Free online auction and selling sites such as eBay, Vinted, Depop and Gumtree, amongst others, are a great way to make a bit of extra cash for these items. You can also advertise items for sale on Facebook Marketplace, but unlike most of the sites dedicated to this practice, both the buyer and seller are left alone to arrange payment and then subsequent delivery or pickup.

Criminals have become wise to this and are using this to exploit the sellers by offering the opportunity of a quick sale at the asking price and offering to pick the item up via a courier service. In most cases, this is a scam! Once paid, the delivery never happens, the criminal profile will be uncontactable, and the person has lost the money, on top of not selling the item that they thought had sold.

Legitimate sellers on Facebook Marketplace will not request any additional payment beyond the cost of the item and shipping fees. If someone asks you to send money for the unexpected charges, cancel the transaction immediately and report the fake profile to Facebook using the ‘Report seller’ process.