Every couple of days, our Facebook posts are peppered with comments linking to private groups that promise discounts on Dewalt and Milwaukee tools. It’s a scam.
Most promise deals on Milwaukee Tool products, but some mention Dewalt tools, and I am sure there are others.
These private groups typically have a high number of FAKE members. As some influencers have proved, Facebook followers can be purchased to inflate their popularity. Don’t think that these groups actually have 5,000, 10,000, or however many thousands of members.
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The scammers decorate the group with fake testimonial posts.
From what I read, the people running these groups are usually the same person – or working together – and they only accept PayPal friends and family, for which there’s no recourse when whatever you tried to buy never arrives.
At first I thought it was just spam, but then I started reading about people getting burned by fake “deals,” and it became clear that they’re scams.
I delete these links when they come up, and block anyone linking to such groups, but Facebook doesn’t make it easy to moderate comments.
Stick to authorized dealers. I don’t recommend it, but if you’re going to shop at 3rd party resellers, at least seek out trustworthy and reputable marketplaces where you have buyer protections.
There are too many people trying to rip you off. Be careful!
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Jared
Thanks for the heads up!
Greg
Milwaukee, Ridged, Dewalt, Bosch, Metabo HTP are all so cheap shopping with special deals on the Home Depot and Lowe’s app and in store on clearance I find no reason to want to buy from people selling tools new in the box online from Facebook groups. I still love to buy at pawn shops,, flea markets and marketplace but a lot of times even the Lowe’s and Home Depot deals are close to the same price as people selling used.
Al
It’s not the same comparing holiday sales of 25-40% off to a $500 tool box priced at 50 bucks. Similar to Nigerian prince scams, they make the prices so low that only extremely gullible people will bite. It increases the time before reporting or complaining.
Gullible people aren’t necessarily unintelligent. At the moment of decision, they lack healthy skepticism due to personal motivations. This could include loneliness, desire to help/please others, desire to cheat others, or plain-old FOMO.
Most people I’ve helped understand the scam they’re in realize that when describing the scenario out loud, slowly, it sounds ridiculous.
Adam
There are a few legitimate groups, but FAR & FEW between. Not even worth the time to mention.
The scam groups will get into the legitimate ones, and post links inviting to theirs. And if the admin isn’t the one scamming, they are the ones removing posts alerting others of the scams.
The only place on Facebook to say one can look safely, is Marketplace, and only purchase locally. If you do find a shipper, make sure they have hundreds of (legitimate) positive reviews, though FB does offer protections for buyers (when paid thru Marketplace). FB has also made it difficult for scammers to continue using the same account and get away with things.
will
Sadly nobody wants to work anymore, they see these influences and youtubers making money doing just a bit more than nothing. I’m sorry but the majority of this generation are slackers. Most of the young hires (underground utility) are so lazy and spend half the day on their phones while the older guys do the work. I try and motivate them but after a while I give up. I find it insulting that the owner hires these guys and when you say they’re worthless he gives them a raise lol. Sad but not far off.
KyleF
I just found out about this scam a week ago. I joined a couple of Facebook tool sales groups (suggested by Facebook no less) to look for deals and saw ridiculously low prices. The tell is only one or two people posting items for sale and of course the crazy low prices. It’s a shame Facebook is letting the scammers take over, losing credibility is how businesses die. When I was an active member of the Facebook tool groups it was easier to know who is legit but it was still way too much work for what you get out of it
Anton
It seems like the majority of the ads on facebook marketplace are scams.
And when you report them, facebook does nothing about it…
Kent
How does a deal get good prices, legally? Volume.
Who has the largest volume of all? Home Depot.
If the prices are significantly better than HD, it’s not real. How hard is this to understand?
Woody
No offense but that’s just not correct. Sellers run sales for all kinds of reasons so high volume alone is not the sole driver of pricing. Second, Amazon sells more of almost everything than HD.
woody
Just delete FB. Your life will improve immeasurably.
Stuart
I started the ToolGuyd Facebook page because a reader requested it long ago.
Jim E
You are 100% correct. The same goes for the other big social media platforms.