Social media scams are on the rise and Facebook Marketplace is a breeding ground with scammers targeting people wanting to make big purchases.
The South African Institute of Auctioneers’ (SAIA) has warned that potential buyers should be aware of items, especially vehicles, that are advertised for sale at below market value or claimed to be available for reservation prior to being auctioned.
These scamsters use several variations of a technique that involves pretending to be a legitimate auctioneering company while using pictures of random vehicles off the internet to lure potential buyers.
They will then request a large upfront deposit that is meant to “reserve” the vehicle with the promise that the vehicle will not go to auction.
SAIA’s chief administration officer, Sonja Styger says that one obvious way to tell that it may be a scam is if they set a fixed price for the vehicle, because that is not a legitimate occurrence in the auctioneering industry.
“South African law states that no asset sold on auction may be sold at a fixed price. Rather these will be determined by the highest bidder upon the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer,” said Styger.
These scamming operations are becoming increasingly sophisticated and it’s becoming harder to identify because scammers are able to emulate existing auctioneers’ websites and populate it with their own details to appear believable.
It is for this reason that buyers should exercise extreme caution and do extensive research when wanting to purchase big assets on social media sites and whenever items for sale seem too good to be true, they probably are.
Additionally, buyers can make contact with the SAIA to identify whether the social media adverts are legitimate or establish the credentials of companies and individuals claiming to be legitimate auctioneers before parting with their hard earned cash, adds Styger.
IOL