Facebook Marketplace Scam Recovery: Letter of Demand (Australia)

You found a great deal on Facebook Marketplace, paid by bank transfer, and now the “seller” has gone silent, blocked your messages, or shipped you an empty box.

The honest truth: recovery from the seller depends entirely on whether you can identify a real person with assets in Australia. Either way, the first step is a written demand to your own bank, asking it to reimburse you. If you can identify the seller, a Letter of Demand to them is a separate option.

The legal context

Where a real seller has accepted payment and failed to deliver, you have a straightforward contract claim. If the seller is operating in trade or commerce, the Australian Consumer Law adds statutory guarantees about acceptable quality and fitness for purpose. Where the seller is a private individual, contract law and the tort of deceit still apply.

You should also lodge a report with ReportCyber (the police cybercrime portal) and notify your bank immediately. Under the ePayments Code, banks must investigate unauthorised or mistaken transfers — recovery is not guaranteed, but the chargeback or recall request must be made fast.

Realistic outcomes

If the “seller” used a fake name, a burner phone and a mule bank account, recovery is unlikely no matter what letter you send. Be honest with yourself about that.

But if you have the seller’s real name, an Australian address, a verified ABN, or a bank account in their actual name, your odds change completely. A Letter of Demand to them, separate from the demand to your bank, is then a real option.

The document approach

The written demand goes to your own bank, not the seller. It sets out the listing, the messages, when and how you paid, and when you reported the scam to the bank, and asks the bank to reimburse you within 30 days, citing its scam obligations. If the bank refuses or does not respond in time, the next step is a complaint to AFCA, the free external dispute scheme your bank must belong to.

What Claim Done delivers

For a flat fee, Claim Done drafts a written demand to your own bank to reimburse you, citing its scam obligations (the ePayments Code, the Banking Code of Practice and, where it applies, the Scams Prevention Framework), plus an AFCA complaint if the bank refuses. If the seller is an identifiable Australian, a Letter of Demand to them is a separate option.

What to expect after

Send the letter by email and registered post. In parallel: lodge with ReportCyber, request a recall through your bank, report the listing to Meta for takedown, and file a Scamwatch report. If your bank refuses to reimburse you, lodge the AFCA complaint.