The Lower Paxton Bureau of Police is alerting residents to a recent spike in fraudulent activities on Facebook Marketplace. Scammers are targeting sellers by expressing interest in purchasing their listed items, claiming they will make payment through popular peer-to-peer payment services like Venmo, Paypal, or CashApp.

These scammers will then deceive victims into believing that payment cannot be processed until they create a "business account." The scammers will subsequently send a text message, disguised as one of the aforementioned payment services, convincing the victim to send multiple transactions to "qualify" for the business account. It is crucial to be cautious when selling online and to remember that reputable peer-to-peer payment services do not charge setup fees.