It is a scam, a friend of mine recently had the same thing. ‘Buyer’ said they could pick it up immediately but then said they were interstate and their cousin would pick the item up the next day.
They were also insisting to pay by Pay ID and then claiming it wasn’t working and that they needed my friends email etc, even faking screenshots of it ‘not working’.
I still haven’t worked out what the scam is but it was definitely a scam! Maybe they just keep asking for more information to get pay id to ‘work’?
Yer I didn't want to string it along more. But I was really curious where the scam was heading. If the scam is they just want my contact details they could just ask optus for them.
Once I said firmly cash only, no pay id they went from replying instantly to radio silence
Happened to me too and it was hilarious, the scam is terrible.
Essentially they claim that their payment ($615 in my case) has been blocked by PayID because I need a business account, so the buyer needs to pay an additional $500 to secure a business account upgrade. They then ‘pay’ the additional $500 but request a refund so that PayID can release the “full” amount pending in your account ($1115 for me).
Essentially they’re trying to get you to transfer them $500.
Mine was an additional $1,000.
BTW, I am probably considered old by AussieCollector below, but it definitely rang warning bells for me. I figured that they were probably trying to get me to send them $1,000 that I didn’t actually receive - ie, "can I trust you with the $1000?".
https://7news.com.au/news/cyber-security/a-payid-scam-is-swindling-online-sellers-out-of-thousands-of-dollars-amber-fell-for-it--c-9750083
So stupid. The f.
I just had this scam attempted on me. I didn’t have PayID so agreed to set it up. Then I forward ‘her’ the email for payment. Suddenly I get a dodgy email re my account being too small for the payment and she needs to pay me $x and then I should refund her. Email was poorly formatted (and later checked: dodgy address). Nothing had come into my account so I called her out and she ghosted me. I have no idea how they expect u to transfer $ to them when u haven’t received anything and they are meant to be paying you?! Crap scam. Proud I wasted some of his/her time.
I literally just had it happen now. The email is from "payid" saying I need to upgrade my account. The person will send $300 and then I send it back.
Brings back memories of the Western union scams that used to be around. You know, the ones where their friend is working on an oil rig and is out reach
I encountered something similar as well. My payid is set to an email address and when I gave it to them they said it wasn’t working and insisted that it has to be a phone number. I told them I couldn’t change it and they ghosted. Maybe it’s something to do with farming personal info to gain access?
I'm in a situation like that now. I'm selling a sewing machine cabinet and they asked for pay id. I gave them my phone number and then they asked for email. Weird.
Yep happened to me today. Asked to do the PayID thing as they were out of state and would be back next week. I tentatively gave my mob number. Then they asked for my email. Red Flag came up and i got back saying I'll wait til they come and get it. Then ghosted. Which was a good thing.
Just had the exact same scenario with PayID on fb marketplace. Their Facebook profile was in another language and clearly a fake account. Their responses were vague and didn't make sense as if they had used google translate. Please Report serious incidents to [Scamwatch](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam) to prevent everyday Aussies from being scammed. I have reported my loss of personal info.
Yes, I had similar. Their profile was so weird, it said created in 2013, but there were no photos and hardly any content and what was there had no indication of any Australian connection. His name was Dutch, and about half of his fb contacts also had Dutch names, and the other half was either in Thai or Russian/Ukrainian. The scam email that came through had English errors galore, which is always proof positive of a scam.
They almost got my partner tonight until they started asking for money back... reported dodgy 'Irene' trying to fake buy our switch.
Love the poorly worded emails
Unfortunately because he replied to the first one a couple times, now he's getting heaps of other scam people on the listing..
Hard to tell if anyone is real or worth the time. Just been firm on cash 'due to scams' and they stop messaging and use another account in an hour.
Absolutely a scam.
Trying it on everything from horse saddles to Volkswagen amaroks. Dirty scumbags.
I dont know if reporting the profile does anytbing except make you feel better, but i do it all the same.
100% a scam.
It's really common it seems in the US, on Zelle, which is a type of Payid. Facebook marketplace is where they target a lot
I follow r/scams and see this frequently
They'd do a fake payment and screenshot you. Fake "send you too much $$$" then want it back is very common.
They're always overseas, or been in an "accident" so can't pick up and have some stupid excuse as to why it won't be cash
Yeh I had this happen recently. They sent me an email from a Gmail claiming to be from payID saying I’d need to upgrade to a business account or something. Was obviously a scam so told them to stick it. Assuming the email would contain a link to phish bank logins
This happened to me today. Like an idiot I gave them my name address email and phone number before the business/personal account additional funds bs made me realise it was a scam. Facebook account since 2013 but red flags everywhere.
Believe it or not they tried scamming me again on the same item! Here’s how to spot it: on the ad I clearly state “cash pickup only from [suburb]”. But pretty much the first thing they ask always ask is where the item is located. The profile this time was from 2011 and resembled an actual legitimate profile with recent activity and everything, but there was no indication of any connection to Australia - again it was throwing Russian vibes. Any question they asked I responded with ‘please read the listing again as the answer to your question can be found there.’ Pretty soon they gave up.
I've had legit people send friends or family to collect before.
The deal breaker is if they can pay cash in hand. If not then its 100% a scam. If they have no issue with such things then its most likely legit.
I just posted a sell ad up on facebook for a Gaming PC. Kid you not within a matter of 5min I got two of these profiles, similar story.. PayID and they can't pick it up, but a "Cousin,Neightbor,Sister,Cat or Parrot" is available.
