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When Savannah listed her old iPhone for sale on Facebook Marketplace, she didn’t expect any trouble.

The single mum has been selling on the platform for years, and always followed Facebook’s official advice — never giving out her real address and meeting in open, public spaces for exchange. 

Savannah was conscious that the high price of her sale item could attract scams, and thought she needed to be “a bit more careful”. 

She felt safe meeting her prospective buyer at 3pm on a busy street in broad daylight. But that quickly changed. 

“He was kind of trembling. He kept asking questions … but he wasn’t really listening to what I was saying,” she recalled.

“So that was when I went, ‘Uh oh, something weird is going to happen’.” 

Moments later, the man — who was already holding and examining the phone for sale — lunged for Savannah’s personal phone that she held in her hand, causing her to fall.

“He freaked out and took off,” she said, taking with him the phone she’d had for sale.

Frustrated and shaken, she called police and lodged a report for the stolen phone.

“Essentially [they] said that they can’t do anything because the guy was on foot and there was nothing like a car registration,” she said. 

The man’s Facebook profile was also fake, and he blocked Savannah after the incident. 

She had been scammed.

‘I was too eager’  

Online marketplace scams are included under the broader category of shopping scams.

This year, more than 19,000 reports of shopping scams have been made to Scamwatch, totalling $8.6 million in losses — a 19 per cent increase on the same period last year.

“They can be really quite sophisticated and detailed in the execution of these scams,” Catriona Lowe, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deputy chair, said. 

With scams on the rise, the National Anti-Scam Centre, run by the ACCC, is urging buyers and sellers to “stop, check, protect”. 

Ms Lowe said the “stop” category was key.

“The stop part is really just not being rushed, because scammers know very well that when we’re in what’s called a ‘hot state’ — if we’re stressed or we’re hurried or we’re worried — that’s when some of our natural caution will be lower and we can be susceptible to the crime that they are trying to commit,” Ms Lowe said. 

Slowing down and taking more time to make a purchase is something Jack Lenffer wishes she’d done when she went to buy tickets for Canberra’s Spilt Milk festival in 2024.

She was scammed into sending money to a seller for a resold ticket.

“I think I didn’t want to admit to anyone that I’d actually been scammed, but you look back at it and you read the messages and you’re like, ‘Oh I was just too eager,’” she said. 

The chef regularly shops on Marketplace and is becoming increasingly frustrated by scams.

She encountered some more recently, while trying to buy a couch.

“I noticed every single ad was just fake people who just wouldn’t reply, or they’re just demanding money straight away when you haven’t even gone over and looked at it yet,” Ms Lenffer said. 

And while she says she can now identify a scam “pretty quickly,” she worries for those who can’t, with her mum and boss recently falling victim. 

So, what are some of the red flags people should look out for when buying and selling via online marketplaces, and how can you protect against scams? 

Common online shopping red flags 

Scammers can pose as both buyers and sellers on online marketplaces.

Those pretending to be sellers might advertise an item for sale at a price that’s too good to be true. 

“Often there’s a compromised social media profile involved, and once a person pays for that item, the profile disappears and the product never arrives,” Ms Lowe said. 

“And of course, that’s how they part people with their money.” 

Ms Lowe said the scammer might also use the transaction to send phishing links to obtain personal and payment information, so you shouldn’t click on any links they send you or download anything to your computer. 

Another thing to look out for is sellers insisting on payment up-front, or requesting unusual payment methods. 

“Wire transfers, cryptocurrency, gift cards, or direct transfers all should put people on alert that they need to be careful,” Ms Lowe said. 

If you are selling an item, Ms Lowe said to look out for fake payment confirmations from scammers posing as buyers.

“Typically what we see is that they will send a fake payment confirmation to a seller, like a screenshot, and claim that they’ve accidentally overpaid and seek a refund for this so-called overpayment amount,” Ms Lowe said.

Tips when buying

As a buyer, Ms Lowe advises doing your due diligence on the seller. 

Search for duplicate listings for an item and check the seller’s account profile. 

“Sometimes we’ll see a number of very similar profiles with just slightly different names,” Ms Lowe said.

If you’re buying in-person, don’t hand over money until you see the item for sale.

If you can’t see the item before purchasing — for example, if it is to be mailed — then consider asking to see multiple photos of the item, a live video, or an original sales receipt.

When paying for an item electronically, Ms Lowe said it was important to use secure payment methods. 

“If you’re using PayPal or BPAY, for example, there are dispute resolution processes that those providers have, and if you use a credit card and you don’t receive the goods, you can charge back for those items,” Ms Lowe said. 

For those who regularly purchase online, Ms Lowe said it was important to have multi-factor authentication set up for accounts.

She also suggested setting up a separate credit card with a low limit.  

“Only use that card for online purchases so that even if it’s compromised, that limits the amount of loss that a consumer might be facing,” she said. 

Tips when selling

When selling, Ms Lowe suggests not handing over items until you’ve received payment. 

If selling for cash, take a moment to check the money isn’t counterfeit. 

If payment is being made electronically, check your bank account to verify the money is there — don’t rely on the buyer providing transaction evidence. 

When meeting someone in person to exchange, choose a public well-lit location, ideally one covered by CCTV. 

