One-third of people in the United States have used Facebook’s e-commerce platform Facebook Marketplace, but its so-called real user profile does not give consumers a real sense of security.
Editor’s note: This article is from Tencent Technology.
Some buyers on Facebook Marketplace say that many sellers will change the price of the product at will, list illegal or counterfeit products, or scam through multiple profiles.
Tencent Technology News August 17th news, according to foreign media reports, one in three people in the United States have used Facebook’s e-commerce platform Facebook Marketplace, but its so-called real user information is not brought to consumers Come to a real sense of security.
In 2016, Facebook created an online flea market where users can see not only all the bicycles, bird cages and BMW cars sold nearby, but also the names and avatars of buyers and sellers. position.
According to Facebook data, this social media e-commerce platform is so popular that more than one-third of Americans use it every month. Because Facebook was originally a platform for people who know each other, in theory the idea of its e-commerce platform is that the other side of every online transaction is a real person with an acquaintance network and social media history.
But the experience of many Facebook Marketplace users shows that this creates a false sense of security and provides a fertile ground for fraud or misconduct by both parties.
Some buyers on Facebook Marketplace say that many sellers will change the price of the product at will, list illegal or counterfeit products, or scam through multiple profiles. Sellers say they sometimes encounter unreasonable offers, fraudulent payments, or hopping.
Bad people sometimes disappear after shielding the victim, which is to prevent others from seeing their profile. Facebook Marketplace also allows buyers and sellers to set their comments to private mode, which many people say violates the creationComment on the original intention of the community and the purpose of building trust.
Sgt. Robert Parsons, a police officer in Dunwoody, Ga., said that a sale in his town through the Facebook Marketplace eventually led to a gun robbery. Such incidents prompted Dunwoody and the police department in the United States to open offices as a safe offline place for people to trade on Facebook.
Parsons said: “Crimins have turned Facebook Marketplace into a place where victims can be reached.” “Having a person with a profile on Facebook doesn’t mean he is the one you are looking for.” p>
In the Help Forum, Facebook recommends that users who claim to be victims of crime call the law enforcement agency or report the profile of the offending user to Facebook. Facebook also said that users can use someone’s profile to assess when they use the site and whether they have a common friend.
The Facebook spokesperson said: “We have been working hard to make Facebook Marketplace a safe and secure place to buy and sell.” “Ultimately, these are transactions between real users, even though we have strong measures and guidelines. To ensure people’s safety, but no system is perfect.”
Deborah Liu, Facebook’s vice president of marketing and business, said he was responsible for bringing the market online three years ago to encourage bartering in informal Facebook user groups.
Like Craigslist, the social media giant has no control over payments, shipping or pricing. It also does not charge users. Facebook makes money by selling ads that appear between product lists.
Liu said that unlike Facebook groups, Marketplace does not provide such controls to users, but Facebook itself can revoke users’ trading privileges after review. She said the review team needed to scrutinize the personal data being tagged to ensure they did not unfairly remove users. “We actually have to do some due diligence to understand what happened.”
30-year-old Lindsey Sterling, a nurse in Toronto, said she often buys cosmetics on the Facebook Marketplace because it’s convenient, but the platform is always unsupervised. Earlier this year, she bought a set of American net red Kylie Jenner’s lip bales from a woman in Toronto and transferred $30 to the seller. She said: “All profiles seem to be legal.”
She said that the man assured her that the parcel was already on the road, but it was never sent to her own hands. She said that she and her friends have been cheated many times, so that they joined a Facebook group called “Facebook Marketplace Liar Alert.” The purpose of the organization is to let members know each other about bad actors on the platform, especially those who have established multiple profiles. The entire group has more than 2,000 members.
The number of users on Facebook makes it easy for sellers and buyers to find the other party with the buying and selling needs, and the chat function can seamlessly conduct face-to-face transactions. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak told Facebook executives in a conference call in February that he used the market to sell the yard he bought. A 50-pound steel anchor.
“Sell it out in one day,” he said on the phone. Then he put the old shoes that were not used on the net, and the shoes also sold very quickly. “There is a lot of liquidity,” he said.
This market was first launched in 2016 and also caused Facebook to apologize for all kinds of illegal items appearing on the platform. The company blamed the release of these posts on a technical issue with its system, namely how to identify a problem with a post that violates its policies.
At the moment, the Facebook Marketplace still allows sellers to list items that other retail platforms typically don’t allow, such as eating the remaining tortillas, worn dentures, and used cosmetics. Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, said in response to Novak’s question, “You can sell anything on this platform.”
Li said that the company uses machine learning to detect and block shelves that violate company policies. If Facebook incorrectly blocks a product item or misses something, the user can appeal the decision or report a product.
She said that Facebook will not regulate products that comply with its policies. But over time, the algorithm displays a list of items that match the user’s browsing preferences. She said: “We will not tell people what they can buy and sell.”
Frank McKenna, chief fraud strategist at PointPredictive, which develops anti-fraud software, said Facebook’s current lack of regulation has made it a soil for paying fraud. He said people pay with fake Venmo accounts, fake bills and bad checks.
“This is a paradise for scammers,” McKenna said. “They like to do this because they can create a fake profile that makes them legalChemical.
Facebook said it has some restrictions on sellers to prevent the emergence of scammers. The current requirement for sellers is that they cannot be new to Facebook and must be at least 18 years old.
At the end of last year, Facebook estimated that duplicate accounts accounted for approximately 11% of the site’s 2.23 billion active users per month, and false accounts accounted for 5%, involving a total of more than 100 million personal data.
Facebook says it regularly deletes fake accounts and is developing a new system to make comments more transparent. The company recently announced that people will soon be able to pay directly on Facebook. Liu said that if a scammer stops the victim in order to evade censorship, the buyer can still contact Facebook through his help page.
Sharing personal information can sometimes pose a security risk. McKenna said that his wife was worried about her safety when she became hostile after buying a handbag from their home. “What you are worried about now is not something that sells for $100, but your entire property.”
News about the transaction errors abound. In July alone, several people reported robberies and other illegal incidents that began with Facebook Marketplace interactions. A victim in Shreveport, Louisiana, told the police that a buyer had pulled out the gun and took the item he had bought without paying. A woman in Racine, Wisconsin, said that a buyer sprayed pepper on her and then ran away with her two iPhones without paying. In Memphis, a man was shot in a regular sale.
Memphis, 25-year-old Stone Pannell, said his road bike was stolen from his porch last month and soon appeared on the Facebook Marketplace. He found that his car was priced at $850.
He reported the police, but the police told him that unless the thief sent the bicycle to the pawnshop, they could not help him. If the license plate number matches his bicycle, the pawn shop will issue an alarm for the stolen item.
Panell had no choice but to start trying to get his bike back. He told the seller that he had reported the case to the police, but he would not file a complaint if he could return the bicycle to him. Eventually the seller agreed to place the bicycle where he could take it himself.
Despite the recovery of the bicycle, Pannell said he was surprised by the lack of accountability. “If the guy knows everything I have,” he said, “then he would only say “just” and then block me.” (Tencent Technology Review/皎晗)