The Facebook Marketplace Venmo Scam

This one almost got me — with arguably the most secure mobile payment app in the industry and my email address.

Even your trusted consumer investigator can be a mark for a savvy cybercriminal. I was so close to losing my personal or payment card information on this one.

It all started with my living room sofa and love seat.

I’m selling them on Facebook Marketplace. I’m very good at selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace. I’m undefeated: nearly 10 sales, almost all of them at asking price, with a 5-star seller’s rating. I know a scam buyer when I see one.

At least I thought I did until this bullet I dodged.

A buyer messaged me about the sofa/love seat. As always, the first thing I did was check the buyer’s Facebook profile. The privacy settings were locked tight for a Marketplace transaction, which should have been a clue. Typically on Marketplace, you’re able to at least establish that a buyer lives close to you, revealing their geographic location. This one didn’t.

So I started a dialogue, asking questions. The buyer gave all the appropriate answers, to a point. She agreed to the asking price, said her sister and brother-in-law would be coming from a nearby town (named the town, nine miles from my house) and asked if I would accept Venmo as a payment method.

I use and trust Venmo, more than any other mobile payment app. Its security is ironclad — never failed me. There’s no way for someone to glean your account number from your Venmo handle. So I replied, “Sure. I’ll share my Venmo information when your sister and brother-in-law have had the chance to come and inspect the furniture.”

That’s when the buyer said, “By the time they come to pick it up, I will be at work and won’t be able to make the payment due to my work’s online policy. That’s why I’d like to make the payment now.”

OK. Still no danger. Not yet. Until what happens next.

I messaged my Venmo handle. The buyer replies almost instantly, saying she Venmo’d the money, but she got an error message that the transaction was declined. Even sent a screenshot. The three floating dots pop up, then the buyer’s next message: “I need your email address.”

Hmm. You don’t need to share your email address as part of a Venmo transaction. But your email address isn’t a window into your Venmo account, right? It’s safe to share your email address with your Venmo account handle, isn’t it?

No, it is NOT. It leaves you vulnerable to an email phishing scam.

“A scammer may send screenshots of fake emails that make it seem like they’ve paid you on Venmo when they haven’t actually made a payment,” wrote Venmo in its site tutorial on the most common Venmo scams. What happens next is the scammer sends you a phishing email made to look like it came from Venmo, but it didn’t.

And that’s exactly what happened to me.

An email sat in my junk folder, with the Venmo logo and everything. It showed the transaction just sitting there, with buttons beckoning me to click on them to “review” it, as well as a customer service number to call for help. The buyer sent me a message, imploring me to call that number or click the buttons to release the funds.

I didn’t dare click on anything in that email. Never click on links or buttons you’re not certain are linked to the real deal. With that in mind, I got out of the email and went straight to Venmo’s official site to find its real customer service number. It was a completely different number than the one suggested in the email.

So I did the next thing any diligent consumer should do. I Googled the customer service number listed in the alleged “Venmo” email — then traced it with my resources as a professional consumer investigator.

It traced to some guy in Pennsylvania.

Right there, I messaged the buyer and told her the jig was up. You’re done. I know you’re a scammer. BLOCKED.

Here’s the deal, and I’m ashamed to admit this: I broke my own rule about the use of mobile payment apps — or what the Better Business Bureau calls peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps. It’s the same golden rule I shared in my Wise Advice story about the safe use of mobile payment apps. The rule is I only use Venmo with a family member or a friend who’s in my inner circle. I normally never accept unsolicited Venmo requests from a source outside of my inner circle or from one I cannot verify.

But I understood the security of Venmo. I KNEW that a scammer could not access my account information with just my Venmo handle and my email address.

What I didn’t consider is a scammer would use my email address to send me a fake Venmo transaction message, designed to trick me into either clicking on a malware/spyware link or calling a bogus customer service line, where someone would eventually request my account number and steal any funds in it.

“Venmo always send communications through their official ‘venmo.com’ domain name,” wrote the online security company McAfee in its protection guide against mobile payment app scams. “If you receive an email that claims to be from Venmo but that doesn’t use venmo.com, it’s a scam. Never click or tap on links in emails or texts supposedly sent by Venmo.”

My Wise Advice: keep Venmo in the family or among friends. Add multi-factor authentication to your account (email or text alerts to verify safe access). If a Facebook Marketplace buyer insists on using Venmo or another mobile payment app to buy your stuff, insist on cash only and in person at a safe place.

I don’t care if it costs you a legitimate sale. There will always be someone else who wants that sofa and love seat — someone traceable, verifiable and with cash, ready to pay in person.

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