Common Marketplace Scams

Why Marketplaces Attract Fraud

Online marketplaces bring strangers together to transact. That is their strength, and it is also what makes them a target. A fraudster does not need to break into a system when they can simply persuade a person to send money, share a credential, or hand over goods.

Most marketplace scams are not sophisticated. They rely on urgency, confusion, and the ordinary trust that people extend when they believe they are dealing with a legitimate party. Because the patterns repeat, they can be recognised — and recognition is the best defence.

Fake Sellers

A fake seller lists products that do not exist, or that they have no intention of delivering. Common warning signs include refusing to provide basic product information, pressuring you to pay urgently, requesting payment outside the protected Bukiia process, sending suspicious payment links, claiming to be Bukiia Support, requesting your password or PIN, and providing inconsistent information.

The strongest protection against a fake seller is to pay through the protected Bukiia process. A fraudster who cannot receive payment outside the platform loses their primary advantage.

Fake Buyers

Sellers face a mirror-image risk. A fake buyer may send fake payment screenshots, claim that payment has been made without an order record, request the seller to send goods before payment is recorded, request sensitive information, send suspicious links, or attempt to manipulate delivery or payment evidence.

The defence for sellers is simple and absolute: rely on the Bukiia order and payment status, not on screenshots supplied by buyers. A payment screenshot can be fabricated. The Bukiia order record cannot.

Payment Scams

Payment scams attempt to convince a buyer or seller that money has moved when it has not, or to extract payment outside the protected process.

Never consider an order paid simply because someone sends you a screenshot, a message, or a transaction claim. Check the actual Bukiia order and payment status.

And never provide your Mobile Money PIN, your Bukiia password, or any verification code. These credentials are not required for any legitimate transaction, and any request for them is a warning.

Fake Support Messages

A fraudster may impersonate Bukiia Support, claiming that an issue requires your credentials or a payment to resolve.

Bukiia Support will not need your Mobile Money PIN or account password to investigate an ordinary support request. Be suspicious of anyone asking for sensitive credentials. When in doubt, contact Bukiia through the official support channel rather than responding to the message.

Requests to Leave the Platform

One of the most common patterns is a request to move the transaction outside Bukiia — to pay directly, to communicate elsewhere, or to bypass the protected process.

Understand what this costs you. A transaction paid directly outside the protected Bukiia process may not be covered by Buyer Protection. There may be no order record, no payment record, and no mechanism to hold or release funds based on the outcome. The protection you gain from using the correct process is real.

Reporting Suspicious Activity

Users should report fraud, suspicious accounts, fake listings, payment scams, harassment, counterfeit products, abuse of Buyer Protection, and suspicious delivery evidence. Bukiia may investigate and take appropriate action.

Reporting protects you, but it also protects the next person the fraudster approaches. Scams survive on silence.