---
title: "Keep marketplace deals on the platform and · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse/marketplace-scams
id: TNS-27
level: Recommended
applies: marketplace
updated: 2026-10-27
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 776
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Keep marketplace deals on the platform and flag scams

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Sign-up fraud and abuse](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-27.

- ID: TNS-27
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Sign-up fraud and abuse](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse.md)
- Rule: Keep payment and messages between buyers and sellers on your platform. Flag messages that ask to pay outside it or hold a payment link, and hold payouts to new sellers until the first orders arrive.
- Check: A test buyer gets a message with a payment link in the first exchange. The message shows a warning and a case opens. A listing whose photo matches another seller's lands in the queue. A new seller's first payout waits until the test order is marked delivered.
- Applies when: The project lets other sellers sell through it.
- How: Most marketplace scams move the buyer off the platform, where nothing protects them. Common ones are fake payment pages, overpayment refunds, goods that never ship and listings copied from honest sellers. Scan messages for phone numbers, payment app names and links in the first exchange, and warn the buyer in plain words. Check links as [Check links in user content against phishing and malware lists](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse/link-scanning.md) says. Match new listing photos against existing ones. Hold a new seller's payouts until delivery is confirmed. Check traders as [Check traders before they sell on your marketplace](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/online-platforms/trader-traceability.md) requires.

## Related rules

- TNS-19 [Check links in user content against phishing and malware lists](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse/link-scanning.md) in Trust and safety
- CMP-66 [Check traders before they sell on your marketplace](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/online-platforms/trader-traceability.md) in Compliance and governance

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse/marketplace-scams">Agent Wranglers trust and safety playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Check links in user content against phishing and malware lists](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse/link-scanning.md)
- Next: [Treat a sudden burst from an established account as a takeover](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse/hijacked-account-burst.md)
- [Sign-up fraud and abuse](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/trust-and-safety/sign-up-fraud-and-abuse.md)