THE SCAM
The Marketplace listing with your name on it.
A text lands on your phone: "Is this still available for purchase?" Attached is a Facebook Marketplace listing — and the seller's name on it is yours. You never listed anything. It looks like someone is pretending to be you, and your first instinct is to write back and say so.
That instinct is the whole trap. Security researchers at Malwarebytes flagged this one on October 6: the listing is fake, built from a name and phone number likely pulled from an old data breach. The photo on it may belong to a stranger who just happens to share your name. The sender doesn't need your money or your password — not yet. They just need you to answer.
THE RED FLAG
The listing has your name on it, but you never posted it — and the message about it arrives by text from a stranger, not inside Facebook. The profile photo doesn't match you. And the message is built to make you correct it: "That's not me" feels harmless, but to the sender it isn't an answer, it's proof.
The FTC has warned about this for years: replying to an unfamiliar sender confirms your number is live and answered by a real person. A confirmed number gets targeted harder and sold on to the next scammer in line.
THE RULE
Never reply to a message about a listing you didn't post — not even to say it's not you. Silence is the protection here; any answer marks your number as active.
If you're worried someone really is impersonating you, open Facebook yourself — the app or the site, typed in by you, never a link from the message. Check your Marketplace activity and recent logins, and if you find a profile actually pretending to be you, report it through Facebook's impersonation reporting. Nothing found? Delete the text and move on.
(Source: Malwarebytes security research, October 6, 2026; reported by ConsumerAffairs, October 7, 2026)
SIGN-OFF
That's today's red flag. One scam, one red flag, one rule — pass it to someone who clicks first and asks questions later.
Got a scam text or a sketchy email? Send it via the contact page — the best ones make future red flags.