A SCAM victim has warned others not to get tricked after nearly losing $6,000 trying to sell on Facebook Marketplace.
The brazen con forwarded Ontario native Amanda Mazzotta-Sousa a fraudulent link disguised to look like an e-transfer to swindle the mammoth sum.
“It looked very legitimate,” Amanda, who was given a full refund, told CTV News Toronto.
The mom was offloading a ‘Diaper Genie’ she no longer needed on Facebook Marketplace when a buyer said they would snap it up for $40.
They followed up the message with a link which convincingly appeared to be an e-transfer.
But after Amanda obliged, she was taken to a separate page.
She continued: “I punched in my password and my card number.
“I pressed sign in and it directed me to another page.”
The website continued refreshing on its own before Amanda noticed that someone had hacked her and her daughter’s bank accounts – snatching an eye-watering $6,000.
Angela Dennis, CEO and President of Central Ontario’s Better Business Bureau, pointed out that symptoms of these scams are becoming increasingly hard to detect.
Bank tips for avoiding scams
As scams become more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, it is important you know how to spot a scam:
- Be skeptical of online deals that seem too good to be true, especially on social media.
- Scammers will often use tactics to make you panicked so you make quick decisions – be cautious if you are told to take immediate action and verify who has contacted you.
- Chase Bank warns customers to “never return any unexpected funds without calling Chase first.”
- Never send money to someone you have only spoken to online or by phone as this is likely a romance scam.
- Unless you 100% know who you are talking to, never give someone remote access to your device.
- Never accept help from strangers at an ATM and always be vigilant when making withdrawals.
- Do not send money or click any links indicating that you have won a prize.
Source: Chase.com
“It took her to a website that looked like her bank, so she didn’t question it,” Dennis said.
“The scammers are getting very sophisticated and they know what the banking websites look like.”
Amanda scrambled to inform her bank, who then conducted a ten-day-long investigation which concluded with a full refund.
“I got all my money back. Thank goodness,” she cheered.
The mom urged others to keep cautious when selling goods online.
She warned: “We are just moms trying to help other moms.
“I want to be aware of what happened so it doesn’t happen to them.”
The U.S Sun has reached out to Meta for comment.
MORE SCAMS
Unfortunately, social media sites like Facebook are awash with scammers looking for victims.
In the case of another scam, victims are watching their bank accounts getting drained just from clicking on a comment.
Often, the comment will contain a link to what looks like a news story, and it may even feature a preview image of a well-known news station.
But the link is actually a malicious link that leads to a computer virus to obtain the victim’s banking information.
A new gift card scam is fleecing victims out of up to $33,000 using a fake online romance.
And a text scam is targeting Amazon customers, with some losing up to $6,000.
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Source Link: https://www.the-sun.com/news/11712451/facebook-marketplace-scam-canada/amp/
‘It looked very legitimate,’ mom says as she received text moments after putting item on Facebook
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