The most common scam when buying a used luxury bag through social media is a deposit paid in advance to a personal account for a bag that never arrives. PROFECO, Mexico’s consumer agency, warns about it, and the Mexican press has documented the pattern step by step.
The second most common is a fake sold as genuine, and the defence against that is different. This guide covers both and ends with a checklist you can run against a real listing.
What PROFECO says about Facebook and Instagram
PROFECO lists “counterfeit or non-existent items, such as designer clothing, perfume, jewellery or cosmetics” among the frequent scams on Facebook and Instagram. Its concrete advice is to avoid deposits to personal accounts and cash payments in advance.
On Mercado Libre, the complaints PROFECO logged in 2025 fall into three leading categories. Fraudulent use, refused refunds, and missed delivery deadlines. Counterfeits are not among the top categories. Mercado Libre’s intellectual-property policy prohibits replicas and counterfeits, cancels listings and suspends accounts, and since 2021 it has run an anti-counterfeiting alliance with brands that in 2025 removed products proactively at a rate up to 22 times higher than the reports it received, according to its own report. That reduces the risk inside the platform. It does not remove it, and none of it applies once a seller moves you off the platform to close on WhatsApp.
The two money scams
Bait and switch. Infobae describes the mechanics on Facebook Marketplace. A very attractive listing at a very low price. When you write, the seller says it has sold and offers you another piece, dearer or worse. The same article’s conclusion is worth keeping on its own. No Marketplace listing should ever require a deposit before you see the piece.
The vanishing deposit. ContraRéplica documents the pattern in Mexico. The seller creates urgency, sometimes shows a fake transfer confirmation or says the payment “is processing”, pushes you to close before anything clears, then blocks you and deletes the profile. Mexico City’s Consejo Ciudadano handled 2,982 reports of Marketplace-related fraud through December 2024, 17 percent more than in 2023. That figure is for the capital alone.
Infobae puts the payment rule in one line. Cash or a verified transfer at the moment of handover, never gift cards, cryptocurrency or deposits to third-party accounts. Gift cards are hard to trace and cannot be refunded, which is exactly why someone who has no intention of delivering asks for them.
The fake sold as genuine
Here the seller does hand something over. The problem is what.
The “proof” you will be sent by chat is the same in every case. Card, box, dust bag, receipt. None of it proves anything. Vestiaire Collective warns that Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Gucci typically do not issue authenticity cards, so a card with one of those houses counts against the bag. There are commercial services selling Chanel receipt templates with the header, store details and barcode. A photographed receipt can be bought.
The only real defence is an examination of the physical piece by a named third party. Entrupy backs its certificate with a one-year financial guarantee for the documented purchase price. Even there, certainty is not total. Vestiaire says in its own help pages that no authentication process is 100 percent accurate.
One point about reports sent by chat. Kove’s authenticity page explains why it does not send a piece’s report by message before delivery. A loose report, as a PDF, is what someone making a copy needs in order to pair it with a convincing document. If a seller sends you a report as a photo, check that the laboratory exists, that the document describes exactly that piece, and whether the laboratory can confirm it to you.
The price that does not add up
None of the consumer agencies we reviewed publishes a percentage that marks where “too good to be true” begins. The guidance is qualitative. The US FDIC puts it this way. If you are promised popular items for free or at a surprisingly low price, it is probably a scam.
A price far below the market has three possible explanations. The piece is fake, the piece does not exist, or the piece is stolen. In the third case, someone who buys stolen goods, even unknowingly, generally does not keep the right to hold on to them once the owner appears. That is a general reading from legal sources, not a reading of Mexican or Costa Rican law, but the practical lesson holds either way.
One variant specific to Hermès. There is no public waiting list for a Birkin or a Kelly. Access runs through a relationship with the boutique that Hermès does not publish, described by specialist resellers as roughly two quota bags per client per year in most markets. Anyone offering to “skip the list” is describing something that does not exist in the house’s process.
If it has already happened
In Mexico, PROFECO distinguishes a queja, an individual complaint that opens a conciliation with the supplier, from a denuncia, a report of practices harming the public that can end in an inspection and a fine with no compensation for the reporter. The whole process is free. Its only official channels are gob.mx/profeco, the Teléfono del Consumidor and its verified social accounts, because people also impersonate PROFECO.
In Costa Rica, MEIC handles consumer complaints on its free line 800-CONSUMO (800-2667866). We found no MEIC guidance specific to counterfeit luxury, so do not expect a tailored procedure.
A consumer complaint works against an identifiable supplier. Against a deleted profile, the route is a criminal fraud report, and for that it helps to have kept everything from the first message.
Checklist for a real listing
- The seller asks for a deposit, an advance or a “hold” before you see the piece. Close the chat.
- You are asked to pay by gift card, crypto or to an account that is not the seller’s own. Close the chat.
- The price is far below what everyone else asks for that model. Ask why and expect a concrete reason.
- The only proof is a card, box, dust bag or photographed receipt. That is not proof. Ask for an outside report, or arrange one yourself before paying.
- You are sent a report as a PDF or photo. Verify the laboratory and that the document describes that exact piece.
- It is Louis Vuitton, Fendi or Gucci and “comes with an authenticity card”. Count it against the bag.
- You are offered a Birkin or Kelly “with no list”. There is no list. Treat it as a price that does not add up.
- Pay at handover, in person, in cash or by a transfer you confirm on the spot. Keep every message.
How Kove documents its pieces is on Authenticity. The houses with the most pieces in the catalogue are Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
Sources
- https://www.unotv.com/ciencia-y-tecnologia/evita-estafas-al-comprar-en-facebook-o-instagram-profeco/
- https://www.infobae.com/tecno/2025/03/04/las-cinco-estafas-mas-comunes-en-facebook-marketplace-los-vendedores-no-se-salvan/
- https://www.contrareplica.mx/nota-Marketplace-una-estafa-creciente-y-sin-freno-en-Mexico–202523420
- https://lasillarota.com/dinero/2025/3/13/profeco-alerta-usuarios-de-mercado-libre-por-malas-practicas-527149.html
- https://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/ayuda/R-plicas–falsificaciones-y-co_2579
- https://sustentabilidadmercadolibre.com/en/iniciativas/security-and-ethical-use-of-our-ecosystem
- https://www.gob.mx/profeco/articulos/proceso-y-requisitos-de-quejas-y-denuncias
- https://www.meic.go.cr/tramites-y-servicios/denuncias-consumidor/
- https://faq.vestiairecollective.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360006737757-Buyer-I-m-Not-Sure-if-My-Item-Is-Genuine
- https://faq.vestiairecollective.com/hc/en-gb/articles/16329420537745-Buyer-How-authentic-are-items-on-Vestiaire-Collective
- https://www.entrupy.com/guarantee/luxury/
- https://fdic.gov/index.php/consumer-resource-center/2022-12/avoid-scams-while-shopping-online-bargains
- https://verdictvanguardlawgroup.com/buying-stolen-goods-without-knowing-are-you-still-liable/
- https://priveporter.com/blogs/blog/prive-porter-s-guide-to-the-truth-behind-hermes-client-vetting-and-how-to-actually-get-the-bag-you-want
- https://koveluxury.com/autenticidad/