Brianna Ireland was hoping to earn some extra cash from selling her preloved clothes.
It was the first time the Australian nursing student had used fashion marketplace app Depop to get rid of her unwanted items — including tops, pants, jumpers, skirts and gym wear.
Just five minutes after putting her items up for sale on May 1, the 19-year-old began receiving messages from a potential buyer named “Sarah”.
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Sarah told Brianna she wanted to buy some of her clothes — but “for some reason” she needed her email address at checkout.
“I was so excited to sell clothes, I just didn’t think anything of it… I was so caught up in the moment,” Brianna tells 7Life.
Suddenly, Brianna received what she thought was a confirmation email of the purchase in her inbox — only to discover, minutes later, she had lost more than $4000 in a cruel sophisticated scam.
“My heart sank,” she says.
The ordeal started when the student was looking to sell her preloved clothes so she could set money aside in the lead up to her four-week work placement.
“I was trying to sell clothes that I hadn’t worn in a while. I thought it would be more environmentally friendly to resell,” she says.
Sarah, the scammer posing as a customer, started messaging Brianna via the app, asking if she could include her email in her profile’s bio via the app because she wasn’t able to make the payment without that detail.
Brianna didn’t think twice when she shared her email because she was too excited about making her first sale.
The ‘buyer’ then told her to look out for the confirmation email in her inbox.
“During this process, I didn’t even think to check my app to make sure the item was actually sold,” Brianna says.
Upon looking at her confirmation email, she was asked to click on a link to “verify the purchase”.
“At this point, I didn’t know how the app worked because it was my first time using it. I thought, ‘This must be the process’,” she says.
When she clicked on the link, it took her to what she thought was a “legit” website with the customer’s full name, shipping address, phone number and email.
Brianna says something didn’t seem right when she noticed she had to type in her bank details.
“It was weird because I thought everything on Depop was through PayPal, but (I thought) maybe my PayPal account mustn’t have worked for whatever reason,” she says.
“This was the point where my red flag should have been flagging.”
The suspicious page then took Brianna to her bank account where she was asked to sign in to “confirm the payment”.
“A chatbot appeared after I tried logging into my online banking platform and entering the verification codes that were sent to my phone from my bank,” she says.
“At this point, the website was taking ages to load and kept saying there was an error after entering the codes.
“The chatbot then randomly appeared after my third attempt at putting in this code, and it asked if I had another bank to log into.
“By this point, I was extremely confused as to why it was asking me this, and then it hit me.”
When she quickly logged into her bank account, she realised she had been scammed.
The fraudster, known as a “Bitcoin investor” from Peru, managed to successfully withdraw $529.22 from her bank account.
“I had the worst heart palpitations and my palms were sweating,” Brianna says.
“I was in too much shock at this point to cry.
“My instinct was to call my bank immediately… but I was put on hold for about five minutes until I was able to get the bank employee to freeze my account.
“It wasn’t until I was talking to the worker that it hit me what had happened, and I started to bawl.”
To make matters worse, she was told a further $3500 had been withdrawn from her account.
“My heart sank even further into the ground,” she says.
Fortunately, the employee was able to stop the huge sum from transferring after he froze her bank account.
“I’m just so grateful I called the bank when I did, otherwise the payment wouldn’t have bounced back into my account and they definitely would have drained my entire bank account,” she says.
“This would have been so horrible, considering I am a full-time university student studying nursing and I moved away from home to study, so I don’t have any financial support from my family.”
However, Brianna hasn’t been able to recover the $530 she lost.
“My bank told me I ‘verified’ the payment, meaning there’s nothing they can do to get it back because I allowed it,” she says.
“Technically I did verify it but I was scammed into it, unknowingly.
“So I will unlikely see that money return to my bank account ever again.
“I did also report the scam to Depop and they also said there was nothing they could do.”
Brianna was told the fraudster had “hacked” into another user’s Depop account.
Reflecting on the situation, Brianna said there were so many red flags she missed.
“The biggest red flag I wish I noticed was how the scammer was texting me from this poor girl’s account — using very poor grammar, which at the time I just contributed to a lazy typer,” she says.
“I also reviewed the email that was sent to me as a ‘confirmation email’ after it happened.
“And the account that sent the email to me wasn’t directly from Depop, which is something I 100 per cent should have checked before clicking the link.”
Brianna says she hasn’t let the scam deter her from selling her preloved items as she has able to use the app safely since.
By sharing her story, she wants her experience to be a wake up call for all Australians to question everything, be sceptical and watch out for red flags that could indicate a scam.
“Don’t be like me,” she says.
“I want people to know that scams happen to everyone. I always thought I was so tech-savvy and aware of these things, but I still fell for it, and it could happen to you too.
“Be hyper aware of everything you get sent. Check who sent it to you. Check for any spelling errors in the emails or texts.
“Educate yourself and be aware of new scams, especially the ones that are aimed to target your age bracket.
“Don’t give out any personal information online.”
Depop responds
A Depop spokeswoman told 7Life: “We’re sorry that Brianna had this experience.
“Depop has a wide range of protection measures in place to block scams and prevent users from falling victim to fraudulent behaviour.
“Our in-app payment systems are designed specifically to keep users safe, and legitimate payments on Depop will only ever be taken within the app or Depop.com.
“Unfortunately, as peer-to-peer marketplaces become more popular, scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to encourage consumers to pay outside of secure platforms — this is an industry-wide issue.”
Depop said it was constantly evolving its approach to combating fraudulent behaviour, and investing in new technologies and tactics to protect people using its marketplace.
“We strongly encourage consumers who are buying and selling anywhere online never to share personal information with other users, to be very wary about following links to other sites, and to report any suspicious behaviour,” it said.
According to Depop’s Community Guidelines, external parties not affiliated with the app may be attempting to access your account by using deceptive emails and websites that appear to come from a legitimate source, also known as phishing.
“We strongly recommend against sharing any personal information via Message,” the company says on its website.
If you have noticed any suspicious activity or fraudulent behaviour, contact Depop directly.
Do not click any of the links or open any attachments within the email.
All proper Depop emails come from an @depop.com email address. Make sure you double check the sender’s address.
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