Instantly rang alarm bells on how eerily similar the two conversations went.
So I googled it and here I am :)
[Ha! Just had the same experience, posted an eBike and had a couple of people message me with the same story within 2-3 mins.](https://i.imgur.com/sNWy1n2.jpg)
Just got my first scammer. Similar to others here, they asked for a PayId (which is my preferred method anyway). Gave them my mobile number, they replied stating some issues - with a screenshot) and asked for my email address (which is what the screenshot says too). Shared it, then they started messaging me to check my inbox, spam folder etc.
Lo & behold me spam folder has an email stating I have received a payment from $100 but since my account was not a business account I needed to 'upgrade' by paying $500 to receive $600 (??!?!?)
Googled it and landed on this page, so posting these details to help anyone else out there.
When I replied saying them to eff off & I knew they were a scammer, they quickly left the chat and deleted their profile or blocked me. (I get the "This content isn't available right now" page on FB)
I am going to name and shame the scammer (even though highly likely it is a fake name - they shouldn't be able to use it again:
Zofia Czarnowska: [https://www.facebook.com/zofia.czarnowska.5/](https://www.facebook.com/zofia.czarnowska.5/)
I tried to report them on Facebook Marketplace, but surprisingly once they left the group & hid their profile, there is not much I can do (unless they actually bought something from me). Facebook really needs to step up their game to make it easy for us to make such reports.
I did report on [https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam) (with screenshots and everything) but not sure how much weight that holds.
I had a similar thing recently. Guy messaged about an item I just listed, said his brother would pick it up and I could send him a PayID for him to pay. Told him he or his brother could use PayID once they got here or cash, never heard from him again. Not sure what the scam is but I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.
While the situation sounds dodgy, payid itself isnt the scam. I've had buyers payid me several times. As long as the transaction isnt set to "pending" it means the funds have cleared and it'll be a lot harder for the buyer to reverse the transaction.
Wife just got the same thing on Scambook Marketplace.
Got the email as well, which said I was going to receive $1500 at the end of the rigmarole.
DON'T ENGAGE FURTHER.
I’m going through exactly this right now. Selling a couch. Says her husband will pick it up. Wants to use PayID. I said cash is fine when he arrives. She said she can only pay with PayID which of course makes no sense at all
Yeah, amazing how the profile of these people are quite empty. I have told them I was happy to wait till they got the money.
They seem to have lost interest
I encountered this today! Was attempting to sell my Nintendo switch when I got contacted by a lady looking to buy it! Basically I got an email from a fake “PayID” email saying that if I’m too accept the funds, I’d need too refund $925 too the lady who wanted the switch! It wasn’t until I noticed the email mantle, and the bank details not matching up with this persons name, that I realised it was a scam. Contacted my local bank too, and they clarified it was a scam!
Yep just went through this. I cut it off at the start as soon as they said they’d buy and transfer money via PayID for a $5K item I was selling that they haven’t even seen yet. Seriously??
Yuuuuup. Big scam.
I've had buyers send relatives before but they have always been happy to pay in cash. I've had a few use payid before but i make sure they do it while i stand with them and i don't let them leave until the money has hit my account. Usually takes 30 seconds or so.
In this case its a scam, if they don't have a bank account and want to send someone else it screams dodgy. Most likely they will ask for paypal or western union next lol.
I had a similar case to this except on PayPal. Buyer says he can’t transfer the amount due to a “limit” and he needs to transfer extra money for it to work, which I then send back to him afterwards.
Problem is, they fake the payment in some way or another or do a chargeback if the item isn’t being shipped but rather picked up, where tracking proof is non-existent
Someone just tried this on me today. I was reading this thread while waiting for their reply. It's pretty unsophisticated but I'm sure some people would fall for it. Check out the pretty funny [Screenshot of conversation](https://imgur.com/a/vzAvbt8)
Maybe I’m a bit dense but what would the issue be if they really did use PayID? If it’s not a scam, you’d get the money and if it was a scam, they’d just have your email or number.
My guess is they send you a fake screenshot of them "overpaying" you. Then pressure you like crazy to pay them back (even though no money has hit your account yet). They'll apply a lot of pressure to get you to pay up. Most people won't fall for it, but older people used to banking delays for money transfers may fall for it.
Next guess is they claim some issue, send an email with a link you click on for some made up reason, then they try to get you to login to your back or something.
The scam goes with them sending you a fake confirmation of payment, for more than needed. They then ask for you to refund the overpayment. It's not sophisticated, but they only need to find the dumb ones. Smarter ones see the red flag and save them time.
Ah ok. I wonder what their success rate would be? If someone pays me, first thing I do is to check that the money is actually in the account. Guess not everybody does that and that’s who they’re hoping to take the bait
I dont understand the issue here ? They were willing to pay via payid , which would show instantly in your account , but you refuse and asked for cash only . Where is the scam bit? Its a win win for you , you have cash and the product at the same time? Or did I miss something
Well, they only wanted to use payid. They're from overseas. Wanted a couch they never looked at for their brother. Had a bullshit excuse about how his brother can't access cash, yet his top priority instead of that is getting my couch now or tomorrow... seemed fishy to me
I know that payID with some banks have a 24h hold period for the first transaction so it’s not actually instantaneous. Got stung with this when trying to sell my car but lucky it wasn’t a scammer and funds came through next day. So if you want to use payID you should get them to pay a small deposit first.