If possible choose a time when there are likely to be other people around, or consider taking a friend or family member along with you. 

Victoria Police has set up 35 “safer exchange sites” across the state for this purpose, and police in some other jurisdictions have encouraged people to use station car parks.

What to do if you think you’ve been scammed 

Ms Lowe said to trust your instinct: if you feel like something may be wrong it’s best to act quickly. 

The National Anti-Scam Council recommends: 

• Contacting your bank immediately if you think you’ve lost money or shared financial details;
• Contacting IDCARE if you have shared personal information and think you are at risk of identify theft;
• Reporting the scam to Scamwatch and police to help protect others;
• Changing passwords and security details if you think they’ve been compromised;
• Monitoring your bank statements and credit reports for unusual activity.

“Even if you’ve spotted the scam and disengaged you should still report it, because we use that intelligence to warn other people and also to disrupt the scams,” Ms Lowe said. 

NEW YORK/BENGALURU:

Oil prices rose by more than $1 on Monday as traders braced for potential supply disruptions in the Middle East due to rising tensions in Yemen, and Russia accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on its President Vladimir Putin’s residence.

Brent crude futures rose $1, or 1.7%, to $61.64 a barrel by 1818 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.10, or 1.9%, at $57.84.

“The market’s focus has shifted toward the Middle East, where fresh instability, including Saudi air strikes in Yemen, is keeping supply-disruption headlines in play,” Gelber & Associates said in a note.

Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said any military moves by the main southern separatist group in the eastern province of Hadramout that undermined de-escalation efforts would be countered to protect civilians, the Saudi state news agency reported on Saturday.

An escalation of fighting on Thursday killed two people from the separatist group Southern Transitional Council’s Hadhrami Elite Forces in Hadramout, the group said in its statement. Saudi airstrikes followed early on Friday, targeting the STC forces in the area, a source told Reuters.

Elsewhere, Moscow accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on the Russian presidential residence in northern Russia, due to which Moscow now plans to review its position in peace talks. Ukraine dismissed Russian statements about the drone attack and its foreign minister said Moscow was seeking “false justifications” for further strikes against its neighbor.

Prior to these developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said on Monday that significant progress had been made in talks with US counterpart Donald Trump and agreed that US and Ukrainian teams would meet next week to finalise issues aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump had also held a “positive call” with Putin about the war in Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said earlier on Monday.

Oil benchmarks had dropped more than 2% on Friday, partly due to rising hopes of a Ukraine peace deal.

Strong Chinese waterborne crude imports are also helping tighten oil markets, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

He added that $60 a barrel was the soft floor for Brent, with prices expected to recover slightly in 2026 because non-OPEC+ supply growth is likely to stall in the middle of 2026.

Energy investors are also waiting for data on US stockpiles for the week ended December 19. The report, which was expected to be published at 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, was delayed without assigning a new publication time.

An extended Reuters poll showed US crude oil inventories were expected to have fallen in the week ended December 19, while distillate and gasoline inventories were expected to have risen.

ISLAMABAD:

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) expanded its market research activity in 2025, releasing competition assessment studies covering key sectors, including insurance, power, gold, pesticides, steel, LNG, road infrastructure, sugar and fertiliser.

According to a statement issued on Monday,the Commission also established a Centre of Excellence in Competition Law (CECL) to support evidence-based policymaking and legal and regulatory reforms. The centre is conducting studies on the automobile industry, civil aviation market, solar energy market, cement sector and the impact of mergers in the telecom sector.

A detailed CCP report on the state of competition in Pakistan’s insurance industry identified low insurance penetration, limited outreach and a fragmented legal and regulatory framework as major challenges. The report noted that insurance penetration in Pakistan stands at 0.87%, compared to a global average of 6.7%, and highlighted the need for reforms to improve competition and consumer welfare.

The Commission also released its first Competition Assessment Study of the gold market. The report provided an evidence-based analysis of a sector characterised by informality and pricing opacity. It found that more than 90% of gold trading takes place outside formal channels. The study examined the potential impact of the Reko Diq copper-gold project on domestic supply chains and recommended the creation of a Gemstone and Gold Regulatory Authority.

In addition, CCP issued competition studies on the pesticide, steel and LNG sectors. The pesticide sector report highlighted Pakistan’s reliance on imported agricultural chemicals, the prevalence of counterfeit and substandard products, regulatory bottlenecks and weak enforcement affecting farmers and crop yields.

The LNG study identified dominant positions held by state-owned enterprises, limited private sector participation, restricted access to infrastructure and the impact of circular debt exceeding Rs2.8 trillion on market competition. The steel sector assessment outlined competition challenges and policy gaps affecting efficiency and market outcomes. The Commission also issued a Competition Assessment Study of the fertiliser industry, identifying barriers to competition across production, distribution and retail segments in a sector critical to agricultural productivity.

To strengthen inter-agency coordination, the CCP signed several memoranda of understanding during 2025. These included an MoU with the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation covering cooperation on cartel enforcement, merger control and competition policy research.

At the national level, the CCP entered into MoUs with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the Punjab Food Authority to address deceptive marketing practices and improve monitoring of product claims.