15 Online Scams in Pakistan and How to Avoid Them

By the EscrowPK Team · 2026-01-20 · 8 min read

Online scams in Pakistan have grown alongside the boom in online buying and selling. Most of them share one thing in common: the victim sends money before receiving anything in return, with no way to get it back. Here are 15 of the most common scams, and how a service like EscrowPK.com closes the door on nearly all of them.

1. Fake OLX or Facebook Marketplace listings — a seller posts an item that doesn't exist, collects an advance, and disappears.
2. Advance-payment fraud — a 'seller' insists on partial or full payment before shipping, then never ships.
3. Fake courier/tracking scams — a scammer sends a fake tracking number so the buyer thinks the item is on the way.
4. Counterfeit electronics sold as brand-new — buyers only discover the item is fake after paying and receiving it.
5. Vehicle sale scams — fraudulent sellers take a booking advance on a car that isn't actually theirs to sell.
6. Property token money fraud — a 'landlord' or agent takes token money for a property they don't own or that's already sold.
7. Freelance non-payment — a client receives completed work and then refuses to pay the freelancer.
8. Freelance fake-client scams — a 'client' asks a freelancer to pay a fee upfront for 'training' or 'equipment.'
9. Impersonation scams — a scammer poses as a known seller or business using a similar name or profile photo.
10. Bank transfer reversal fraud — a buyer sends a fake payment screenshot, or reverses a transfer after the seller ships.
11. Overpayment scams — a 'buyer' sends more than the agreed amount and asks for the difference to be refunded, using a fraudulent original payment.
12. Fake mobile wallet (EasyPaisa/JazzCash) receipts — doctored screenshots used as fake proof of payment.
13. Bulk-order scams — a fraudulent 'business buyer' places a large order, gets goods on credit, and vanishes.
14. Rental deposit scams — a fake landlord collects a security deposit for a property that isn't available or doesn't exist.
15. Group-buy and pre-order scams — money is collected for products that are never sourced or delivered.

The one thing almost every scam has in common

In nearly every case above, the scam only works because money moved directly from the victim to the scammer, with no verification and no way to reverse it. That's precisely the gap EscrowPK.com is built to close.

How EscrowPK.com protects you from these scams

• Your payment never goes directly to the other party — it's held in EscrowPK.com's secure escrow account first.
• Every user is CNIC and phone verified, making anonymous hit-and-run scams much harder to pull off.
• Every deposit is manually verified by our team before the seller is cleared to ship — fake payment screenshots don't work here.
• Funds are only released after the buyer confirms delivery, not just when a courier says 'delivered.'
• If something still goes wrong, our dispute and arbitration process gives you a real, evidence-based path to a resolution — instead of a dead end.

You can't always spot a scam in advance — but you can remove the opportunity for it to happen. The next time someone asks for an advance payment on OLX, Facebook Marketplace, or anywhere else, suggest a deal through EscrowPK.com instead. It's free to create, and it keeps everyone honest.