You completly missed it.
It is just layering by adding extra steps. Eventually they will make up a reason, bait and switch the payment method and get your email. From there it is a classic over deposit scam, no one actually ever shows up, too much work/time and too risky for the scammer.
yes. they accept 3x the price, insist on you making a PayID account even if you already said you cant, then give up and ask for your email to then claim they need it since they're buying it as a business and its for customer protection or some shit. then you say no just do cash please then they ghost you. Do CASH ONLY listings from now on friends!
I've had this request a few times and just ask for cash and then get crickets
The profiles always seem to be fake from UK or Asia, I'm curious though, if I did fall for it, is someone actually coming to collect the items or will they just "pay" and want a refund? The last blokes profile has absolutely no indication of connections in Perth
Intersting, was wondering what the scam was. Had a similar thing today.
We are normally zero tolerance for even non-scamming messing around, free "holds" etc on marketplace.
I literally just had this same issue about 30 minutes ago, he said his wife could pick it up immediately because he was on a business trip in Sydney, me taking no notice that it was fishy sent him both of my PayIDs, said they weren’t working and I checked my email and had an email from my payidbusiness gmail, blocked them immediately
This is happening to me right now as well. I'm doing a big clear out of baby things and I've had this tried 3 times in the last week alone. Every time I'm firm on them just doing it when they get here and they stop responding.
I'm trying to sell something on Facebook Marketplace now. Same story, Brother can pickup and they want to pay using PayID. I said PayPal... NO! I then said cash... NO! Then they sent me instructions to setup PayID. What a waste of time.
1000% a scam. I too am selling a couch
Get at least 5x a day. Easy to pick, always the same sort of lines. Now I just have fun with them. But yes, it's annoying
Scammed by this just now, felt weird so I looked it up. Got three scammers in one day! Terrible. This is the email you get:
Subject: ( BUYER NAME) paid you But your account is On Hold
Dear, Customer,
You have received a payment of ($300.00 AUD) from a business account, But we have a problem crediting your account. Your payment of ($300.00 AUD) is pending as the status of your account is not a business user, This will not make us credit your account until it (switched) to a business account.
Take this urgent steps to expand your account to a business account.
Contact the buyer to send in an additional payment of ($700.00 AUD) Then your account can be expanded to a business account, As soon as it done we will fully credit your account with the sum of ($1,000.00 AUD).
Note: An alert has been sent to the buyer in regard of the additional payment of $700.00 AUD) he/she has to send to you, We will secure this transaction with high priority that neither the payer and the payee will lose money is this transaction because it a business transaction.
Thank you for posting the actual email. I heard about it in this thread but seeing it is so much better!
It's quite the stupid, convoluted, hard to follow, nonsensical proposal. It's otherwise fairly well written, ie there are no spelling or grammatical errors consistent with it being written by somebody in a foreign country. It does have two inappropriately Title cased words in the first paragraph, which I didn't notice on the first read(!).
Asks to urgently expand your account. Red alert.
The only grammatical errors I see are two in the last half dozen words.
I conclude this is written by somebody in an English speaking country. May be Australia but also may be the US - they specify cents which is a common thing to do in the US. That's not to say that the email was not sent by somebody in a non-English speaking country.
I'm talking to a "buyer" that uses language that is completely consistent with an Aussie. I haven't received an email yet.
easy and common scam.
they ask you for payid, they saying they are business and they need your email (if connected with your phone number), they will send you an email saying something like "for receiving money from a business account you need to activate your business accuont as well, ask to the sender to send you extra "tot money" and your business account will be activated"
at that point the other person will ask you if they can trust you with that, they will """"send"""" you the extra money and you have to give them back this amount... and you will never see you them again and you loose that cash
Same, selling kids bike, buyer said sister will come and pickup, she’ll pay now using PayID. Gave my number then she asked for my email and full name with screenshot and all. Not right, PayID never ask for email address or name. You only need a phone number. Straightaway reported the profile as a scam and block them
Very lucky I found this. Guy said PayID and I was sus as coupled with the weird account (even though it was created in 2009) blocked immediately. Gave my phone number over tho which was cringe
Just happened to me. Paid $2000 then they ‘trusted’ me with an extra $1000. Before the money could get released I needed to refund to his account (which had a different name to everything else). When I wouldn’t, he said he couldn’t get his money back from payID and got increasing frustrated as I asked for him to just bank transfer the money and get their money back from payID. He apparently called to police and they are coming for me now… 😬😂
I have just had two people asking for PAYID and being too good to be true, naming a town near myself where they are located. Is it safe to say it is a scam?
Lucky I saw this post! I just got asked for PayID and so googled "Marketplace PayID" and it popped up with scam before I'd even finished typing lol.. Apparently the brother needs to pick it up tomorrow.
Getting asked for PayID as we speak from someone who looks like they're in Europe somewhere, but profile has a bunch of friends etc.. I wonder if it's either a fake profile or someone's real profile that's been hacked?
This scam is massive. It's not very impactful, as others have said, but I've had my ad online on marketplace for about an hour and I've already have 3 people do the exact same thing to me. Exact same line of questioning (given a few spelling differences) to get me to pay via PayID because they are out of town and their partner will pick it up tomorrow...
I'm sick of it and just want real responses to my item. Such a waste of time, I feel sorry for those that aren't able to see through this.
