‘What’s your payID’: Three words that signal your buyer could be a Marketplace scammer

Facebook Marketplace sellers are on notice with fraudsters posing up as buyers in a scam that could cost innocent victims thousands.

As someone who’s been a Gumtree member since 2015, I’ve come to realise that selling a second-hand item online is no easy feat.

From taking the perfect photos to endless negotiations, most of us put a lot of time and effort into finding our preloved goods a new home.

So when you receive the message “hi, is this item still available,” you can’t help but do a happy dance knowing you’re potentially about to free up some space and get a bit of cash in return.

Recently, I put my three-seater Ikea couch that I no longer had a use for on Gumtree, before giving it a second shot on Facebook Marketplace as it wasn’t receiving a lot of interest.

As a newbie to the e-commerce site, I wasn’t sure what to expect but it didn’t take me long to find out what I was in for.

Scammers are asking for sellers to supply a payID. Picture: Rebecca Borg

Within five minutes of publishing the ad on Marketplace, one interested buyer reached out over Messenger asking if the couch was still available.

Truthfully I didn’t give it much thought knowing the potential buyer probably clicked on one of Facebook’s automatically generated messages to show his interest.

After replying to his message, it was only seconds later that I received another message from the buyer asking for my location.

While this was already listed on the advertisement, I still didn’t question it thinking he may have missed it on the ad.

Finally he proceeded to say: “I’m very willing to buy it now so you don’t have to sell to others, I’m currently working (sic) would it be okay if my nephew come pick it up tomorrow (sic) I’ll pay now through payID to secure it, is that okay?”.

Being “old-school” I had no idea what payID was. My family had only ever sold items by accepting cash or a bank transfer as payment and while I heard about payID, it wasn’t something I was interested in.

While contemplating whether I would sign up to payID, I shortly received two more messages from prospective buyers and decided with this much interest I would decline the offer.

“We don’t really know how payID works, we’re a bit old school like that. We’re happy to take cash in hand. Can your nephew come in the evening tomorrow?” I replied.

The buyer got defensive before trying to sell us on the idea of payID, saying “My nephew is not involved in this (sic) He’s only just picking up so no cash”.

“You can set up payID with your bank … so easy and secure.”

I then moved onto the next buyer who I assumed would be legitimately interested as her profile picture was of her and her two children.

But to my surprise our conversation was almost word-for-word to that of the first buyer, with the same situation occurring again with the next four interested buyers.

Before I knew it, I had received six expressions of interest for the couch by scammers within the span of two hours, all asking for me to give them my payID so they could “pay” before even seeing the couch.

After googling “payID scammers on Marketplace”, I quickly realised I wasn’t the only one who almost got caught up in a scam.

Giving away a payID to the wrong person could land you in hot water. Picture: Rebecca Borg

What happens if you provide a payID?

While I didn’t provide a payID, some victims have revealed how these scammers manage to swindle money from you in such a situation, with many sharing their story on Reddit.

For those unfamiliar with payID, it’s a memorable piece of information such as your mobile number or email address which you can link to your bank account to receive payments.

Once linked, you’re able to provide this information rather than distributing your BSB and account number.

According to one Reddit user who says they’re familiar with the Facebook Marketplace fraudster situation, scammers will try to convince vendors to send them their email address so they can “pay” them.

“(They’ll then) send you a scam email where they try and get you to pay money to ‘release the funds’,” they said.

The fake email explains a problem was encountered “while crediting your payID account” before explaining the amount the buyer is trying to deposit is more than what the vendor’s account can receive.

Once a scammer receives a victim's email details, they send a dodgy email asking for money to increase the payID amount. Picture: Reddit/CoconutOil

To rectify this issue, the false email asks the vendor to raise their account limit by sending the buyer funds so the “account limit can be expanded”.

In return, the email says the buyer will be asked to send the vendor the same funds, resulting in a full refund for the seller.

“We will secure this transaction with high priority that neither the payer nor the payee will lose funds in this transaction,” one email example said.

Although many vendors have learned the hard way this isn’t the case and don’t receive any money in return.

It comes as Australians lost over $9 million to online shopping scams last year, according to Scamwatch.

The three red flags

While Australians have developed a greater awareness of scams in recent years, there’s three red flags you should look out for if you’re trying to determine whether an online buyer is fake.

Firstly, conduct a deep dive into their profile. Most scammers on Gumtree will have relatively new profiles while Facebook scammers tend to post odd content in different languages on their feed.

Lack of punctuation, spelling mistakes and an odd profile can be signs you're talking with a scammer. Picture: Rebecca Borg

Another alarm bell is when the person you’re talking to tries to take you onto a third-party app to conduct business. This may include email or WhatsApp.

Lastly, the buyer will create a sense of urgency by insisting they pay straight away without them even seeing the item. They’ll also be against receiving cash and meeting up with you in person.

“We’ve taken action against the accounts which violate our policies. Scammers present a challenge in any online environment, and marketplaces are no exception,” A Meta spokesperson said.

“We’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of our services, and work hard to protect our community from fake accounts and other inauthentic behaviour. We continue to invest in AI to improve the accuracy of our enforcement and strengthen our review systems.”

While there are genuine buyers out there, sellers are encouraged to look for the warning signs and to follow Facebook’s handy in-message tips to avoid scammers on Marketplace.

For more information on how you can protect yourself from scammers, head to the Scamwatch website.