Money & Transactions

Online Marketplace Seller Investigator

Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and OfferUp have no seller vetting worth the name — the entire fraud check is you. This tool is that check, run before the transaction instead of after. Describe the deal: what's being sold, the price, how payment was requested, and how the seller has behaved. The AI matches it against the fraud patterns that dominate person-to-person marketplaces, and tells you how to proceed safely — or not at all.

scamanot.com — marketplace seller investigator

Works for buyers and sellers — Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, OfferUp, eBay, and local buy/sell groups.

🔒 Content you paste is never stored, logged, or shared. It is processed server-side and discarded immediately after your result is returned. For local deals: cash on pickup in a public place remains the gold standard no verdict can improve on. This tool informs your decision — it does not guarantee outcomes.

Content never stored
AI runs server-side only
No account required
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The Fraud Patterns

The marketplace scams that actually happen.

Six patterns cover the overwhelming majority of person-to-person marketplace fraud — on both sides of the deal.

Payment Before Pickup

Zelle, Venmo, or CashApp demanded to "hold" a local item before you've seen it. Deposits to strangers by irreversible methods are the #1 buyer-side loss.

The Fake Payment Screenshot

Seller-side: a doctored "payment sent" image, or a spoofed "pending — ship to release funds" email. If your own app doesn't show cleared money, no money exists.

The Overpayment

A "buyer" sends too much by check or app, then asks for the difference back. Their payment reverses days later; your refund was real. Classic, and still everywhere.

The Verification Code

"To prove you're real, I'll text you a code — read it back." That's a Google Voice or account-takeover code. Anyone asking you to read them a code is stealing something.

Shipping a Local Item

Insistence on shipping-plus-payment-app for something listed locally removes the one protection local deals have: seeing the item and the person.

Off-Platform Pull

"Message me on WhatsApp instead." Moving off-platform kills the message history and reporting tools — the first move of most marketplace fraud scripts.

Examples

Three deals, checked.

One buyer-side, one seller-side, one hybrid — the three shapes most marketplace fraud takes.

3
Low
The Deposit to "Hold It"

A $1,200 camera listed at $450. "Lots of interest — send $100 by Zelle and I'll take the listing down and hold it for you until Saturday."

Under-market bait plus an irreversible deposit to a stranger for an item you haven't seen. The camera doesn't exist; Saturday never comes. Real local sellers hold items with words, not Zelle.

6
Caution
The Pending Payment Email

You're selling a laptop. The buyer "pays" instantly and an email from "Zelle" arrives: payment is pending and will release once you provide a shipping receipt — the buyer even apologizes for the hassle and offers $50 extra for fast shipping.

Zelle has no escrow, no pending-until-shipped state, and sends no such emails — the message is spoofed. The extra $50 is there to hurry you. If money isn't showing cleared inside your own banking app, you have not been paid.

8
High Risk
The Code Reader

Minutes after you list a couch, a friendly buyer wants it — "but I've been scammed before, so let me verify you're a real person. I'm sending a 6-digit code to your number now; just read it back to me."

That code is Google Voice creating a number tied to YOUR phone — which the scammer then uses to run scams traced back to you — or worse, a login code for one of your accounts. The "I've been scammed before" framing is engineered to make suspicion feel rude. No legitimate buyer verifies anyone with codes.

Common Questions

About marketplace fraud.

