... the profile of an online scam page
Discover a few common characteristics of fake/scam Facebook Pages
Published specifically for the “Australian Poultry by Backyard Poultry” Facebook group, and made a little more generic for general purposes.
In the last 6 months or so, the number of scam “Pages” on Facebook has gone through the roof. It seems to be related to changes Facebook has made to its business and groups interfaces/rules/systems. Their original purpose was, I think, to make it easier for business Pages to interact like private Profiles in groups, but a major side-effect seems to be scammers posing as “real” businesses.
Here's a few hints on how to identify them, and how to avoid giving a scammer money you'll never get back.
Here's a few hints on how to identify them, and how to avoid giving a scammer money you'll never get back.
Also, have a look at my “Buyers and sellers checklist”:
Contents
Things to look for
Postage, delivery, service area
Payment
What does a real business look like?
Things to look for
When checking a page, don’t just look at the top few posts. Spend 5 minutes and scroll right down the page. Are any of the posts conversational, or are they all sales posts? Can you hear a real “voice” in the posts, or is it a long litany of “stuff for sale”? How many kinds of things are listed? Does it make sense for one person to have all those things?
Generic, possibly miss-spelled name. "Tomson Chicken Farm" or "Johnson and sons farm backyard". Yes, of course legitimate businesses have names like this, so you do need to dig deeper.
No location identified on the public page. If they won't publicly provide even a general location in Australia, be wary. Of course, it's also easy for them to lie ...
Often very new group members, or their sites or profiles are new. They usually post fairly quickly after joining the group, sometimes the same day.
Lots of pictures with no commentary. These are generally lifted from the Internet; commonly Pinterest. You can check by taking one of the pictures and putting it through a reverse image search.
Pictures have no obviously Australian backdrops. Even one eucalypt or wattle would help.
Photos have usually been loaded all on the same day or within a few days.
The page/business likes its own pictures. It's not really the done thing, liking your own photos. The only reason to do it is to try and look more legitimate to the Facebook algorithm.
No public conversations. All questions on the page are responded to with "PM me" or "Page responded privately". If they're legit, they won't mind having a bit of a public conversation.
Every post is a sales post.
Real small businesses want to gain more followers and interactions, to get people to come back and keep buying their products.
There's an entire industry around how to get traction on Facebook.
Having only sales posts is not it; trust me on this.
Lots of entirely different, unrelated things for sale. A so-called “farm” page might list 10 different varieties each of chickens, ducks, and turkeys; and then starts listing cattle, goats, and donkeys. It is not practical to run and sell all those animals. It just isn’t.
Things that aren't in Australia. Farm pages might list breeds of animals that no-one’s ever heard of, or that everyone wants. Obviously, not everyone knows what breeds are or aren't in Australia. But if someone lists a breed, or colour/pattern/variety, that you haven't heard of before, it might be because it isn't here at all.
Have other people in the group heard of the business? If a business suddenly pops up with a huge range of desirable things, but no-one in the group’s ever had a hint of their existence before … why not?
And the usual adage holds true after all these years:
If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
Postage, delivery, service area
If you contact such a business, you’ll start talking about their location, maybe asking about deliveries or postage costs.
These are some common “tells” that suggest you’re talking to a scammer.
Really cheap delivery price. $50 for live birds "to your door" is a common one. It's just not going to happen.
Non-Australian delivery services. In your conversation, push to get the name of the delivery service. Scammers will often say "USPS". This is the US Postal Service. It does not exist in Australia.
Claim to post items that aren’t posted in Australia. For example, chicks don’t go through the postal service here (but they do in other locations, such as the US). Only specialist courier services transport animals here. If the person you're talking to claims otherwise, dig more and be suspicious.
Get their address BEFORE you supply yours - and ask why it's not on their public page. Once they know your address, they’ll find something that’s close enough to be reasonable, but far enough away that they can legitimately try to use a postal service or organise to “meet halfway”. So ask for theirs before you provide yours; and if they refuse, suspect a scam and back off.
If the business claims to be relatively local, offer to find a neutral location for a direct pickup of the birds, and offer to pay cash when they're sighted. Or suggest that the seller use Square to accept a credit card payment at the location.
Scammers will not accept this, of course. They want that payment NOW, and then will disappear on you.
Payment
A sale through social media is just another sale. There’s no reason for the payment method to be any more complicated than any other online sale.
If the seller refuses to even discuss ordinary payment methods like direct deposit, PayID, cash on delivery/pickup, Paypal business payment, invoicing, or a Square credit card reader, be suspicious.
Be particularly concerned if they seem to be pushing you very hard for payment, and refuse to answer questions unrelated to money.
Scammers will often ask for a deposit or full payment via a complex, non-refundable, or non-challengable way.
The two scam methods I’ve heard about first-hand are:
The Paypal “Family and friends” option. It avoids Paypal’s 2.6% fee - and also avoids the ability of Paypal to reverse the transaction in case of a mistake or scam.
Sending an email with a link that you have to click to “verify a PayID”. This feeds right into the “Never ever ever open a link from a stranger by clicking on an email or text. Never. I mean it”. Note that PayID is a perfectly legitimate form of payment done via your bank account to a traceable email address. It requires no further verification.
For more details on payment scams, have a look at this post.
What does a real business look like?
Real businesses with Facebook Pages:
Use their Pages to get long-term followers and repeat sales, so will have conversations and discussions on their Facebook page.
Will provide at least a general location in Australia.
Will only specialise in a few specific things - one or two breeds, or plants, or products.
Will have "real"-looking pictures of their products. Videos of their birds. Messy-looking yards. Even pictures of themselves.
Tend to have very individual names.
Are likely to be known to someone in the local area.
Interact with people publicly on their page, not constantly saying "PM me".
Have conversations that aren't all about sales.
And finally
If in doubt, hold on to your money. Find the next in-person sale near you, and go somewhere you can physically see what you're paying for, and hand the money to a real person.
Contact the admin of the page you're on and let them know your concerns, so they can take action on potential scammers as well.
Got your own experiences? Share them below, and I’ll update this post with more information.