A friend of mine announced that she and her family were wrapping up the settlement of her uncle’s estate. A cheerful consumer, he had amassed an impressive collection of cars and recreational vehicles during his lifetime.

The family wanted to sell as many of these items as they could before they put his house on the market, so they listed them on Facebook. I scrolled through and noticed some really good deals. I even mentioned them to my husband.

Then, fortunately, our day got busy and we tabled any thoughts of participating in the fire sale.

The post was a scam and my friend ended up locked out of her account, so she couldn’t even warn people not to participate.

Had I expressed an interest in purchasing any of the items listed in the scam post, the next step would have been a conversation through Messenger, where I would have been asked to send the money. In this case, it was $5,000 and up. If you do that to a bad actor, you almost certainly will not get your money back.

I’m fairly certain I would have figured it out pretty quickly. I have a strict policy of not sending any money through Facebook. For that reason I don’t participate in the platform’s birthday fundraisers or Marketplace.

But, I can see how easily people get stung. You think you are dealing with a trusted friend, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of the great deals they offer?

I write this as a cautionary tale. It’s really easy to become a victim of a scam and, often, really difficult to disentangle yourself and your finances.

Be very cautious, especially if you’re encouraged to act quickly. Research the product, opportunity and seller and don’t use a method of payment that makes you uncomfortable.

Trust your healthy skepticism.

A deal that looks too good to be true generally is.

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