Facebook was launched in 2004 and over the past nearly two decades, the social media company went from being exclusive to university students to having nearly 3 billion monthly users worldwide.
Facebook operates in 94% of the world’s counties.
When the company launched Marketplace in 2016 it was poised to have an impact how the way people bought and sold everything from cookies to cars, or purchase or rent houses and apartments.
It’s also where Joplin, Missouri resident Sheila Dilley when looking for a house to rent when she was planning to move to Indio, California this summer.
“We had decided to move out to California. Specifically, Indio, CA. I have some family friends that live out there. I had a job.
I was going to be working at a local middle school there as a para, as I finished up my teaching degree and we had come across a post through Facebook Marketplace.
For a house to rented, it was just a little one bedroom, one bath for me and my daughter. It would have been perfect.”
Shelia was planning on having a big summer with the move to southern California and starting a new job.
She had planned so far in advance that she had driven to Indio with some of her belongings so that she could be prepared for the larger move after school got out at the end of this month.
Shelia had also told her employer, Joplin Schools, that she wouldn’t be back to start the new school year.
To get everything in place she was messaging the person who had listed a house in Indio.
“Then he said I needed to send him a $1000 for the security deposit which I sent him through Cash App. and then I paid the $1000 for the first month's rent and everything was set to go and signed all the lease paperwork.
He emailed them to me, they all looked legal. They all looked legit.”
Like 100’s of millions of other Facebook Marketplace users, Shelia had used the service to purchase items in the past and had a good experience and didn’t think twice to browse through Marketplace listings when she was looking to relocate to California.
She’s telling her story in hopes that somebody will hear it and the same thing won’t happen to them.
“And then the next day, he sends me a message, according to my attorneys I need you to pay May’s rent as well as an additional $1000.
Everything is fully refundable if you choose not to take the apartment.
Well, I told him, I don't have it.
You took all of my money for my security deposit and my first month's rent. I don't have it. Just refund me my money and we'll just, you know, call even.
And he proceeded to stop talking to me.
He took the post down.”
It wasn’t until Shelia had filled out paperwork with personal information that included a credit check and $2,000 for the security deposit and first month’s rent did, she have an inclination that what appeared to be a legitimate listing, wasn’t that at all.
She’s one of millions of Facebook Marketplace users that are scammed every year, only a small fraction of people who get scammed report it to the Better Business Bureau or law enforcement.
A search on Wednesday on the BBB’s Scam Tracker with the phrase ‘Facebook Marketplace’ turned up 19,379 recent scams.
Like many of these scams, the house rental Shelia fell for had a sliver of truth wrapped in lies.
“Now come to find out there is an actual house at the location, but it is a woman that lives there and has no clue what was going on.
She had that place that was being rented was a office of hers off of her house, called a casita.
When my friend went out there to go get the keys to talk to her, she says. My friend wasn't the first one that had been out there that gate to get the keys and to didn't exist.”
Shelia would come to find out that she was dealing with something much deeper than she imagined.
“So come to find out that we were, we're dealing with a website out of Washington, DC house out of New York plus the house in Indio, (CA) and then the state of Missouri. So right now, they're just trying to find them. And I'm still out my $2,000.”
As you may have already figured out there isn’t much Shelia can do to get back her money.
Besides dealing with a scammer in another state, she also paid through the popular payment app, Cash App which doesn’t have refunds.
To add insult to injury, already losing $2,000 and resigning from her job at Joplin Schools, Shelia says she’s now struggling financially.
Shelia Cut 6 “ Me not being able to recuperate that $2000, I can't just pick up and move. So, I'm behind on all my bills. Plus, I'm still out the $2000.”
After sharing that she had been scammed and that she could no longer move Joplin schools rehired her, although at a lower rate of pay for now, due to her resigning.
When she looks back on whether she would do things differently she says she trusted Cash App and had used it many times in the past.
“And I've used Cash App before, I send my daughter money, I send my son money.
It's just the way that I pay bills. The guy had a picture on there of him.
Everything looked really legit.”
It’s likely that the number of scams and their complexity are only going to increase due to the rise of artificial intelligence and how it can mimic human interaction making it is increasingly difficult for real people to determine what’s fake and what isn’t.
Shelia says she still browses Facebook Marketplace but not for places to live and has this advice.
“If you're going to find a place to live, go through a realtor. Or make sure you see the place before you do anything else. Don't just talk to them and don't do a drive by, physically see the place.”
