A new scam is targeting people who are selling items online through platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji in order to take over their phone number and online accounts.
Kristin Matthews, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau of the Atlantic region, said there are several steps to the scam.
First, she said, the seller is contacted by someone who says they are interested in buying the item being sold immediately to create a sense of urgency.
The person posing as a buyer will ask the seller for their phone number — ironically by saying they have been scammed online before and want to be reassured the seller is genuine, Matthews said.
Don’t give out the code
Once they have the seller’s phone number, the person posing as the buyer will then secretly register a Google Voice account which will generate an automated response with a six-digit verification code to the seller’s phone, Matthews told CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon guest host Brett Ruskin.
But the scammer tells the seller it’s a verification code the scammer sent, and they ask the seller to read it back as “confirmation.”
The scammers hope the rushed seller doesn’t notice the number came from Google, or at least doesn’t question that and gives them the code. That gives the crook access to other online accounts and they can use the vendor’s phone number for other scams.
Google Voice acts as an online phone and can place domestic and international calls and send texts, according to Google’s…