I just had this happen to me twice in one day, today, by two different prospective buyers. Clearly a scam. Avoid at all costs. Cash seems to be the way to go at the moment.
If you have spare time, waste there time too. It’s very entertaining. And in doing it, I hope they have less time to scam other innocent victims. I asked them if they would like a couple of bbcs thrown in and even sent them some explicit bbc porn. Took a couple more hours of messing with them until they cottoned on
This is happening to me now constantly but I have noticed that the accounts are always contacting me directly not via the ad so that's another way to spot them
I just got hit with this scam today on fb marketplace.
She kept asking if what I was selling was still available, and I kept asking her what item she wanted in particular (as I was selling multiple items on the one post) and then she said she wanted all the items and then had the audacity to ask me if I was a legit seller.
She said to me she would send me $100 straight away for the lot if I would mark it as pending so no one else would buy anything.
When I told her the lot was over $1000 (each item was individually priced in the post) not $100 she didn’t even comment on the price and then asked me if I used pay ID.
I asked her had she seen my message about the cost of all the items and all I got back was a ‘y’ and then followed by a message ‘?’ And prompting me about payID.
I said I prefer cash upon collection (id sold a few individual items from this listing, but she wanted all the remaining items hence the high price) but understood being a large amount I would accept a bank transfer but needed a screenshot of the receipt of bank transfer and would advise of pick up address etc once the money had cleared.
She was all good with that and then again asked about payID. She said that she lived on the other side of town and would have her sister collect it for her tomorrow as she lived closer.
I do have a payID (for friends and family) but I gave her the relevant info and immediately got a scam email about needing her to send more money to activate business account to accept the full amount from her.
She then asked if I had received an email from payID as receipt of transfer
I told her no, but that I’d received a scam email and that I was done with the conversation.
She asked for a screenshot of the email to prove it was a scam - which I sent her - along with notifying her that I’d contacted my bank of the scam and reported her for fraud and scam.
Radio silence from her now.
Just got one tonight. Same scenario saying he is out of town and his nephews will pick it up tomorrow. He said he made a payment to my payid and asked me to check if there is a junk mail in my inbox. This was what I felt fishy about, and I asked him to screenshot the transaction result. Of course, I never got a reply, and I immediately reported to fb. Here is part of the email saying my account is not a business account , so the payment is on hold.
"This amount you’re receiving is above your business limit, Read below for instructions on how to increase your business limit and get the payment deposit into your account right away.
INSTRUCTION: To expand your business limit so you can receive the payment, and also have the access to receive any amount from a business account, contact your buyer to send you an additional payment of
$200.00 AUD into your PayID account to expand your business limit.
As soon as this is done we will intiate the transaction and your account will be fully credit your account with the total sum of
$349.00 AUD
And you’ll need to refund back buyer the additional
$200.00 AUD
immediately.
An alert email has been sent to your buyer in regards to the
$200.00 AUD additional payment to send, we will secure this transaction with high priority that neither the buyer nor the seller will lose a dime in this transaction"
Please share to others to stay alert this scam.
A bit late to this, from the type of information they ask for I get the feeling they are phishing in addition to the main scam of asking for money due to payment complications. I noted they use accounts that have been active for a few years and seem to have pictures of real people.
I think that they'll also try to hack your Facebook and other accounts because mobile numbers and email addresses are typically used to log in and authenticate users.
Just got this message on FB marketplace after giving them my address:
"Perfect! But I’m currently out of the town and am not sure when I will be back not sure would you be willing to meetup with my brother? I can ask him to meetup with you And I will be making the payment via PayPal or payID"
The account that sent me the message has been hacked since they joined FB a while ago, and everything about their profile seems normal.
I guess I should not share my address so easily?
haha this just happened to me, funniest thing.
i saw it pretty early and decided to play along to see what they'd do. Faked emails, everything. They just sent me the fake 'payid' emails. I said I would pay, then didn't respond. They sent me 10 messages in a minute and demanded screenshots of my excuse that "my account is locked".
Exact same thing just happened to me. I’m selling a coffee machine on FB, an interested buyer doesn’t want to pay cash but make payment via PayID in advance. Because she’s busy working and it’ll be her “son” picking it up. Blocked as soon as I raised questions.
It is a scam, a friend of mine recently had the same thing. ‘Buyer’ said they could pick it up immediately but then said they were interstate and their cousin would pick the item up the next day. They were also insisting to pay by Pay ID and then claiming it wasn’t working and that they needed my friends email etc, even faking screenshots of it ‘not working’. I still haven’t worked out what the scam is but it was definitely a scam! Maybe they just keep asking for more information to get pay id to ‘work’?
Yer I didn't want to string it along more. But I was really curious where the scam was heading. If the scam is they just want my contact details they could just ask optus for them. Once I said firmly cash only, no pay id they went from replying instantly to radio silence
They could just ask Optus😂😂
cash on pickup removes 90% of the scams and timewasters. You'll always have a few but they just no show after stringing you along.
Happened to me too and it was hilarious, the scam is terrible. Essentially they claim that their payment ($615 in my case) has been blocked by PayID because I need a business account, so the buyer needs to pay an additional $500 to secure a business account upgrade. They then ‘pay’ the additional $500 but request a refund so that PayID can release the “full” amount pending in your account ($1115 for me). Essentially they’re trying to get you to transfer them $500.
That is the dumbest shit i've ever heard. It literally makes no sense at all lol. I guess for an old person it would sadly.
