TL;DR

What it is

"Marketplace scam" is the umbrella term for online shopping fraud, across:

  1. Fake online shops. A complete-looking storefront — usually advertising goods 30–70% below market — that collects payment and either ships nothing or ships a cheap replica.
  2. Peer-to-peer platform scams. You meet a buyer or seller on Vinted, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Depop, Etsy, OLX, Wallapop, Leboncoin. They convince you to communicate or pay outside the platform.
  3. Refund or return scams. Buyer claims an item was not received or was empty, demands a refund, often with a manipulated photo.
  4. Triangulation fraud. Buyer pays the seller with a stolen credit card; the seller ships goods; the chargeback hits the seller weeks later.
  5. Brand impersonation. Fake "Adidas," "Lululemon," "Le Creuset" stores that look identical to the real one, often advertised on Facebook or Instagram.
  6. Counterfeit goods. Real-looking listings of fake luxury, fake electronics, fake medication, fake supplements.
  7. "Buy" or "sell" scams that escalate into identity fraud. "Just send me your ID so I can verify."

The pattern is reliable. The packaging changes monthly.

How to spot it

Red flags on a shop you've never used:

Red flags on a peer-to-peer platform:

For brand impersonation specifically: type the brand name into your browser yourself. Don't click the ad. The official site is almost always the first non-ad result.

What to do

Before you buy anything from a new shop:

  1. Check the domain age. Search whois <domain> or use any whois service. Under six months → caution. Under six weeks → almost certainly a scam.
  2. Search " scam" and " review" with quotes. Read the third and fourth results, not just the first (the first is often the shop's own page).
  3. Reverse-image-search a product photo. If it appears on 20 other no-name stores or on the real brand's site, the shop is reselling stolen images.
  4. Check Trustpilot, Reddit (r/Scams), and your country's consumer-protection equivalent for mentions.
  5. Pay by credit card if you can. Credit cards offer chargeback protection that debit cards, bank transfers, gift cards, and crypto do not. PayPal Buyer Protection is also strong for eligible transactions.
  6. Save the order confirmation, the URL, and screenshots — chargebacks succeed faster with evidence.

Before you buy or sell on a peer-to-peer platform:

  1. Keep all communication and payment inside the platform. If they ask to move off-platform, they're explicitly trying to escape buyer protection.
  2. Use platform-protected payment methods — Vinted's buyer protection, eBay's Money Back Guarantee, PayPal Goods & Services, etc. Do not "pay by Friends & Family" to a stranger; that route has no recourse.
  3. Verify the account is established — sale history, reviews, account age.
  4. Photograph or video the item before you ship it for high-value sales — protects against fake "didn't receive it" or "was broken" claims.
  5. For in-person handovers, meet in a public place during daylight. Bring someone. Don't share your home address until necessary.

If you've been scammed:

  1. Within 24 hours — contact your card issuer or bank to dispute the charge. Most have a "report fraud" option in the app.
  2. For credit cards, file a formal chargeback. Card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) have specific reason codes; quote "Goods or services not received," "Counterfeit goods," or "Not as described."
  3. For PayPal Goods & Services purchases, file a Buyer Protection claim within 180 days.
  4. For bank transfers, call the bank's fraud line today; international transfers can sometimes be recalled within 24 hours.
  5. For crypto, the money is almost certainly gone, but: report to your country's cybercrime unit and to Chainabuse.com (tracks scam wallet addresses).
  6. Report the shop or seller — to the platform, to the brand they're impersonating, and to your country's consumer-protection regulator.
  7. Search for and notify other victims — community forums often have threads where others can confirm a refund process.

What NOT to do

Use AI to help you

Vet a shop before buying:

"I'm about to buy from this online shop: [domain]. The item is [item, price, and what comparable items cost elsewhere]. The ad showed up on [Facebook / Instagram / Google search / etc.]. Please tell me (a) what to check about the shop's reputation in the next ten minutes, (b) what specific red flags I should look for on the checkout page itself, (c) what payment method is safest here, and (d) on a 1–10 scale, how risky this purchase looks, with your reasoning."

Plan a chargeback or dispute:

"I was scammed by an online shop or marketplace seller. Below is what happened, when, how I paid, and what I have as evidence. Please help me write a formal dispute letter or chargeback statement in [language], addressed to [my card issuer / PayPal / the platform], following the structure that case workers expect: facts, evidence, requested outcome, and timeline. Keep the tone firm and factual.

Details: [paste]"

A reminder: AI doesn't know whether a specific shop is fraudulent in real time. Use it to help plan and write; verify with your country's consumer-protection database before committing.

Who to call

The order: your bank or card issuer for the chargeback, the platform you used, your country's consumer-protection authority, the brand being impersonated.

Find the latest contacts for your country with AI:

"I'm in [your country]. List the official channels I should use after an online shopping scam — my bank's chargeback or dispute team, the national consumer-protection authority, the financial regulator for cross-border payment disputes, the cybercrime reporting body, and any free legal-aid line for consumer disputes. For each, give the official website and public phone number, and tell me the typical deadlines for filing a dispute (e.g., chargeback windows under Visa / Mastercard / SEPA rules). Cite each official source. Flag anything that might be outdated."

A short curated list:

When to escalate beyond chat

Sources & further reading