How to spot a fake Interac e‑transfer

If you sell on Marketplace or Kijiji long enough, someone will eventually try the fake e-transfer on you. It's the most common seller scam there is, and it's also one of the easiest to beat once you know the one rule that matters.

Here's how it plays out. You meet up, you've agreed on the price, and the buyer goes "okay, just sent it." They turn their phone around: a screenshot of an Interac transfer, or an email that looks like it's from Interac saying the money's on its way and to release the item. Everything looks legit. So you hand over your phone, your laptop, whatever it is. And the money never lands, because none of what they showed you was real.

The one rule that beats it

Money you've actually been paid shows up in your account. Not on their phone. Not in a forwarded email. In your bank or your own Interac notification, where you can see it yourself.

That's the whole thing. A screenshot is just a picture, and pictures can say anything. An email saying "funds will be released once you ship" is not how Interac works at all. If you can't open your own banking app and see the money sitting there, you have not been paid, and you don't hand over a thing.

What the fakes actually look like

So you know them when you see them, the common versions:

• The screenshot. A photo of a "sent" confirmation on their phone. Easy to fake, means nothing. You're looking at their screen, not your account.
• The spoofed Interac email. An email dressed up to look official, often saying the payment is "in escrow" or "pending" and will release once you send a tracking number or confirm shipment. Real Interac e-transfers don't hold money hostage behind a tracking number. That's not a thing.
• The "auto-deposit pending" story. They claim it sent but it's "processing" and will land in a few hours, can you just hand it over now. Real auto-deposits are basically instant. "It'll show up later, trust me" is the scam talking.
• The overpayment angle. Sometimes the fake transfer is for too much, and they want the difference back. Now they've got your real refund and you've got nothing. Never send money back to someone, ever.

A few things that are just true about real e-transfers

• They land in minutes, not "later today."
• You see them in your own bank or Interac notification, not on the sender's device.
• Nobody needs a tracking number, a code, or a shipment before the money "releases." Interac doesn't work that way for a normal transfer.
• If you've got auto-deposit on, the money just arrives. If you don't, you get a notification with a link from your own bank, never from the buyer.

The awkward part

The reason this scam works isn't that people are gullible. It's that it's socially awkward to stand there and say "I'll wait until I actually see it in my account." You feel like you're calling them a liar. So people cave and hand the thing over to avoid the awkwardness.

Don't. A real buyer won't blink at you checking your own phone for ten seconds. Anyone who gets annoyed or pushes you to hurry up and hand it over is telling you exactly what they are.

General info to help you sell safer, not legal or financial advice. If you've been hit by a scam, report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.