Facebook Marketplace Zelle and Venmo Scam, Explained

This video explains a scam involving either Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist where scammers will target your finances in either your Zelle or Venmo accounts.

In 2022, and perhaps for a long time before, scammers are contacting sellers soon after they place listings on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. The scammer pretends to show interest in buying the item that’s for sale. They ask for a Zelle QR code or Venmo information and also an email address. That email address is a big part of the scam.

The scammer will send an email to your email address that you just gave them. In that email, the scammer might pretend to be Zelle or Venmo. Alternatively, they may pretend that they received the email from Zelle or Venmo and that they needed to forward it to you, because Zelle or Venmo supposedly sent them a request to ask you for more money, supposedly to help open a “business account” or some other nonsense. Don’t do it. It’s a scam.

On Twitter, @yvettemc18 tweeted: “Beware of FB marketplace scammers! This happened to me twice already: I post a listing and someone shows interest right away. I ask for Venmo but they give an excuse that they can only use Zelle. I send them my Zelle QR code and then they’ll ask for my email. I became suspicious when two interested buyers had asked for Zelle and both of them don’t have FB profiles. They also insist on emails instead of using the provided QR code. One profile even said that they’re older and don’t know how to use Zelle! I then looked up “Zelle” and “Facebook marketplace” on google and sure enough it’s a known scam. They ask for your email bc they pretend to be Zelle and then send you an email asking you to upgrade your account. They then will say the payment didn’t go through and ask for more!”

This is just one of many examples of people documenting how they either were scammed or were approached by a scammer.

If you have any questions about this scam or any other scams, or if you have been the victim of a scam and want to tell your story, feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you for watching.