Marketplace and rental fraud is high-volume and low-sophistication, which is precisely why it works: the individual amounts are small enough that people take a chance, and the pressure applied is just enough to prevent the two-minute check that would have settled it.

Rental fraud

A property is listed below market rate with convincing photographs, usually copied from a genuine listing elsewhere. The "landlord" is abroad, or the property is occupied, or the agent is unavailable — some reason a viewing cannot happen. A deposit is requested to secure it, often with a story about other interested parties. The defining rule is simple: never send money for a property you have not viewed, and verify the landlord's ownership independently before any payment.

Marketplace fraud

  • The seller asks to move off-platform to complete the sale, which removes the platform's protections.
  • Payment is requested by bank transfer, gift card, or a friends-and-family option that explicitly excludes buyer protection.
  • A courier or shipping agent is introduced who requires payment before dispatch.
  • The buyer overpays and asks for the difference back, with the original payment later reversed.

Checks that take two minutes

Reverse-image search the listing photographs; copied images appear in the original listing immediately. Look at account age and history rather than star ratings, which are trivially manufactured. Ask a specific question only a genuine owner could answer. And ask yourself why the price is what it is — when the discount only makes sense if something is wrong, something usually is.

Pay in a way you can reverse

This single decision determines whether you have recourse. A card payment through the platform leaves chargeback rights. A bank transfer to an individual leaves a recall request that depends entirely on speed and the receiving bank. Gift cards leave nothing at all. When a seller insists on the irreversible option, that insistence is the information.

If you have paid

Report through the platform, contact your bank or card issuer the same day, and preserve the listing, the profile, and the full conversation before the account is removed. These accounts are frequently deleted within hours of a complaint, and the evidence disappears with them.