HN Explorer

Ask HN: 12 of 17 vehicles (71%) listed first in FB marketplace are scams, Why?

34 points by bruceb ↗ HN
Clicking on Facebook Marketplace vehicles section am confronted with onslaught of scams listings. https://imgur.com/a/DPSUBhC

First three rows show 21 results, 17 vehicles and 4 sponsored ads. Out of the 17 vehicles, 12 are scams, 71%.

Reporting these seems to do nothing. Is FB that powerless to stop this?

There was a story on this 6 months ago but maybe got worse? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28676973

30 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 82.1 ms ] thread
bitxbitxbitcoin
Craigslist has less spam because it costs $5 to post a car listing. That is an option FB could explore.
tbihl
I'm currently tuning my eventual Craigslist ad using the free posting on Facebook. And if I get a real buyer, that's cool too.
[dead] inetknght
dang
Please don't post shallow dismissals or snark to HN. Perhaps you don't owe Facebook better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

AussieWog93
How do you know those listings are all scams?
pixl97
I would assume by reaching out and contacting the people and finding out they don't have a car, they just try to connect you to someone else that does and make a profit from it.
bruceb
You can tell by click on them. Has a combo of these things: only one pic that is zoomed in a bit, price, they are on vacation mode, no license plate (different from blocking out license plate) etc.

For example: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/497875541786220

or: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/635418997520898 This shows same make a model, there is only one listing is NOT a scam in a 20 mile area: https://imgur.com/a/LSvw42t

AussieWog93
Are you sure?

Both of the people you listed have accounts from pre-2010, and the first lady at least (Jodi) looks undeniably like a real person with real friends.

EDIT: OK, the fact that they both have the same car listed in 20+ areas across multiple state boundaries is absolutely suss. I'm still confused as to where these accounts came from, though. They can't be fake. Were they maybe hacked?

culopatin
It’s a scam when they lost the blurry car in every possible state. It fits the pattern of hundreds of accounts showing the same. Also The prices are always too good. A 5-7yo car for 1500? It’s not 2016 anymore.
eswat
It's pretty common for scammers to use old, compromised accounts. They are likely less to be scrutinized than new accounts.
monkmartinez
You can tell with a simple glance. Most of the time, the picture is just "wrong"... It will look very woody/forest when they are selling in Phoenix. The other give away is the price, as in 50% off or more compared to similar vehicles you are searching for.
ipaddr
You might be passing up great deals if you discount cars sold cheaper than others for no other reason aside from price.
Tronno
If it's too good to be true, it isn't.

Sellers seek the highest price the market will bear. If the price is unusually low, it's either a scam or there's something wrong with the item. There are some rare exceptions, but it doesn't average out in the buyer's favor.

muzani
There's always trying to sell as fast as possible before they leave the country or get a medical operation.

50% doesn't strike me as exceptionally low. I've sold things for much cheaper because it's better than throwing it away, and still I get faced with tire kickers who keep trying to negotiate it then insist on some other pound of flesh when I don't budge on price. It's why I avoid used item marketplaces.

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K0balt
I’ve bought several cars at 70 percent of kbb value or lower.

Many people sell for just above trade in value because that’s what they are being offered by a car dealership. That’s often 80 percent or less than private sale price.

Other times they just need a specific amount of money, which happens to be substantially less than the item they are selling is worth.

Other times, the seller is not the one that has to purchase the replacement. Phones are good examples here. A lot of people get a new flagship phone every year. Sometimes it’s just because they are bad with choices, boyfriend, etc. these people often sell their old phone for substantially less than market value.

People are frequently not rational actors.

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bitcurious
Different scale, but I found the same to be true of other in demand items. I looked to buy a PS5 and the listings were either obvious scams or scalpers asking for $200+ over MSRP.

The cynic in me suggests that the two are one and the same - the scams make the scalpers look comparatively appealing.

monkmartinez
I hate it soooo much. FB marketplace is literally the only reason I have a FB account. It was a heaven send when we moved a year ago. I fire sold 50% of our belongings in like a week. Gave away a bunch of stuff and it was just great. I have looked for vehicles, but searching through the scams is nightmare.
999900000999
The best is when you literally ask to see the car / apartment.

"I'm in the military deployed / in Africa doing charity work."

99% of scams can be avoided by seeing it in person. That said, you can definitely look for apartments online, but just go out and see it first. With both apartments and cars, I found it significantly easier to just deal with and established company. Individuals tend to be super sketchy even when they don't want to be, for example, when I was looking for a used car once I had a guy try to sell me a vehicle that hadn't been legally registered in like 10 years.

I was on a thread here the other day and there was some person talking about how you can get a rust bucket for cheap, when you try to get a cheap car. You'll have so many people trying to rip you off. It's ridiculous. People who don't legally own the car in the first place, people who don't actually have the title to the car.

Then again, I've had friends tell me that you don't need a license to drive, you don't need to register your car, and you don't need any insurance.

A significant amount of America just lives like that

ipaddr
Carfax or a similiar service should give you the facts you need about the history of the car.
999900000999
It shows SOME facts.

I brought an OB2 reader off Amazon and it lit up the moment I plugged it into this used car I was looking at.

Buying a used car off a private seller is outright scary if your not a car person. At least at a car dealership I can tell how much I'm getting screwed

prova_modena
Carfax has effectively marketed itself as a single source of truth for vehicle history. However, Carfax reports may have omissions and errors, especially as vehicles age out of the manufacturer's warranty. It's best when used to inform and supplement other forms of research, such as a pre-purchase inspection or review of paper records.
ge96
Problem with cheap cars is cost to fix unless you get lucky. I was dumb bought a car off a lot for $2K and sunk I think more than $10K into it over a couple years. But at that time getting $2K for me was a big deal.
cm2012
Also I am pretty sure all the random women selling lingerie with full body pics are escorts.
burntoutfire
Why do people insist on calling prostitutes "escorts"?
sonicggg
I bought my car via FB marketplace two years ago, and I've been very happy with my purchase so far. I could have lucked out, but don't remember seeing any obvious scam back when I was browsing for cars there. I wonder if it's a new trend.
mhh__
Facebook marketplace in general seems like a bizarrely terrible site considering how facebook should have useful data flowing out of all their orifices and eBay being relatively meh compared to the standards of big tech these days.

If there was one place on the internet I would go to buy low to sell high elsewhere, it probably be facebook marketplace.

Some of the listings are very funny, I recall one person selling a TV which "comes with Netflix" i.e. he'd just stolen the TV and hadn't bothered to reset it to cover his tracks.

say_it_as_it_is
FB avoids licensing and regulation by minimizing scrutiny of listings. The terms governing FB marketplace absolve it of responsibility of fraudulent listings as FB claims a passive role in exchanging information but not scrutinizing it. There are some things that FB may do, and it will be interesting to see what is legally within their rights to do so. Otherwise, FB will need to register and license itself, and meet compliance requirements, in thousands of regulated markets.