Urgent warning issued over convincing Facebook Marketplace scam

8 December 2021, 10:54

By Heart

@thisisheart

There is a new scam on the internet using Google Voice and Facebook Marketplace.

One woman has issued an urgent warning after she was scammed on Facebook.

Taking to TikTok, Krystal Lewis (@itskrystalewis) revealed how she was tricked by criminals while trying to sell a table on Marketplace.

She explained to her 60.2k followers that someone posing as a young woman had reached out to buy the table and later text her so they could arrange a time to meet.

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In the message, the woman said she wanted Krystal to send her a code on Facebook that she should send back to her on text to make sure she was a real person.

“I fell right for it thinking it was smart for someone of our age to generate a code and do something like that,” she said.

But the scammer actually wanted the code to create a Google Voice number linked to the victim’s phone.

They would then be able to use the victim’s phone number to scam other people by pretending to be them.

If they gain enough information, they may even be able to access the personal accounts of the victim or open new accounts in their name.

Krystal warned her followers: “Please watch out for it and never trust a Google Voice verification number.”

What to do if you give someone a Google Voice verification code

After accidentally giving someone your verification code, to can reclaim your number from Google.

This is done by adding your own phone number to your existing Google Voice account or creating an account. You can read more about how to do it here.

And it’s good to remember never to share any verification code with someone if you don’t know them.