I generally try to keep my posts a couple of days apart, but something came up in the Poshmark community, and I felt it was worth posting. Within the Poshmark FB community, we’ve been hearing of various new scams arising in the Poshmark network. In the past, the most common scam consisted of buyers convincing sellers to trade, only to keep the items and never send anything in return. Nowadays, it seems the complexity of the scams have increased, so sellers have to be even more careful about their app usage.
Disclaimer – I’m not an IT or security expert. These are common things people have done to help keep their accounts safe. There is no one full proof way of preventing it, but we do what we can to help avoid it. However, I believe these actions may help in reducing risk of an issue within the app.
- Use different passwords against your platforms – do not use the same password for your Poshmark Account, your email or anything else that is remotely connected to your Poshmark account (blog, Instagram, etc.). Don’t even use the same password format.
- It goes without saying, but change your passwords frequently and make them different than what it was before.
- Avoid Direct Deposit – I don’t feel comfortable placing my bank account info on the app. If you’re truly into the direct deposit thing, I’ve heard users open up a completely separate account just for online transactions. I still don’t feel comfortable with that, but I suppose it’s because I’ve had money stolen directly from my bank account in the past.
- For buyers, if you have your credit card attached to the app, check your credit card transactions frequently. I believe this should be done regardless, but some people don’t. Sometimes, it’s just not a large purchase either that may catch your eye. Sometimes, scammers will make a tiny purchase similar to what others might overlook, like a small Starbucks purchase or a charge that looks similar to an Amazon purchase. If something looks off, question it and research.
- This one is obvious, but do NOT engage with anyone that asks to conduct business outside of the app. A common one nowadays is people asking if the item is still for sale, and then asks for more information to be emailed at some Gmail address. Don’t engage. Block, report, and move on.
- With the popularity of the 30mm growing, many people are following and welcoming newer users. When you get on a roll, you go on autopilot and begin to follow as many new people as you can on the “just joined” list. However, when you do that, you tend to overlook that some of these are scammer profiles. They’re really obvious too. They have a solid black user photo, and have random letters as the first and last names. No need to follow these people – they aren’t going to add value. Block and move on.
- Wait to ship your items – that’s right, don’t ship as soon as the purchase is made. Once a purchase is completed, send a quick note to the buyer thanking them for the purchase. Apparently, there is an increase of fraudulent activity going on in the app right now. The latest one being discussed in the Posh community is where a buyer indicates after a purchase that their account was hacked, and the purchase was made without their permission. Some Poshers have reported that the item had been delivered directly to the buyer. With the latest security breach in February, that is definitely feasible. As a result, if you ship immediately, and then later find out the purchase was fraudulent, it could take a bit before you see resolution since Poshmark has only been made aware of this recently.
- Another common issue involves a scenario where buyer purchases, but somehow decides to cancel after you have shipped. At this point, you’ve shipped the goods, and you’re most likely not going to get it back. Wait until the cancellation window expires and then ship. This is why I tend to ship next day, or if same day 5 hours of purchase.
- If you run into an issue or fraudulent activity, consider that it might be best for Poshmark to get involved. For example, one user reported in an FB Posh group that her buyer received an item out of the blue. They never ordered it and thus wanted to return the item to the seller. In other words, the user accounts were stolen and were used for Posh purchases. In this case, I’d apologize to the buyer and advise that you’ll contact Poshmark ASAP to get it resolved. I generally assume the best and believe the poor buyer was in a compromised situation, but you really just don’t know. Getting Poshmark involved may lead to a better chance in getting your item or payment.
So those are just a handful of security tidbits to think about. It’s a shame that people are out there to take advantage of what is otherwise a very friendly and social community. Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in.
Do you have any safety measures that you take for your Poshmark sales? Comment and share!
This Mommy is Real 
I recently had an email saying someone changed my password on Pormark. I went to check and within 20mins this person tried to purchase three items totaling over 2k. I never leave my card information on apps like this but I had recently put my first offer and I had to put my card info. Luckily, I entered my name wrong on the card and all transactions were declined. Now, the hacker is trying to get into my FB acct and other personal accounts. Poshmark hasn’t been very responsive.
