“Nah, your followers are idiots.
The Facebook marketplace is known for being a place where there is a lot of fraud. Both buyers and sellers can be scammed.
There are lots of fake ads, strange payment requests and scams. This makes many people wonder if it is safe to use the platform.
One TikTok user, @bandupjaxs, thought he found a good deal on car parts, but after sending $500 to the seller, he realised he was scammed.
In his video, which has been watched over 1.1 million times, he explains how he tried to get his money back.
He thought the seller was genuine until they blocked him.
According to @bandupjaxs, he found an ad on Facebook Marketplace for cheap auto parts he needed.
The seller had an active profile since 2015, with family photos and a mixture of positive and negative reviews. This convinced him that the company was trustworthy.
He messaged the seller and asked if they accepted PayPal, which offers some protection to the buyer. But then he noticed that the seller was not there.
The seller told him that they didn’t accept PayPal, but did accept Apple Pay.
@bandupjaxs was puzzled and didn’t respond. The seller reassured him.
“He sent me a photo of his ID where the guy looked exactly like him,” he says. “It had the same name as his Facebook account, so I thought, OK, whatever.”
Thinking that was enough, he sent the money. But then the account was blocked.
On the scammer’s trail@bandupjaxs started investigating.
He found the seller’s phone number and address. He asked his followers for help and found the Instagram account of a woman from Georgia.
He sent her a message asking her to return the money. The woman said she didn’t know about the transaction. He asked her for a screenshot of her Apple Pay statements, which she sent him.
At first, he believed her, but then he noticed something strange.
“The time is five hours different from mine,” she said, explaining that they were in the same time zone.
At that moment, he realised the woman had faked the screenshot.
Harassment, threats and social engineering: @bandupjax did all of it.
He found her address and sent it to her, saying he would publish it if she didn’t pay him. When she refused, he published her address on her story.
Then he went even further: ‘I started ordering pizza from her,’ he says. What else could he do?
He didn’t stop there, he called electricians and plumbers to come to his house. When he didn’t pay them, his stalkers found his father’s workplace, which was a police station in Georgia.
According to @bandupjaxs, she called several times asking to speak to her father. Eventually, she managed to talk to him. But the man didn’t apologise and told her he wouldn’t pay her.
The threats continued.
Did he go too far?
According to his account, @bandupjaxs found the officer’s social security number and texted him his full name, date of birth and address.
Then he made one last demand.
“If you don’t give me the $500, I will go to the bank and ask for a loan of exactly $500 and get my money back.”
Shortly after that, he received a message on his cell phone, “$500 you get.”
What do you think? Don’t you think he could have dealt with the situation better?
It’s great that scammers deserve to be punished, but don’t you think @bandupjaxs’s methods can cause serious problems?
Publishing someone’s personal information, asking for deliveries they didn’t ask for, and threatening them with their personal data can easily border on harassment or doxxing. (Via) (Via)
In fact, doxxing is against the law in ten US states, but Pennsylvania is not one of them. Most experts recommend dealing with scams through the payment dispute resolution process or law enforcement, rather than taking matters into your own hands. (Via)
Viewers are on his side!
In the comments section, viewers thought @bandupjaxs’ story was funny and congratulated him on getting his money back.
One viewer praised the creator’s audience, saying, “Nah, your subscribers are crazy.”
Another viewer said, “Bro solved my attention problems.”
“He’s super committed to his work, and this story is amazing,” wrote a third.