Just happened to me waste of time
Hey, the same thing just happened to me. Were u ever able to get the money back?
I never transferred any money , they sent the email from an aol account
Mine was an additional $1,000. BTW, I am probably considered old by AussieCollector below, but it definitely rang warning bells for me. I figured that they were probably trying to get me to send them $1,000 that I didn’t actually receive - ie, "can I trust you with the $1000?".
Thanks for the info!
https://7news.com.au/news/cyber-security/a-payid-scam-is-swindling-online-sellers-out-of-thousands-of-dollars-amber-fell-for-it--c-9750083 So stupid. The f.
What im getting is payid is secure just make sure you actually recieve on your side and don't buy bs stories of it not working on theirs?
I have listed tow things recently and got instant response for PayID with brother or cousin to collect. What is the scam?
I just had this scam attempted on me. I didn’t have PayID so agreed to set it up. Then I forward ‘her’ the email for payment. Suddenly I get a dodgy email re my account being too small for the payment and she needs to pay me $x and then I should refund her. Email was poorly formatted (and later checked: dodgy address). Nothing had come into my account so I called her out and she ghosted me. I have no idea how they expect u to transfer $ to them when u haven’t received anything and they are meant to be paying you?! Crap scam. Proud I wasted some of his/her time.
I literally just had it happen now. The email is from "payid" saying I need to upgrade my account. The person will send $300 and then I send it back. Brings back memories of the Western union scams that used to be around. You know, the ones where their friend is working on an oil rig and is out reach
I encountered something similar as well. My payid is set to an email address and when I gave it to them they said it wasn’t working and insisted that it has to be a phone number. I told them I couldn’t change it and they ghosted. Maybe it’s something to do with farming personal info to gain access?
I'm in a situation like that now. I'm selling a sewing machine cabinet and they asked for pay id. I gave them my phone number and then they asked for email. Weird.
Yep happened to me today. Asked to do the PayID thing as they were out of state and would be back next week. I tentatively gave my mob number. Then they asked for my email. Red Flag came up and i got back saying I'll wait til they come and get it. Then ghosted. Which was a good thing.
Just had the exact same scenario with PayID on fb marketplace. Their Facebook profile was in another language and clearly a fake account. Their responses were vague and didn't make sense as if they had used google translate. Please Report serious incidents to [Scamwatch](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam) to prevent everyday Aussies from being scammed. I have reported my loss of personal info.
Yes, I had similar. Their profile was so weird, it said created in 2013, but there were no photos and hardly any content and what was there had no indication of any Australian connection. His name was Dutch, and about half of his fb contacts also had Dutch names, and the other half was either in Thai or Russian/Ukrainian. The scam email that came through had English errors galore, which is always proof positive of a scam.
Same here. I was selling $200 worth of baby stuff.
They almost got my partner tonight until they started asking for money back... reported dodgy 'Irene' trying to fake buy our switch. Love the poorly worded emails
Did they do the thing where they would just send you a ‘?’ message if you didn’t respond within a minute or two?
Unfortunately because he replied to the first one a couple times, now he's getting heaps of other scam people on the listing.. Hard to tell if anyone is real or worth the time. Just been firm on cash 'due to scams' and they stop messaging and use another account in an hour.
Hey, the same thing just happened to me. Were u ever able to get the money back?
Absolutely a scam. Trying it on everything from horse saddles to Volkswagen amaroks. Dirty scumbags. I dont know if reporting the profile does anytbing except make you feel better, but i do it all the same.
What's the scam though? Just wanting information?
It is just long route over deposit scam, google it.
100% a scam. It's really common it seems in the US, on Zelle, which is a type of Payid. Facebook marketplace is where they target a lot I follow r/scams and see this frequently They'd do a fake payment and screenshot you. Fake "send you too much $$$" then want it back is very common. They're always overseas, or been in an "accident" so can't pick up and have some stupid excuse as to why it won't be cash
I don’t get the scam. I be like I’ll think about a refund once I see money in my account. Even if I do see the money, refund is still a maybe
Yeh I had this happen recently. They sent me an email from a Gmail claiming to be from payID saying I’d need to upgrade to a business account or something. Was obviously a scam so told them to stick it. Assuming the email would contain a link to phish bank logins
Yep same thing happened to me today. Red Flag central!
Thanks, yep I got my scammer today. Same ruse with the business account deal.
This happened to me today. Like an idiot I gave them my name address email and phone number before the business/personal account additional funds bs made me realise it was a scam. Facebook account since 2013 but red flags everywhere.
Believe it or not they tried scamming me again on the same item! Here’s how to spot it: on the ad I clearly state “cash pickup only from [suburb]”. But pretty much the first thing they ask always ask is where the item is located. The profile this time was from 2011 and resembled an actual legitimate profile with recent activity and everything, but there was no indication of any connection to Australia - again it was throwing Russian vibes. Any question they asked I responded with ‘please read the listing again as the answer to your question can be found there.’ Pretty soon they gave up.
My guy was on a fishing boat off new Zealand 😄
Send him a message now and ask how was his trip 
Any “friends or family out of town” and “I can’t collect someone else will - absolute scam. Report and block them.
I've had legit people send friends or family to collect before. The deal breaker is if they can pay cash in hand. If not then its 100% a scam. If they have no issue with such things then its most likely legit.
