Buyers beware!
A Lake Country woman warns Facebook Marketplace buyers to use caution after her address was used in scams.
At the beginning of April, a woman came to Jo’s house to pick up a fridge she’d bought online.
The woman had already transferred $250 to the person selling the fridge. Unfortunately, that person was not Jo.
Jo wasn't selling a fridge, and hadn't received the $250. The pair checked the messages, and the address given was in fact Jo’s.
“I was kind of a little leery, because I thought, how do I prove [this isn’t me who took the e-transfer] unless I bring a woman, bring a stranger, into my home?” said Jo.
“I felt for her too, because it’s $250 she’s out.”
The next day, Jo had a similar situation, but this time the person trying to pick up the item had her name as well as her address.
It had been a family member living in a suite who answered. They told the would-be buyer that Jo was out back, and to try knocking again.
This person had said they’d already e-transferred for a utility trailer, and wanted to pick it up. Before they spoke to Jo, they left saying they’d return for the trailer. They never did.
Jo took the issue to the RCMP, who advised Jo to put a sign on the door advising people of the scam going around.
They told her that if it happens again to have the person contact them so a file could be opened. So far, it hasn’t happened again.
The whole situation, she says, was fishy.
“I've never seen my side before, where somebody's using somebody else's address to do the pickup,” said Jo.
"That's putting me, or somebody else in my position, in a very precarious position. How do you prove you're not the person selling the product?”
She says anyone buying from Facebook Marketplace should not e-transfer before seeing the item in person. She'd posted a warning on Facebook, and believes both buyers had come from Vernon.
Jo still feels weirded out by the situation, and says this could happen to anyone. She feels lucky that the situation never escalated.
