Guy scams couple after buying their car on Facebook Marketplace, wife gets even by calling his mother: 'The next morning I had the payment'

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Jan 24, 2026 4:00 PM EST

It turns out that this scammer was also a mama's boy.

Anyone who has ever been scammed by an anonymous person on the internet understands the frustration, panic, and anxiety that accompany these situations. When these scams occur, rarely does the victim get the opportunity to get even. Leave it to this man's wife, who refused to let the stranger who bought her husband's car off of Facebook Marketplace get away with only paying half of what they were promised.

First of all, the author was already annoyed that her husband agreed to a price that was far less than what this car was worth, but she ultimately understood the desire to sell it off quickly. Still, $400 was not what they had discussed prior to putting their old car on Facebook Marketplace. Still, that was only the beginning of the drama.

The husband and the scammer agreed to split payments into two phases. The first $200 would be paid before the car was shipped to his place, while the second $200 would be paid following receipt of the vehicle. In hindsight, the husband should have known better. This man refused to retrieve the car in person, negotiated a lower price, and then insisted upon two payments. Perhaps if his wife handled the selling of this car entirely from the get-go, none of this would have happened.

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Still, this husband is lucky to have a wife this resourceful. She proceeded to track down the scammer's public social media profile and then looked at all his followers with the same last name. In no time, she found out who his mother was and contacted her along with other family members and even his place of work, insisting that he pay her back the $200 they were owed.
Our guess is that the call to his mother was the thing that did it in the end. After all, for all we know, he is probably still living in her basement somewhere. Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from several members of this online community!
via Timothy Hales Bennett

_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
"He tried to scam me so I called his job"

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$No answer, but I leave a voicemail. "Hi, this is \\\, I'm trying to reach \\\\\, if you please give him my name he'll know what this is about." The next morning I had the payment.$

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via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
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