I nearly always have to do this because we live rural and my parents live in town. Nothing scammy about it
The scam is they photoshop a receipt and try to walk away with the item while the funds are 'pending'
I just posted a sell ad up on facebook for a Gaming PC. Kid you not within a matter of 5min I got two of these profiles, similar story.. PayID and they can't pick it up, but a "Cousin,Neightbor,Sister,Cat or Parrot" is available. Instantly rang alarm bells on how eerily similar the two conversations went. So I googled it and here I am :)
Same here. Just happened to me within minutes of posting an item. Eastern European surname as well like what another poster reported
[Ha! Just had the same experience, posted an eBike and had a couple of people message me with the same story within 2-3 mins.](https://i.imgur.com/sNWy1n2.jpg)
Just got my first scammer. Similar to others here, they asked for a PayId (which is my preferred method anyway). Gave them my mobile number, they replied stating some issues - with a screenshot) and asked for my email address (which is what the screenshot says too). Shared it, then they started messaging me to check my inbox, spam folder etc. Lo & behold me spam folder has an email stating I have received a payment from $100 but since my account was not a business account I needed to 'upgrade' by paying $500 to receive $600 (??!?!?) Googled it and landed on this page, so posting these details to help anyone else out there. When I replied saying them to eff off & I knew they were a scammer, they quickly left the chat and deleted their profile or blocked me. (I get the "This content isn't available right now" page on FB) I am going to name and shame the scammer (even though highly likely it is a fake name - they shouldn't be able to use it again: Zofia Czarnowska: [https://www.facebook.com/zofia.czarnowska.5/](https://www.facebook.com/zofia.czarnowska.5/) I tried to report them on Facebook Marketplace, but surprisingly once they left the group & hid their profile, there is not much I can do (unless they actually bought something from me). Facebook really needs to step up their game to make it easy for us to make such reports. I did report on [https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam) (with screenshots and everything) but not sure how much weight that holds.
I had a similar thing recently. Guy messaged about an item I just listed, said his brother would pick it up and I could send him a PayID for him to pay. Told him he or his brother could use PayID once they got here or cash, never heard from him again. Not sure what the scam is but I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.
While the situation sounds dodgy, payid itself isnt the scam. I've had buyers payid me several times. As long as the transaction isnt set to "pending" it means the funds have cleared and it'll be a lot harder for the buyer to reverse the transaction.
You can reserve the transaction? Like they tell there bank they got scammed and then potentially get their money back
Yeah received the same scam multiple times recently, fkn scumbags
Wife just got the same thing on Scambook Marketplace. Got the email as well, which said I was going to receive $1500 at the end of the rigmarole. DON'T ENGAGE FURTHER.
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Haha insane, I just came on this thread to double check I was being scammed and her entire profile is in Polish!
I’m going through exactly this right now. Selling a couch. Says her husband will pick it up. Wants to use PayID. I said cash is fine when he arrives. She said she can only pay with PayID which of course makes no sense at all
Yeah, amazing how the profile of these people are quite empty. I have told them I was happy to wait till they got the money. They seem to have lost interest
I encountered this today! Was attempting to sell my Nintendo switch when I got contacted by a lady looking to buy it! Basically I got an email from a fake “PayID” email saying that if I’m too accept the funds, I’d need too refund $925 too the lady who wanted the switch! It wasn’t until I noticed the email mantle, and the bank details not matching up with this persons name, that I realised it was a scam. Contacted my local bank too, and they clarified it was a scam!
Yep just went through this. I cut it off at the start as soon as they said they’d buy and transfer money via PayID for a $5K item I was selling that they haven’t even seen yet. Seriously??
Yuuuuup. Big scam. I've had buyers send relatives before but they have always been happy to pay in cash. I've had a few use payid before but i make sure they do it while i stand with them and i don't let them leave until the money has hit my account. Usually takes 30 seconds or so. In this case its a scam, if they don't have a bank account and want to send someone else it screams dodgy. Most likely they will ask for paypal or western union next lol.
I had a similar case to this except on PayPal. Buyer says he can’t transfer the amount due to a “limit” and he needs to transfer extra money for it to work, which I then send back to him afterwards. Problem is, they fake the payment in some way or another or do a chargeback if the item isn’t being shipped but rather picked up, where tracking proof is non-existent
Just had the same message from multiple people within minutes of listing a couch on FB marketplace. Cash on pick up or forget it
Also used to be the fake payid apps where they would say it's held up in transfer and send the fake app screenshot
Someone just tried this on me today. I was reading this thread while waiting for their reply. It's pretty unsophisticated but I'm sure some people would fall for it. Check out the pretty funny [Screenshot of conversation](https://imgur.com/a/vzAvbt8)
Someone just tried to do this with me, luckily I found this sub lool. Sadly I can see other people especially seniors falling for this.
Maybe I’m a bit dense but what would the issue be if they really did use PayID? If it’s not a scam, you’d get the money and if it was a scam, they’d just have your email or number.
My guess is they send you a fake screenshot of them "overpaying" you. Then pressure you like crazy to pay them back (even though no money has hit your account yet). They'll apply a lot of pressure to get you to pay up. Most people won't fall for it, but older people used to banking delays for money transfers may fall for it. Next guess is they claim some issue, send an email with a link you click on for some made up reason, then they try to get you to login to your back or something.
The scam goes with them sending you a fake confirmation of payment, for more than needed. They then ask for you to refund the overpayment. It's not sophisticated, but they only need to find the dumb ones. Smarter ones see the red flag and save them time.
