Facebook Marketplace Scams in Canada: Buyer and Seller Tricks

You list an old pair of hockey skates for $60. Ten minutes later, someone offers full price without asking a single question about them, and sends a link to accept the e-Transfer they say they’ve already sent. That link is the scam. It opens a page made to look like your bank’s sign-in, and anything you type there goes straight to the person who sent it.

It’s one of the most common Facebook Marketplace scams in Canada, and most of the others work the same way. Sellers get asked for a bank login, a code or a fee before they can be paid. Buyers get asked to pay before they’ve seen the item. A real buyer or seller never needs any of that.

What are the most common Facebook Marketplace scams in Canada?

Merchandise fraud, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s category for scams when buying or selling things, accounted for 2,596 reports and $11.7 million in losses in 2025 (opens in a new tab). These are the scripts the centre’s merchandise fraud page (opens in a new tab) and Canadian police warn about, and the line you’ll usually see with each one.

In nearly every one, you’re asked to act before money is really in your account, or before you’ve seen what you’re paying for.

How does the fake e-Transfer scam work?

The buyer agrees to your price quickly, often without seeing the item, and says they’ve paid by e-Transfer. A link follows, by email, by text or right in the chat. It opens a copy of a bank’s sign-in page, and what you type there (your card number, your password, the code your bank sends you) goes to the scammer, who can then sign in and take money out.

It works because a real e-Transfer notice comes with a link to deposit the money (opens in a new tab), so a fake one doesn’t look out of place. In December 2024, a New Westminster, B.C., resident selling an item online lost $3,000 this way (opens in a new tab), according to police.

How to tell if an e-Transfer is real

Don’t try to judge the message itself. Check your account in your bank’s app, opened yourself rather than through any link. With Autodeposit on, a real payment will already be there.

• Set up Autodeposit before you list anything. With it, a real e-Transfer goes straight into your account, with no security question (opens in a new tab) and nothing to click. After that, any message asking you to accept or deposit a payment is fake. You turn it on in your banking app, in your Interac e-Transfer settings (opens in a new tab).
• Check the sender, but don’t stop there. A real email notice shows the sender’s full legal name and comes from notify@payments.interac.ca (opens in a new tab). A fake can copy both, so treat it as a first check, not proof.
• A link pasted into the chat isn’t from Interac. Interac sends its notices by email or text message, and it says it never asks for your banking password by either one.
• You never have to give anything to receive a real payment. Not a fee, a tracking number, a code or a refund. If you get a fake notice, forward it to phishing@interac.ca.

Why would a buyer ask for a code?

To get into one of your accounts. The buyer says they’ve been scammed before and wants to check you’re real, asks for your phone number, then asks you to read back the six-digit code that arrives. They set off that code themselves, by starting a sign-in or an account setup with your number. Reading it out hands them the account.

In the Marketplace version that the Better Business Bureau described to CBC News (opens in a new tab), the code sets up a Google Voice number tied to your phone, which the scammer could use to pose as you, or to get into your Facebook or Google account. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre sees the same trick aimed at Facebook, WhatsApp, email and bank accounts (opens in a new tab), and its advice is never to share a one-time code with anyone. It’s the same move scammers make with CRA sign-in codes.

What scams target buyers on Marketplace?

Buyers mostly lose money by paying before they’ve seen what they’re buying. A deposit to hold an item, a car or an apartment is the classic, and an e-Transfer can’t be pulled back once the other person has deposited it. As the anti-fraud centre puts it, if the asking price is too good to be true, it is.

A deposit to hold it

A fake seller posts something people want at a low price, says other buyers are interested, and asks for an e-Transfer to hold it for you. Once you send it, the seller stops answering. Pet listings work the same way, with one payment after another for shipping, vaccines or insurance, and the pet never arrives. Pay when you’re standing in front of the item, and walk away from anyone who won’t meet.

Send it now, keep the security answer until pickup

Some fake sellers ask you to send the full payment now, “just to show you have the money”, and tell you to hang on to the security answer until you pick the item up. It feels safe, but if their account uses Autodeposit, there’s no security question at all, and the money lands the moment you send it. Quebec journalists reported this trick (in French) (opens in a new tab) on Marketplace and Kijiji, often with used cars and tires. When you pick a payee who uses Autodeposit, your bank shows their full legal name (opens in a new tab) before you confirm. If it doesn’t match the seller, stop.

Concert tickets from a friend who can’t go

A post from a friend selling concert or hockey tickets cheap, payment by e-Transfer only, can mean their account has been taken over. Scammers who get into an account use it to target the owner’s contacts (opens in a new tab), the same way they do after the code scam above. Call or text your friend on a number you already have before you pay.

Rentals

A rental scam follows the same script for more money: a nice place in a good spot, rent below the going rate, photos copied from a real ad, and pressure to pay quickly to secure it. Don’t send anything before you’ve been inside and signed a lease. In Quebec, a landlord can’t ask for a deposit at all, and the rest of the country limits it, so a demand for more than the rules where you live allow is a warning sign on its own.

How do you buy and sell safely on Marketplace?

Meet in person, somewhere public, and settle up on the spot, in cash or by an e-Transfer you watch arrive in your own banking app before anything changes hands. Keep the conversation in Marketplace’s chat, and never send money, a code or a fee in order to get paid.

• Pick a busy, public place. Some police services suggest their own lobby for buy-and-sell exchanges, New Westminster’s among them (opens in a new tab).
• Selling: turn on Autodeposit, and hand the item over once the money shows in your account. Cash works too, since you can check it on the spot.
• Buying: see the item, test it if it plugs in or turns on, then pay.
• Keep the chat on Facebook. Asking to move to text is how the code scam starts, and the Better Business Bureau says a conversation kept on the platform gives you a better chance of recourse if something goes wrong.
• Check the price and the person. An offer far above or below the going price is a warning sign, and so is a rush. Search the buyer’s or seller’s name too, in case someone has already reported them.

There’s no platform refund to fall back on if a deal goes wrong, either. Facebook’s Purchase Protection isn’t available in Canada. Opened from here, its help page (opens in a new tab) says the program “isn’t available in your location right now”.

What should you do if you got scammed on Facebook Marketplace?

Call your bank’s fraud line first, on the number on the back of your card, and do it now rather than tomorrow. Then report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and your local police, and report the listing and the profile to Facebook.

If you typed your banking details into a link, tell your bank exactly that, so it can secure the account. Once you’re back in, change your password and look for payees or contact details you didn’t add. If the page also asked for your SIN or ID, the identity theft steps apply too.

If you sent an e-Transfer to a fake seller, call your bank right away. If the transfer is still pending, you can cancel it yourself (opens in a new tab) in online banking. Once it’s been deposited, it can’t be reversed.

If you read out a code, sign in to that account straight away, change the password, and check which devices are signed in.

Report it, even if you caught it in time. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre takes reports online or at 1-888-495-8501 (opens in a new tab), and your local police take them too. On Facebook, use Report on both the listing and the profile so the account can be reviewed.

Can you get the money back?

It depends on whether the money was taken from you or sent by you, which is the split our guide to getting money back after a scam is built around. A deposit you sent to a fake seller is the hard case. Your bank may help, but it doesn’t have to. Money a scammer took from your account after you used a fake e-Transfer page is a closer call. The withdrawals weren’t yours, but your bank will ask how your login got out, and the banking ombudsman says it usually can’t recommend compensation when a customer shared access to their account (opens in a new tab). So call fast, and keep every message.

Selling stuff to build your savings

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