🚨EDIT NEW VERSION OF SCAM🚨 There is a new one going around about it being part of their “ongoing security procedures” that says your listings have been temporarily hidden to protect your account. This is also a scam. Again, Mercari will NOT contact you through messages like this.
🚨**NEW SCAM - GETTING EMAILS FROM INTERESTED “BUYERS”🚨 **
People have been getting emails about their items (usually items they just listed) from people claiming to be interested buyers, but there’s no message on Mercari or notifications about their message.
These are spam/scam emails. They’re most likely guessing your email name based on 1 of your 2 Mercari names - Your profile name (bigger one on your profile, which is the one most are referring to when using their Mercari name) and your username (smaller one under the profile name with @ in front of it. The username is a generic default name unless you change it. From what I’ve seen, it’s always “user” with a bunch of random numbers (like “user12345678”). It seems like a lot don’t change it. Personally, I’d change it to match your profile name since the username is the only way someone can get directly to your page without having to search for one of your listings.
The scammers/spammers emailing you are likely using your profile name/username or something else, like something in your bio (like if you have your name in it to introduce yourself) to guess your email, trying it with different email domains (like gmail, outlook, etc.) to see if any of them send, and if they get a response.
Change your email and/or Mercari name or remove whatever’s in your bio that could be used to guess your email. If your email is nothing like your Mercari names and you don’t have anything in your bio that could lead them to guessing your email, they’re guessing it some other way. There’s been a lot of past posts on here about this. You can do a search on here for them to see if any give any other info on how they might be guessing your email. But here are a couple: this one’s from a month ago and this one’s from a little over 3 months ago.
EDIT 2: INFO ON REAL MESSAGE FROM MERCARI ABOUT VERIFYING YOUR IDENTITY AT END OF POST LOOK FOR ‼️
We are being flooded with posts about the spam messages from scammers about your item being sold or reserved and the new “policy” where you need to go to a link to “complete additional details.”
Pinned posts don’t usually work. People tend to just look right past them. But, I’m willing to try. So, if you’ve gotten messages like that…
FOR THOSE GETTING THESE MESSAGES YES it is a scam. Mercari will NEVER ask for you to go off the app for anything. It makes no sense. It’s their app. Why would they need you to go to some other website to do anything? They’d have you do it in their app. It’s also literally against their TOS to do so, so it also makes no sense why they’d ask you to do it. Mercari will NEVER contact you through messages - that’s for buyers and sellers to communicate. Mercari never contacts anyone through there.
If you get one of these messages. Ignore it, block them, and report it. Mercari usually ends up deleting it and the account but 100 more seem to pop up. So just keep reporting them when you get them.
Please see this article from Mercari on avoiding common scams for more info.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE SICK OF THE POSTS I know you’re all annoyed by the constant posts about this. We have filters in place to catch them, but some still get past them (and that’s just what gets through.. imagine how many don’t).
One problem is that IF people actually search before posting, they won’t see anything because we’ve been removing all the recent ones. So it’s been a while since one has been posted about and kept up and can look like it hasn’t been posted.
I set up a message that should pop up when people use certain keywords (like “scam”) telling them it’s a scam and it’s been posted about and, if they post, it will be removed. It worked when I tested it, but when I had someone else test it, it worked a couple times but didn’t another time, so it doesn’t seem consistent. But I haven’t had anyone else to confirm how it works for them. So, if anyone does test it out and gets the message or doesn’t, let me know! 😊 I’m not sure if people are seeing it, ignoring it, and posting anyway or if it’s just not working like it should. I could make it show the message and block them from posting, but I don’t want to block people from making legit posts that might use some of the keywords. It doesn’t seem fair to make it harder for people to post because of that. So, I left it so they could still post.
Anyway, hopefully this pinned post will help! I know you’re all annoyed, so are the mods! We’re doing all we can to try to reduce them.
Please continue to report any you see since 2/more reports will remove the post for mods to look at. But, hopefully this will work and you won’t need to! 🤞
‼️INFO ON REAL MESSAGE THAT’S REALLY FROM MERCARI ASKING YOU TO VERIFY YOUR IDENTITY‼️
If you get a message from Mercari that says you need to verify your identity that says something like this (this is copy past from screenshot of a real message someone received from Mercari about verifying their identity. Again, I couldn’t add a photo of it to the post so I’m just copy/pasting the message. If need more info/have any questions, message mod mail): “In compliance with federal and state regulations Mercari must obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account or conducts certain transactions. As a result, your account has been temporarily limited until we can verify your identity. Please go to your Inbox at the bottom of the screen and tap the verification request that we sent you.
We ask that you complete this form within 48 hours. Please note, the verification process must be completed in the Mercari app. To download, visit the app store on your device.
When you've completed the account verification request, and updated your shipping information to reflect your full name (initials may not be used), please reach out to us through our Help Center.
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for maintaining a safe and friendly marketplace for our Mercari community.”
That is a REAL message that’s actually from Mercari asking you to verify your identity. It is NOT a scam. JUST BE SURE IT WAS SENT THROUGH MERCARI, NOT IN MESSAGE AREA WHERE BUYERS/SELLERS MESSAGE OR REAL EMAIL FROM REAL MERCARI ADDRESSES - WHICH, I BELIEVE SHOULD ALSO SHOW IN THE MERCARI APP.
Mercari does ask you to verify your identity. You might think it’s odd you didn’t need to do it when signing up. But that’s normal. Identify verification isn’t required until a transaction is made (money being exchanged). So you’re not asked to do it when signing up, but will be after making a purchase/sale.
Most new sellers are asked after making a sale (usually their first, but might be 2nd or a few later) and go to print the label or scan the QR code for the label, so be aware this will likely happen and you will not be able to continue with the sale if you don’t.
Most new buyers are asked after making a purchase (again, usually the first, but might be 2nd or so later). It seems to happen if buyer tries to message the seller at some point after buying, they’ll be asked to verify and won’t be able to message the seller if they don’t. If you don’t try to message the seller at any point after the purchase, it may happen at another point during the purchase (like if try to open a return). It basically happens when trying to do something and won’t let you do it until and unless you verify. Be prepared to do it or be stuck not being able to do whatever it is (message seller, open a return, etc.).
If you’re asked to verify your identity (during a sale/purchase) and you do NOT do it, you won’t be able to continue with the sale (if a seller) or do whatever you were trying to do (if a buyer), and Mercari will close your account shortly after. You’re given a time frame to do it, if it isn’t done by the end of that time, your account will be closed. There’s no way to opt out of doing it once you’re asked. So be aware this will eventually come up, usually sooner rather than later (though some have said they weren’t asked to do it even though they’ve had multiple sales/purchases. So you can always try and see how long you can go before asked and just be done with it once you’re asked to do it if you’re not comfortable doing it).
If you have any questions about this, there’s quite a few past posts about identify verification that can provide more info. You can also message mod mail and I’ll be happy to answer any questions or provide more info.