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It takes about a day for them to get back to you. It sounds like this is more than just a Poshmark problem. I’d say to change every password for your major accounts. You don’t know what they have.
So sorry this happened to you and best of luck.
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The same has happened to my account. I have sent several emails to Poshmark but no one has responded. My redeemable money seems to be in limbo. I can’t email Poshmark from my account because someone has changed my email and password and has also changed my shipping address. How can I get help on this matter? I have also changed my email address due to the hacker so that makes it even more confusing
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You have to wait on the email. It generally takes 24-48 hrs to respond. If you email again and again, it will delay the request further. Maybe ping them on twitter to see if they can respond to your hacked account ? So sorry this happened to you. It’s awful ☹️
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Well I’m not a seller but I’m a buyer. I’ve had almost $4000.00 in fraudulent charges from poshmark. I love the website but I’m scared to use it now.
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Do you mean that someone comprised your account after you used Poshmark ? I’m not sure if that’s what you mean? If so, I’m sorry that happened to you!
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Made my 1st sale on poshmark. Nicely wrapped my item, wrote a thasnk you more and shipped on monday am. It was delivered today. Got an email from poshmark saying even though it shows delivered, buyer cannot locate it. They are giving it a fews days before releasing my $$. This seems like a scam. So anyone can say they didn’t receive item?? Not sitting well with me a nd I’m thinking buyer got very expensive prom dress for free.
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People can say that they haven’t received an item. However in the 5 years that I’ve been on Poshmark, it has only happened to me once. In the end, since you can prove that it was shipped, likely Poshmark will release your funds. Don’t give up on it – it’s a great app!
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I recently had someone purchase an item . I was excited ! Sent the item to them right away . The buyer who when I looked at their profile only had initials as their profile pic and no items for sale never “accepted” the item and Poshmark didn’t automatically pay me for the item like they said after four days . I sent several messages to poshmark for several days and finally poshmark paid me for the item . And now another memeber has made an offer with initials as their profile pic and now I’m very skeptical and don’t know whether to accept the offer
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I had a similar thing happen they ask for info about the item, or make an offer and I counter offer.
In this last instance someone inquired, and then some one else bought the item. I sent out the item right away, and later when I went to their profile, they had no listings and when I clicked on meet your posher hundreds of pictures showed up with not for sale across their profiles and when I clicked on one of those profiles same thing happened. My item was delivered today, so we will see what happens and if I get the credit. But I am uncomfortable selling on posh now. Especially since the labels show return address. I am not comfortable with that inder those circumstances. Just a thought as to what my research today came up with. Previously they would send an email asking to come pick up the item after paying three imes the amount i reported that right away.
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Hi Jenn!
Thank you for writing this tip. I recently received a suspicious comment from a user who stated they were interesting in buying ASAP and wanted to email directly at penneybbh95@gmail.com. When I google online this email + poshmark a bunch of different Poshmark users with this same comment came up. Glad I read your email and blocked, report, moved on!
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Yes! Never take any transactions off of Posh either. There’s no guarantee that you won’t be scammed!
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There is a new scam happening that just happened to me. I kept getting emails from “Poshmark” saying that customers are waiting and unneeded to click on a link in the email to update my payment information. I was selling a watch. Also they were sending me emails saying there was someone attempting to log into my poshmark account from an unrecognizable device and I needed to get on there and make sure my account info like payment was correct. It wasn’t really poshmark, but some scammers trying to get my banking info. Well, they got it and made over $2000 in charges on my account. Luckily, I caught it the next day they did this when I went to withdrawal some money from my account and I knew that it wasn’t correct. I got on my online banking and saw they ordered 2 iPhone 7’s among other things. Luckily, they weren’t sent out yet and I was able to cancel them and I called my bank to report the fraudulent activity and they’re fixing it. But it’s gonna take several days. The email address was infoposhmarkacc@soluctoionuber.com. You can’t even email them back to cuss them out for stealing your money because it won’t go through.
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Yikes! How did they get your info?! Did you click on the link? I’m really sorry, that’s horrible.
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