The “courier” for my laptop sale in Phoenix was part of the scam

Marketplace payment scam · Facebook · United States

I was selling a laptop in Phoenix through Facebook Marketplace. A woman messaged me saying she definitely wanted it but could not come herself because she was working late. She said she would send her cousin with cash and asked me to mark the item as sold.

Then things started getting weird. First she said the cousin had arrived but needed me to pay a small insurance release for the pickup because he was using some kind of courier service. That made no sense, but she kept talking like it was a normal extra step. She even sent a fake email confirmation that looked official at first glance.

There was never any cousin, never any courier and obviously no cash. She was trying to get the item reserved and then squeeze extra money out of me through fake delivery language. It was a marketplace scam dressed up like admin.