Why purchase scams on UK marketplaces so often involve off-platform payment, the warning signs and the controls operators can put in place.
The pattern is familiar to anyone who has worked in trust and safety. A listing looks good, the price is a little better than elsewhere, and the seller is friendly. Then comes the message: "Can you pay me by bank transfer instead? It saves us both the fees." The buyer pays. The item never arrives, and the seller's account disappears.
Purchase scams are now the most common type of authorised push payment fraud in the UK, and marketplaces sit right in the middle of them. This post looks at the figures, why moving payment off the platform is so central, and what operators can realistically do about it.
UK Finance's annual fraud figures for 2025, published in June 2026, show that purchase scams accounted for 71 per cent of all authorised push payment (APP) fraud cases, with losses rising 20 per cent to £118.1 million. The same release reports that 66 per cent of APP cases originated online.
UK Finance is also direct about where it sees the problem starting. Among its calls for action, it asks for online marketplaces to be required to verify their sellers and use secure payment mechanisms rather than allowing separate bank transfers to take place off the platform, noting that purchase fraud "often starts on marketplace sites" (same source).
Purchase scams tend to involve smaller amounts per case than investment or romance fraud. That is part of why they are so common: many buyers will take a chance on a few hundred pounds, and a scammer can repeat the same approach across many listings.
On most marketplaces, payment through the platform comes with some protection. Money may be held until delivery, disputes can be raised, and the platform has a record of the transaction. A bank transfer to a stranger has none of that.
That is exactly why scammers push for it. Moving payment off the platform:
The request to move off-platform is often the clearest single signal in the whole interaction. A genuine seller who prefers bank transfer to save fees is real, but from the buyer's side the two look identical. The safest marketplace position is to make on-platform payment the normal and expected route, and to treat requests to bypass it as a risk.
Most purchase scams on marketplaces follow a handful of scripts:
The fee-saving offer. "If you pay me directly I can knock £20 off." It is framed as a favour.
The fake payment link. The seller sends a link that looks like a checkout page but is not on the platform. The buyer believes they are paying safely.
The urgency push. "Someone else wants it, I can hold it if you transfer a deposit now." Pressure leaves less time to think.
The moved conversation. "Message me on WhatsApp, it's easier." Once the chat leaves the platform, so does any record of what was agreed.
The new account with a good listing. A recently created seller account lists high-demand items, such as phones, consoles or event tickets, at slightly below market price.
The taken-over account. An established seller account with good reviews starts behaving differently after its owner loses control of it. Our planned post on marketplace account takeover covers this. [Planned URL, live on publication.]
No single control stops purchase scams. A combination makes them harder, slower and less profitable.
UK Finance's first ask is seller verification, and it does what it says. If a seller has to complete an identity check, and a business check where they trade as a company, before they can list or receive payouts, throwaway accounts become more expensive to create. It also means that when an account is closed for fraud, the platform knows who was behind it. Our seller verification page sets out how that can work in practice.
Verification is not a guarantee that a seller is honest. It does raise the cost of starting again under a new name, which is the core of most repeat purchase scams.
Make on-platform payment the default, and make it clear to buyers that it is the protected route. Some practical steps:
For higher-value transactions, holding funds until both sides confirm can help. TrustVerify offers escrow through Escrow.com, available on request. TrustVerify does not hold funds itself.
Messages that include sort codes, account numbers, phone numbers, external links or phrases like "pay me directly" are worth flagging. Depending on your platform, you might block them, warn the recipient, or route the conversation for review. Be careful not to over-block genuine exchanges, such as sharing a collection address.
Many purchase scam accounts share traits: newly created, disposable email addresses, unusual device or network signals, and listings that look copied. Device fingerprinting and bot detection, combined with email and phone checks, can surface accounts that deserve a second look before they go live. TrustVerify's fraud score returns approve, review or block, with a score from 0 to 100 where higher is safer. The fraud score guide explains the inputs.
Automated signals should feed a review queue, not make every decision. A reviewer can look at a new seller's listings, messages and history together and make a judgement that a rule cannot. Our post on designing a fraud review queue covers how to set that up. [Planned URL, live on publication.]
Buyers who were nearly scammed are a good source of signal. A clear "report this seller" button, visible inside the conversation, and a quick response to reports, helps you close accounts before they reach the next buyer.
Education helps, but only if it is short and appears at the right moment. Long safety pages are rarely read. A few lines at the point of payment, or a warning when a message mentions a bank transfer, is more likely to land.
Messages that tend to work are specific:
The UK Finance release also points people to the Take Five to Stop Fraud advice: stop, challenge and protect. Linking to that alongside your own guidance is a reasonable step.
It is hard to measure scams that did not happen, but some numbers help:
If verified sellers are involved in fewer confirmed scams than unverified ones, that tells you verification is doing its job. If scam accounts are being closed faster, your review process is working.
See how seller checks and fraud signals work together to cut off repeat scam accounts. Explore TrustVerify seller verification.
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Designing a Fraud Review Queue That Does Not Become a Backlog
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