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Auckland man Tony Bing only found out that his 2008 BMW was being sold on Facebook by a stranger, when a buyer contacted him and offered him a significantly lower price than what he had asked for on his Trade Me listing.
Bing’s Trade Me listing was copied and posted by a profile claiming to be a car reseller, listing the car as their own for less than half the price. The Facebook Marketplace seller account was created last week, under the name Amrit Patel.
“The buyer contacted me to negotiate the price at $ 6000, which confused me a bit because I had listed it on Trade Me for $ 15,000. I finally found out that the buyer was referring to a Facebook listing that I had no idea about, ”Bing said.
Bing said it contacted the police, Netsafe and alerted Facebook on Saturday, but on Wednesday morning, the Facebook Marketplace listing was still available.
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Bing said he was concerned that people would fall prey to what appeared to be a scam.
“It’s a bit frustrating that nobody could do anything. My concern is more for other people who might fall for the trap and pay money to buy my car and lose money.
SCREENSHOT
Tony Bing Trade Me’s listing for his 2008 BMW car was copied by a stranger who tried to sell the car on Facebook Marketplace.
“The only contact they have if they get scammed is mine on my Trade Me list or car registration, which points to me, not the person doing the scam.”
Facebook has been contacted for comment. Patel has also been contacted for comment.
The reseller had also listed two other cars, a 2015 Mazda Altenza for $ 8,000 with the description “cheap price must go away” and a 2008 Audi A4 for $ 6,000.
Netsafe CEO Martin Cocker said Facebook Marketplace was unregulated as it looked more like an online classifieds section than an e-commerce website like Trade Me.
“Many scams are built from real ads. It is not uncommon for people to steal information from other sites to sell their scam. For buyers, it can be a convincing scam, ”Cocker said.
“In this case, there are several victims, the buyer and the rightful owner of the product whose identity is stolen.”
SCREENSHOT
The Facebook Marketplace listing featuring Tony’s Bing’s car.
A police spokeswoman said online Facebook Marketplace scams were common.
“If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Whenever a product is purchased online, there is always the risk that the person selling the product is not who or what they claim to be, ”the spokeswoman said.
He said buyers should look at the seller’s profile, ask for a photo of the item with something dated like a newspaper or with the seller, and verify that the account number matches the name given by the bank.
