’s profile.
“I actually bought a car on Marketplace, and it’s because we had people in common in the area, that I felt actually more secure buying the car from that person,” said Concha.