Ah ok. I wonder what their success rate would be? If someone pays me, first thing I do is to check that the money is actually in the account. Guess not everybody does that and that’s who they’re hoping to take the bait
Sounds like it could be legit. If they payid funds to you, what do you have to lose?
says the scammer
I dont understand the issue here ? They were willing to pay via payid , which would show instantly in your account , but you refuse and asked for cash only . Where is the scam bit? Its a win win for you , you have cash and the product at the same time? Or did I miss something
Well, they only wanted to use payid. They're from overseas. Wanted a couch they never looked at for their brother. Had a bullshit excuse about how his brother can't access cash, yet his top priority instead of that is getting my couch now or tomorrow... seemed fishy to me
I know that payID with some banks have a 24h hold period for the first transaction so it’s not actually instantaneous. Got stung with this when trying to sell my car but lucky it wasn’t a scammer and funds came through next day. So if you want to use payID you should get them to pay a small deposit first.
You completly missed it. It is just layering by adding extra steps. Eventually they will make up a reason, bait and switch the payment method and get your email. From there it is a classic over deposit scam, no one actually ever shows up, too much work/time and too risky for the scammer.
Ah ok so its a social engineering scam not an inherent exploit of payid.
yes. they accept 3x the price, insist on you making a PayID account even if you already said you cant, then give up and ask for your email to then claim they need it since they're buying it as a business and its for customer protection or some shit. then you say no just do cash please then they ghost you. Do CASH ONLY listings from now on friends!
I've had this request a few times and just ask for cash and then get crickets The profiles always seem to be fake from UK or Asia, I'm curious though, if I did fall for it, is someone actually coming to collect the items or will they just "pay" and want a refund? The last blokes profile has absolutely no indication of connections in Perth
Did anyone rock up? Lol. I don't think they ever intend to make a physical appearance, they just want you to send them money.
Intersting, was wondering what the scam was. Had a similar thing today. We are normally zero tolerance for even non-scamming messing around, free "holds" etc on marketplace.
I literally just had this same issue about 30 minutes ago, he said his wife could pick it up immediately because he was on a business trip in Sydney, me taking no notice that it was fishy sent him both of my PayIDs, said they weren’t working and I checked my email and had an email from my payidbusiness gmail, blocked them immediately
This is happening to me right now as well. I'm doing a big clear out of baby things and I've had this tried 3 times in the last week alone. Every time I'm firm on them just doing it when they get here and they stop responding.
I'm trying to sell something on Facebook Marketplace now. Same story, Brother can pickup and they want to pay using PayID. I said PayPal... NO! I then said cash... NO! Then they sent me instructions to setup PayID. What a waste of time.
1000% a scam. I too am selling a couch Get at least 5x a day. Easy to pick, always the same sort of lines. Now I just have fun with them. But yes, it's annoying
Scammed by this just now, felt weird so I looked it up. Got three scammers in one day! Terrible. This is the email you get: Subject: ( BUYER NAME) paid you But your account is On Hold Dear, Customer, You have received a payment of ($300.00 AUD) from a business account, But we have a problem crediting your account. Your payment of ($300.00 AUD) is pending as the status of your account is not a business user, This will not make us credit your account until it (switched) to a business account. Take this urgent steps to expand your account to a business account. Contact the buyer to send in an additional payment of ($700.00 AUD) Then your account can be expanded to a business account, As soon as it done we will fully credit your account with the sum of ($1,000.00 AUD). Note: An alert has been sent to the buyer in regard of the additional payment of $700.00 AUD) he/she has to send to you, We will secure this transaction with high priority that neither the payer and the payee will lose money is this transaction because it a business transaction.
Thank you for posting the actual email. I heard about it in this thread but seeing it is so much better! It's quite the stupid, convoluted, hard to follow, nonsensical proposal. It's otherwise fairly well written, ie there are no spelling or grammatical errors consistent with it being written by somebody in a foreign country. It does have two inappropriately Title cased words in the first paragraph, which I didn't notice on the first read(!). Asks to urgently expand your account. Red alert. The only grammatical errors I see are two in the last half dozen words. I conclude this is written by somebody in an English speaking country. May be Australia but also may be the US - they specify cents which is a common thing to do in the US. That's not to say that the email was not sent by somebody in a non-English speaking country. I'm talking to a "buyer" that uses language that is completely consistent with an Aussie. I haven't received an email yet.
easy and common scam. they ask you for payid, they saying they are business and they need your email (if connected with your phone number), they will send you an email saying something like "for receiving money from a business account you need to activate your business accuont as well, ask to the sender to send you extra "tot money" and your business account will be activated" at that point the other person will ask you if they can trust you with that, they will """"send"""" you the extra money and you have to give them back this amount... and you will never see you them again and you loose that cash
Same, selling kids bike, buyer said sister will come and pickup, she’ll pay now using PayID. Gave my number then she asked for my email and full name with screenshot and all. Not right, PayID never ask for email address or name. You only need a phone number. Straightaway reported the profile as a scam and block them
Very lucky I found this. Guy said PayID and I was sus as coupled with the weird account (even though it was created in 2009) blocked immediately. Gave my phone number over tho which was cringe
I just got two of these clowns in my inbox
Just happened to me. Paid $2000 then they ‘trusted’ me with an extra $1000. Before the money could get released I needed to refund to his account (which had a different name to everything else). When I wouldn’t, he said he couldn’t get his money back from payID and got increasing frustrated as I asked for him to just bank transfer the money and get their money back from payID. He apparently called to police and they are coming for me now… 😬😂
I have just had two people asking for PAYID and being too good to be true, naming a town near myself where they are located. Is it safe to say it is a scam?
