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Scam ads slipping through net too easily on second-hand marketplaces, Which? warns
- UK second-hand marketplaces like Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, and Nextdoor are failing to detect and remove scam ads quickly enough, according to a new investigation by consumer watchdog Which?
- These platforms do not offer buyer protection schemes, which can make it difficult for users to get their money back if they're s cammed
- A survey of more than 2,000 UK adults by Which? found that many consumers did not know these platforms lacked buyer protection.
- To test how easily scam ads can be posted on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, and Nextdoor, Which? created a fake identity and posted a suspicious ad for a secondhand Nikon digital camera. In each case, the ad went live and stayed up for several hours despite the obvious signs of fraud.
- The report claimed that scams on online marketplaces is a growing problem, with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau reporting over 56,603 incidents of online fraud and a loss of £104.6m in online shopping and auction fraud in the UK in the year up to October 2020.
- Which? has called on the government and Ofcom to implement the Online Safety Act quicker to combat the growing issue of online fraud and crime
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