OfferUp attracts scammers because they can use the platform to steal from other users or trick them into giving up personal information (that can be used for identity theft). And despite offering a handful of security features and a buyer protection plan, OfferUp is no exception. There’s always some risk involved when buying and selling to strangers online. OfferUp also provides a shipment option so that users can reach beyond their local neighborhoods. OfferUp is a free website through which people can buy and sell items with others in their community - similar to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Learn to recognize them, and you’ll know exactly how to avoid dangerous online interactions. But the good news is that fraudsters on websites like OfferUp use the same tricks repeatedly. Shopping online becomes riskier every year. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), online shopping scams make up 30% of all reports on the BBB ScamTracker website, with a staggering 71% of victims suffering financial losses. What happened to the Cothrons is just one story in a sea of reports describing online marketplace scams. And when the seller requested to communicate via email instead of OfferUp’s messaging system, they didn’t think anything of it.īut one sob story, an email from a fake address, and $800 worth of gift cards later, Colleen Cothron and her husband realized that the sympathetic seller was a scammer in disguise. When a Colorado couple used OfferUp to find a trailer for their upcoming move, they soon found exactly what they were looking for.
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