For local pickups: cash, exchanged in person after inspecting the item, ideally in a public place — many police departments offer monitored safe-exchange zones. For anything shipped: only payment methods with purchase protection, like PayPal Goods & Services or platform checkout. Zelle, Venmo (standard), Cash App, wires, and gift cards offer zero purchase protection and should be treated as cash handed to a stranger — appropriate only after the item is in your hands.
Because the code is never about verifying you — it's a security code for something being created or accessed in your name. Most commonly it's Google Voice: the scammer creates a Voice number linked to your phone, then uses that number to run scams that trace back to you. In worse cases it's a login or password-reset code for one of your own accounts. The rule has no exceptions: verification codes texted to you are for you alone, and anyone asking you to read one aloud is committing fraud in real time.
The scammer either doctors a "payment sent" screenshot or spoofs an email that looks like it's from Zelle, PayPal, or your bank, often claiming the payment is "pending" until you ship or provide a receipt. The defense is a single habit: only trust your own app. Open your banking or payment app yourself — not a link, not a screenshot, not an email — and confirm cleared funds before anything leaves your hands. No cleared balance in your own app means no payment has occurred, regardless of what any image or message claims.
Statistically, yes — with basic precautions it's far safer than shipping to a stranger. Meet in daylight in a busy public place or a police-station safe exchange zone, bring a friend for high-value items, and complete payment only at the exchange. In-person deals eliminate the entire category of payment fraud: no fake screenshots, no reversals, no shipping disputes. The overwhelming majority of marketplace losses happen remotely, precisely because scammers avoid situations where you can see the item and them.
No. Per our Security Policy Framework §3.1, nothing you submit is stored in our database. Your description is processed server-side, analyzed, and discarded immediately after your result is returned. We never retain, sell, or train on your submissions.
Report through the payment channel first — bank fraud line for Zelle/wire, the dispute process for PayPal or card payments — since recovery odds fall by the hour. Report the user and transaction on the platform itself (Facebook, OfferUp, and eBay all have fraud reporting that can ban the account), then file at reportfraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov. If a verification code was involved, reclaim your number at voice.google.com and secure your accounts. Platform payments with buyer/seller protection frequently do result in refunds; irreversible methods rarely do — which is worth remembering for the next deal.

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Straight Answers

The questions people ask most — answered directly.

What is the safest way to pay on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist?

For local pickups: cash, exchanged in person after inspecting the item, ideally in a public place — many police departments offer monitored safe-exchange zones. For anything shipped: only payment methods with purchase protection, like PayPal Goods & Services or platform checkout. Zelle, Venmo (standard), Cash App, wires, and gift cards offer zero purchase protection and should be treated as cash handed to a stranger — appropriate only after the item is in your hands.

Why is the "read me the verification code" request so dangerous?

Because the code is never about verifying you — it's a security code for something being created or accessed in your name. Most commonly it's Google Voice: the scammer creates a Voice number linked to your phone, then uses that number to run scams that trace back to you. In worse cases it's a login or password-reset code for one of your own accounts. The rule has no exceptions: verification codes texted to you are for you alone, and anyone asking you to read one aloud is committing fraud in real time.

How do fake payment screenshots work, and how do I protect myself as a seller?

The scammer either doctors a "payment sent" screenshot or spoofs an email that looks like it's from Zelle, PayPal, or your bank, often claiming the payment is "pending" until you ship or provide a receipt. The defense is a single habit: only trust your own app. Open your banking or payment app yourself — not a link, not a screenshot, not an email — and confirm cleared funds before anything leaves your hands. No cleared balance in your own app means no payment has occurred, regardless of what any image or message claims.

Is meeting in person actually safe?

Statistically, yes — with basic precautions it's far safer than shipping to a stranger. Meet in daylight in a busy public place or a police-station safe exchange zone, bring a friend for high-value items, and complete payment only at the exchange. In-person deals eliminate the entire category of payment fraud: no fake screenshots, no reversals, no shipping disputes. The overwhelming majority of marketplace losses happen remotely, precisely because scammers avoid situations where you can see the item and them.

Why Scamanot Exists

Built by someone who's been there.

Scamanot was founded by Robert Scott Singleton — 63 years old, online since 1992, and a scam victim more times than he cares to count. Car dealers. Email schemes. Fake online sellers. He watched fraud grow from an obscure curiosity into a billion-dollar catastrophe targeting everyday people.

"When it happens, you don't say anything. You just go quiet. Forget about it. Move on. That's what I did for decades. That's what most people do. And that silence — that's exactly what scammers are counting on."

So he built something about it. Every tool on Scamanot is AI-powered, free to use, and built on one principle: nobody should have to just go quiet and move on. Your searches are never stored. The AI runs server-side only. We find the truth. We never expose yours.

Founder

Robert Scott Singleton

Founded

2026

Online since

1992

Data stored

Zero. None. Ever.