One third of sellers on Facebook Marketplace are ‘probably fraudulent’

LONDON Feb 7: One third of sellers on Facebook Marketplace are ‘probably fraudulent’, MPs heard from banking bosses today.

Those in charge of combating fraud of customers’ accounts shared their fears about the online buying and selling platform to a House of Commons committee.

Paul Davis, financial crime prevention director at TSB, revealed how his staff recently used their own Facebook profiles to engage with 100 sellers.

‘Our assessment was that about a third of them were probably fraudulent,’ he told the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Mr Davis also revealed his own personal experience of ‘weird’ requests from potential buyers when he had posted things for sale himself.

He expressed concerns that online crooks are ‘not lone actors’ and work together ‘around the world’ to scam users.