How Does an Overpayment Scam on OfferUp Work?

OfferUp is a popular mobile marketplace for buying and selling stuff in your local area. But, like many other online marketplaces, it has also become a popular place for scammers to operate using a variety of tricks to fool people into giving up their money or personal info.

One of OfferUp scammers’ go-to techniques is the overpayment scam. Here’s how it works.

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How Do OfferUp Overpayment Scams Work?

An overpayment scam is just what it sounds like – the scammer pretends to have “overpaid” for an item using an alternative payment method, rather than just paying via OfferUp’s built-in systems. Then, they ask the seller to refund them the difference. The seller will usually comply and send some money back. The scammer then cancels their original payment and disappears with the extra cash.

The trick to this scam is that the scammer has to use an exterior payment system. They might make up stories or claim they can offer a better price if the seller agrees to use a different payment system. As long as they can get the seller to agree to this, the rest of the scam becomes quite simple, as they only have to make the overpayment and rely on the seller’s good faith to refund them.

In some cases, scammers use stolen credit cards to make their overpayments, meaning that there are two victims, not just one. The credit card owner loses cash from their account, and so does the OfferUp seller, while the scammer makes a profit. And since the payment was made outside of OfferUp, there’s not really any way for the victim to make a claim and get their money back.

Red Flags You Shouldn’t Ignore

Buyers Asking to Pay Outside OfferUp

The main red flag with this scam is if you have a buyer trying to get you to accept a payment outside of OfferUp. OfferUp has its own built-in payment system which works just fine for the vast majority of users. So, if someone says they don’t want to use that or promises you a better deal if you agree to another method, they’re most likely trying to scam you.

Claims of Accidental Overpayment

While it is possible for people to accidentally send too much money, it’s not likely. Many people are careful when making transfers and many payment platforms have systems in place that ask you to check and confirm the payment amount several times before sending it. As such, it’s usually quite suspicious when someone says they’ve inadvertently sent you more than they should.

Coercive or Threatening Language

Scammers love to instill a sense of urgency in their victims because they want to get paid and disappear as quickly as they can without getting caught. They might use coercive language to get you to pay them back as soon as possible, and some might even get threatening or aggressive, saying they’ll call the police if you refuse to pay them immediately.

How to Protect Yourself From Overpayment Scams on OfferUp

Only use the built-in payment systems on the OfferUp app.
Refuse to work with buyers who want to pay via other means.
If a buyer does overpay, wait for the payment to clear before refunding them the difference.

Report the Scam

You can report suspected scammers or users who violate OfferUp’s guidelines. You can also:

Report to the FTC.
Report to the FBI Internet Complaints Center.

How to Protect Yourself More

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Learn about other, similar sorts of scams, like Craigslist scams, so you can stay safe when buying or selling online.

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