We recently got a new couch and decided to try to sell the old one. If it didn’t sell we have a Goodwill nearby so we could just take it there for drop off.
I took some photos and posted it in the For Sale section of the Nextdoor app.
“That was fast” I thought. I replied that the couch was still available.
I relayed it to my wife and she noticed that the buyer was located downtown. “That’s odd” I thought. I set my neighborhood limits as those just around my own.
The buyer asked if it was in good shape and I was truthful. It had a few scuffs but it was in good shape. Then she agreed and asked where we could meet to buy it. “That’s odd” I thought. She didn’t try to haggle the price. Well, maybe shes a used furniture dealer that just wants product to sell and doesn’t have time for that.
Sounds like some scam where she’d pay you too much via Venmo, ask you to send her the amount she paid over, via Venmo, and then pull some sort of trick where she’s figured out how to make your payment to her much larger than you intended. I don’t trust anyone.
While many critics have focused on how the app makes all transactions public by default, Venmo’s friend lists are arguably a larger privacy issue. Even if a Venmo account is set to make payments private, its friend list remains exposed. There is no setting to make this information private, which means it can provide a window into someone’s personal life that could be exploited by anyone — including trolls, stalkers, police, and spies.
No other major social network or service has contact-based friend lists that are publicly accessible by default to anyone — and that cannot be made private. People use Venmo to get paid, often using their real names. They often also import their phone contact lists or Facebook friend lists — which the app highly encourages when you sign up — creating networks where people automatically “friend” dozens if not hundreds of other Venmo users to allow them to find people they want to pay more easily.
Venmo makes it impossible for users to hide their list of friends. To remove someone as a friend, a user has to unfriend the person manually. …
At first glance, disclosing connections among people may seem trivial: Who cares if you know whom someone is connected to? But these public connections can be used to expose very private information. …
Last year, Nick Cadena, then a student at Louisiana State University, told BuzzFeed News he had been the victim of an impersonation scam on Venmo. A scammer took his photo and profile details and created a similar account, and then used it to request money from Cadena’s friends. Some people completed the transactions, believing that they were paying the real Cadena.
— We Found Joe Biden’s Secret Venmo. Here’s Why That’s A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone. https://www.buzzfeednews.com | May 14, 2021 | Ryan Mac, Katie Notopoulos, Ryan Brooks, Logan McDonald
How will we tell the difference?
In that case, I don’t feel so bad about this:
The Couch
(A Cautionary Tale)
A true story by me. Your old pal.
We recently got a new couch and decided to try to sell the old one. If it didn’t sell we have a Goodwill nearby so we could just take it there for drop off.
I took some photos and posted it in the For Sale section of the Nextdoor app.
About 30 minutes after I posted it I got a bite.
Part 2
“That was fast” I thought. I replied that the couch was still available.
I relayed it to my wife and she noticed that the buyer was located downtown. “That’s odd” I thought. I set my neighborhood limits as those just around my own.
The buyer asked if it was in good shape and I was truthful. It had a few scuffs but it was in good shape. Then she agreed and asked where we could meet to buy it. “That’s odd” I thought. She didn’t try to haggle the price. Well, maybe shes a used furniture dealer that just wants product to sell and doesn’t have time for that.
Part 3
I told her about a park/pool parking lot that would serve as a neutral public place to make the trade. And I sent her the address.
She then said she’ll pay now and just pick up the couch later when we meet.
I told her I don’t have any payment method set up in Nextdoor so cash is fine.
I gave her two options on when we could meet.
She asked., well made a statement in the form of a question, “you don’t have venmo or (some other cash app that i’m not familiar with)?
I told her I prefer cash but i texted Denise because she has venmo. I then asked again which time she’d prefer to meet.
Part 4
She said “Okay”.
“That’s odd” I thought, she isn’t answering me about when to meet.
I messaged back saying I can use my wife’s venmo and asked a third time which option she’d like for the trade.
Then a fourth.
No answer.
Then the messages from her were all deleted.
Sounds like some scam where she’d pay you too much via Venmo, ask you to send her the amount she paid over, via Venmo, and then pull some sort of trick where she’s figured out how to make your payment to her much larger than you intended. I don’t trust anyone.
Her (after receiving $15 refund from you): “It didn’t register on my end. Try sending it again.”
You {after sending it again): “D’oh! I’ve just paid her $30 total.”
It all makes sense now.
It was probably a Mossad agent trying to get dirt on you for blackmail purposes.
Or:
Curiouser and curiouser
May Day May Day!
“ Isn’t that weird?”
We expect no less from you, Oppo
I’m definitely taking the under, then…