Is this marketplace listing too good to be true?
Paste any Facebook Marketplace, Vinted, eBay, Gumtree or Depop listing URL. Get a verdict in seconds — 14 fraud signals plus a fair-price comparison vs the UK market range.
Free download. iOS & Android. UK-first.
Paste a marketplace listing URL into SilentID Deal Scanner and you’ll get a verdict in seconds: Looks fair, Suspicious or Likely scam. It runs 14 fraud-signal checks — price vs UK market range, account age, image reuse, message-only seller and more — and it’s free, with three checks a day and no signup.
Why a price-and-scam check matters
TSB’s 2025 fraud data shows that 1 in 3 Facebook Marketplace ads could be a scam and that £160,000 is stolen on Marketplace every single day in the UK (Source: TSB). The single most-effective signal? Price. The classic listing pattern is a real product, real-looking photos, and a price 30-50% below market — designed to bypass your scepticism for long enough to extract a deposit.
A spreadsheet check for “is this iPhone in the right ballpark?” isn’t enough on its own — but combined with account age, image reuse and seller behaviour, it catches the vast majority of UK marketplace fraud before money moves.
The 14 signals Deal Scanner checks
Each signal is weighted — a too-good-to-be-true price plus an account younger than 30 days is much more damning than either alone.
Listed price more than 30% below the market range
A £900 iPhone 15 Pro listed at £450 isn't a bargain — it's the most reliable signal of a wire-fraud listing. Deal Scanner flags any item priced below the 30th percentile of the comparable UK market range.
Account age under 30 days
Brand-new accounts post-and-vanish. Combined with a too-good price, account age is the single highest-correlation scam signal in TSB and Cifas data.
Reused or stock-photo images
Reverse-image search finds the same photo on a manufacturer site, an eBay listing in another city, or a Pinterest pin from 2019. Real second-hand items have hand-held, slightly-imperfect photos.
No location or vague location ("Anywhere UK")
Genuine in-person collection listings have a real postcode area. "Ships from anywhere" + "deposit before viewing" is the wire-fraud playbook.
Description copy-pasted from a manufacturer page
Real sellers describe condition, scratches, why they're selling. Marketing-copy descriptions = scraped listing.
Seller wants to move off-platform immediately
WhatsApp before the meet, Telegram, "DM me on Instagram" — every step off the platform strips your fraud-recovery options.
Bank-transfer-only or PayPal Friends & Family
A seller refusing PIN Pickup, eBay Managed Payments or PayPal G&S is a seller refusing to be held accountable.
Pressure: "Three other people are interested"
Urgency manufactured to skip the inspection step. Honest sellers are happy to wait an hour for a real meet.
Asks for a holding deposit
Action Fraud lists "deposit-to-view" as one of the top three UK marketplace fraud patterns. The deposit is the entire scam.
Too many identical listings in different cities
A single seller posting the same TV in Manchester, Cardiff and London = listing factory.
Newly-registered domain or non-marketplace URL
Some scammers post a real platform listing then redirect you to a lookalike "secure-payment" website. Deal Scanner WHOIS-checks every link in the listing body.
Reviews and feedback do not match the seller name
Account name "Sarah J" but the public feedback is on "ElectronicsWarehouse2024" — repurposed account.
Listing posted from outside the UK
IP geolocation on the listing metadata vs the stated UK location. Common pattern for VPN-hidden international fraud rings.
No prior Trust Passport or verified marketplace profiles
A seller with zero verified history asking for hundreds of pounds is — at minimum — a seller you should meet in a Safe Trade Zone with PIN Pickup.
Worked examples — what the verdicts look like
Example 1 · iPhone 15 Pro on Facebook Marketplace · Verdict: Likely scam
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| Listed price | ✗£450 (UK fair range £820-£980) |
| Account age | ✗11 days |
| Photos | ✗Stock photo, found on apple.com |
| Location | !"Anywhere UK" |
| Payment method | ✗Bank transfer only |
| Verdict | ✗Likely scam — 5 signals tripped |
Example 2 · IKEA sofa on Gumtree · Verdict: Looks fair
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| Listed price | ✓£180 (UK fair range £150-£220) |
| Account age | ✓4 years 2 months |
| Photos | ✓Hand-held, in-situ, 6 angles |
| Location | ✓Manchester M14 (precise postcode area) |
| Payment method | ✓Cash on collection or PIN Pickup |
| Verdict | ✓Looks fair — 0 signals tripped |
Example 3 · Vinted designer trainers · Verdict: Suspicious
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| Listed price | ✓£140 (UK fair range £110-£180) |
| Account age | ✗9 days |
| Photos | !1 photo, slightly compressed |
| Location | ✓Leeds LS1 |
| Verdict | !Suspicious — verify in person before paying |
Deal Scanner vs checking it yourself
| Step | Manual check | Deal Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| Compare price to market | !5-10 mins on eBay sold listings | ✓Auto, 2 seconds |
| Reverse-image check | !Manual on Google Images | ✓Auto across web + marketplaces |
| Account age | !Hidden on Vinted, partial on FB | ✓Resolved automatically |
| Cross-platform reputation | ✗Impossible manually | ✓TrustScore included |
| Time per check | !15-20 minutes | ✓Under 10 seconds |
UK marketplace fraud — by the numbers
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Check the listing before you pay
Download SilentID — paste any UK marketplace URL into Deal Scanner. 14 fraud signals + fair-price band. 3 free checks per day.
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Reviewed by the SilentID editorial team. We update each guide quarterly with new UK fraud data.