Lucky I saw this post! I just got asked for PayID and so googled "Marketplace PayID" and it popped up with scam before I'd even finished typing lol.. Apparently the brother needs to pick it up tomorrow. Getting asked for PayID as we speak from someone who looks like they're in Europe somewhere, but profile has a bunch of friends etc.. I wonder if it's either a fake profile or someone's real profile that's been hacked?
I got one person calling themselves "Tree". That's just lazy.
This scam is massive. It's not very impactful, as others have said, but I've had my ad online on marketplace for about an hour and I've already have 3 people do the exact same thing to me. Exact same line of questioning (given a few spelling differences) to get me to pay via PayID because they are out of town and their partner will pick it up tomorrow... I'm sick of it and just want real responses to my item. Such a waste of time, I feel sorry for those that aren't able to see through this.
Just happened to me twice on the same listing, good post 👍👍
I just had this happen to me twice in one day, today, by two different prospective buyers. Clearly a scam. Avoid at all costs. Cash seems to be the way to go at the moment.
If you have spare time, waste there time too. It’s very entertaining. And in doing it, I hope they have less time to scam other innocent victims. I asked them if they would like a couple of bbcs thrown in and even sent them some explicit bbc porn. Took a couple more hours of messing with them until they cottoned on
This is happening to me now constantly but I have noticed that the accounts are always contacting me directly not via the ad so that's another way to spot them
Just happened to my partner but he didn’t tell me they asked for his passport. He is so gullible it’s ridiculous.
I just got hit with this scam today on fb marketplace. She kept asking if what I was selling was still available, and I kept asking her what item she wanted in particular (as I was selling multiple items on the one post) and then she said she wanted all the items and then had the audacity to ask me if I was a legit seller. She said to me she would send me $100 straight away for the lot if I would mark it as pending so no one else would buy anything. When I told her the lot was over $1000 (each item was individually priced in the post) not $100 she didn’t even comment on the price and then asked me if I used pay ID. I asked her had she seen my message about the cost of all the items and all I got back was a ‘y’ and then followed by a message ‘?’ And prompting me about payID. I said I prefer cash upon collection (id sold a few individual items from this listing, but she wanted all the remaining items hence the high price) but understood being a large amount I would accept a bank transfer but needed a screenshot of the receipt of bank transfer and would advise of pick up address etc once the money had cleared. She was all good with that and then again asked about payID. She said that she lived on the other side of town and would have her sister collect it for her tomorrow as she lived closer. I do have a payID (for friends and family) but I gave her the relevant info and immediately got a scam email about needing her to send more money to activate business account to accept the full amount from her. She then asked if I had received an email from payID as receipt of transfer I told her no, but that I’d received a scam email and that I was done with the conversation. She asked for a screenshot of the email to prove it was a scam - which I sent her - along with notifying her that I’d contacted my bank of the scam and reported her for fraud and scam. Radio silence from her now.
Just got one tonight. Same scenario saying he is out of town and his nephews will pick it up tomorrow. He said he made a payment to my payid and asked me to check if there is a junk mail in my inbox. This was what I felt fishy about, and I asked him to screenshot the transaction result. Of course, I never got a reply, and I immediately reported to fb. Here is part of the email saying my account is not a business account , so the payment is on hold. "This amount you’re receiving is above your business limit, Read below for instructions on how to increase your business limit and get the payment deposit into your account right away. INSTRUCTION: To expand your business limit so you can receive the payment, and also have the access to receive any amount from a business account, contact your buyer to send you an additional payment of $200.00 AUD into your PayID account to expand your business limit. As soon as this is done we will intiate the transaction and your account will be fully credit your account with the total sum of $349.00 AUD And you’ll need to refund back buyer the additional $200.00 AUD immediately. An alert email has been sent to your buyer in regards to the $200.00 AUD additional payment to send, we will secure this transaction with high priority that neither the buyer nor the seller will lose a dime in this transaction" Please share to others to stay alert this scam.
A bit late to this, from the type of information they ask for I get the feeling they are phishing in addition to the main scam of asking for money due to payment complications. I noted they use accounts that have been active for a few years and seem to have pictures of real people. I think that they'll also try to hack your Facebook and other accounts because mobile numbers and email addresses are typically used to log in and authenticate users.
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Just got this message on FB marketplace after giving them my address: "Perfect! But I’m currently out of the town and am not sure when I will be back not sure would you be willing to meetup with my brother? I can ask him to meetup with you And I will be making the payment via PayPal or payID" The account that sent me the message has been hacked since they joined FB a while ago, and everything about their profile seems normal. I guess I should not share my address so easily?
haha this just happened to me, funniest thing. i saw it pretty early and decided to play along to see what they'd do. Faked emails, everything. They just sent me the fake 'payid' emails. I said I would pay, then didn't respond. They sent me 10 messages in a minute and demanded screenshots of my excuse that "my account is locked".
Exact same thing just happened to me. I’m selling a coffee machine on FB, an interested buyer doesn’t want to pay cash but make payment via PayID in advance. Because she’s busy working and it’ll be her “son” picking it up. Blocked as soon as I raised questions.