Fake "Is This Still Available" Marketplace Name-Lure Scam

Overview

Scammers text victims a fabricated Facebook Marketplace listing that uses the victim's own name as the "seller," hoping the urge to correct the mistake will trigger a reply that confirms the phone number is active.

How It Works

Victims receive an unsolicited text (often via iMessage) asking "Is this still available for purchase?" with an attached screenshot of what looks like a real Facebook Marketplace listing. When the recipient looks closely, the "seller" name on the listing matches their own name, even though the profile photo belongs to a different person. Malwarebytes researchers describe this as a "conversation lure" — a message crafted to feel personal so the recipient reacts with "that isn't me" and replies to correct it. Researchers believe scammers pair names with phone numbers obtained from data breaches to mass-produce these personalized fake listings, and that AI tools now make it cheap and fast to generate convincing, individualized screenshots at scale for huge lists of targets. Once a victim replies at all — even just to say "wrong number" or "that's not me" — it confirms the number is active and being monitored, making it a more valuable target that can be resold to other scammers or used in other cybercrimes such as downloading malware, beginning a relationship that leads to fraud, or taking over the victim's Facebook account.

Red Flags

• Unsolicited text with a Marketplace or classifieds screenshot asking if an item is 'still available'
• The listing shows your own name as the seller for an item you never posted
• Profile photo attached to the listing doesn't match the name or doesn't look familiar
• Message arrives from an unknown number with no prior context or relationship
• Urge to reply immediately to 'correct' the mistaken impersonation

Real Examples

• Malwarebytes researcher Pieter Arntz documented a case where a recipient got an iMessage asking "Is this still available for purchase?" with a fabricated Marketplace listing showing their own name as the seller, paired with an unrelated person's profile photo of the same name.

Where It Spreads

How to Protect Yourself

• Don't reply to unexpected texts about items you never listed, even to say 'wrong number' or 'that's not me' — any reply confirms your number is active
• Open Facebook independently to inspect Marketplace activity, recent logins, messages, email addresses, phone numbers, and recovery settings rather than tapping links or images sent in a text
• If you find a profile genuinely impersonating you, preserve the URL and report it to Facebook through its impersonation-reporting tools
• Limit what you share publicly on social media, since scammers can use that information to increase the credibility of their attempts
• Don't click a link, call a number supplied in the conversation, scan a QR code, or share a one-time code or screenshot of a security message

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