Social media and marketplace scams
Social media scams borrow trust that already exists, either from a friend's hacked account or from a platform that feels safe because you use it daily.
What it is
This covers fraud that runs on social platforms and their marketplaces: a hijacked friend's account messaging you, goods that never arrive, fake stores advertised in your feed, prize and giveaway fraud, and impersonated brands or celebrities.
The common element is borrowed trust. A message from a friend's account is read as a message from your friend. A store advertised inside Instagram feels vetted by Instagram. A seller with a full profile and a year of posts feels like a person.
Amounts are usually modest, and volume is enormous. Reported losses that begin on social media now exceed most other contact methods, largely because so much commerce and conversation happens there.
How it starts
Through a friend. An account is compromised and every contact receives a message: a link, an emergency, an investment that worked, a giveaway needing a vote. The account is real, the person is not there.
Through the marketplace. An item listed well below its value, with pressure to move off-platform and pay by a method with no buyer protection. Or the reverse, a fake buyer who overpays and needs a refund of the difference.
Through advertising. A store selling a specific product at a good price, with a professional site, running paid ads. The product either never arrives or arrives as a worthless imitation.
Through impersonation. A brand's support account replying to your public complaint, from a handle one character different from the real one, asking you to DM your account details.
Through prizes. A tagged post saying you have won, requiring a delivery fee or a form that collects everything about you.
Why it works
Identity is thinly verified. A profile photo, a name and some history are enough to feel real, and all three are trivially copied.
Compromised accounts carry real relationship history. You are not evaluating a stranger. You are reading a message inside a thread you have used for years.
The platform feels like a guarantor and is not. Buying inside an app implies a trust the platform does not actually extend, particularly once the transaction moves to a payment app.
Moving off-platform removes every protection. The request to continue by WhatsApp, or to pay by a friends-and-family transfer, is the entire scam in one step.
Speed is normal here. Marketplace deals move fast, and "someone else is interested" is an ordinary thing to hear, which makes manufactured urgency invisible.
How to spot it
A friend messages with an urgent request, an investment, or a link, in a tone slightly unlike them
A seller wants to move off the platform, or wants payment by a friends-and-family transfer, gift card, wire, crypto or Zelle
A price well below market for an item in demand
A store whose contact page has no address, no phone number, and only a form
A brand support account with a handle that is one character different from the verified one
A prize you did not enter, requiring a fee or a form
An account created recently, or with a long gap in activity before a burst of posts
Pressure to decide now
Reverse image search shows the product or profile photograph belongs to someone else
What to do
Verify a friend's request on a different channel. Call them. An account takeover is defeated by one phone call, and it takes ten seconds.
Stay on the platform, and use a protected payment method. Card or the platform's own checkout. Never friends-and-family, gift card, wire or crypto for a purchase, because those exist specifically to remove your recourse.
Check the seller and the store. Account age, review history, whether the reviews all arrived in one week. For a store, look for a real address and phone number, and search the domain name with the word scam.
If you paid and received nothing. Dispute with your card issuer. If you used a payment app, report it in-app immediately, though friends-and-family transfers are usually unrecoverable. Report the seller to the platform.
If your own account was taken over. Change the password, revoke unknown sessions and connected apps, enable two-factor authentication with an authenticator app, then post publicly to warn your contacts, because they are being messaged right now.
Report the account and the ad. Platform enforcement is imperfect, but a fake store's ad reaching fewer people is a real outcome.
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Scam
Red flag
High confidence of a scam. The content, the sender, the intent and where its requests lead all point the same way. Do not reply, click, call or pay.
Likely to be a scam
Yellow flag
It asks you to act: a link, a number, a reply or a payment. Where that request leads is where the harm starts.
Looks normal
Green flag
High confidence this is normal. The content reads as expected, the sender has a safe history, and anything it asks leads somewhere legitimate. Accounts can be taken over, so if a request seems out of character, check again.
Likely to be a scam
Grey flag
Nothing is asked of you yet. The content, the sender or the intent do not add up. Scams like this start friendly and ask later.
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You tapped a link
Opening a link does not usually take money or details on its own. The harm comes from what you do on the page it opens. If you entered nothing and installed nothing, close the page and do not go back to it. If it asked you to sign in, enter a code, or install something, and you did, choose Gave details instead.
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You gave details
Work through this in order. First, if you gave bank or card details, call your bank now on the number on your card. Next, change the password for any account you entered, and for any other account that uses the same password. If you shared a one-time code, tell the organisation it belongs to straight away. Then turn on two-step verification where you can, and watch your statements for anything you do not recognise.
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You sent money
Call your bank now, on the number on your card or in your banking app. Say: "I have been scammed and I need to stop a payment." The sooner they hear from you, the more they may be able to stop or recover. In the UK you can call 159 to reach your bank. Do not pay anyone who offers to get the money back. That is another scam.
Report it. US: ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and ic3.gov for online crime. UK: reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040; in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101. Australia: scamwatch.gov.au. Have ready the message, the sender's number or address, and any payment details.
What to do next
Do not reply, click any link, call any number in the message or send money. If it claims to be from an organisation you know, contact them using details you already trust.
Do not reply, click any link, call any number in the message or send money. If it claims to be from an organisation you know, contact them using details you already trust.
No action needed. If the sender later asks for money, codes or personal details, check that message too.
Do not reply at all, not even to say wrong number. A reply tells them the number is live. Block the sender and delete the message. If a request follows, check it again.
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How this scam works
The closest match is the scam described on this page.
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