So right now I am getting multiple ads daily for 'boardgame store closing down' - often with prices as low as $5
These are a con.
Its just data scrapping and possible fraud... I dunno, I haven't pursued them. But at least one store I know had its images stolen and reused, and its name used
This is a fraud known as passing of, where the buyer thinks they are buying a thing legitimately from a legitimate store, but the person selling isn't selling at all. they are simply 'passing themselves off' as the store in question, so that when the goods you bought for $5 don't arrive., you seek a refund with another, entirely blameless and legitimate store.
Of late - like Temu - this has become a deluge.
Platforms see no reason to act, because these posts are sponsored and paid money. Every public group I know is being spammed by Temu trying to scrape your data.
'I saw this deal and wanted to share it' says cute girl bot #38. Oh really? Amazing that so many other cute girl bots tried to do the same in the past five minutes.
The depressing things about fraud is that its all pervasive, as well as aided and abetted by our technocratic masters. Do you think they took down the post claiming to be a store they weren't to commit fraud? How could you tell if every post was doing it, right? No need to turn the tap off, so long as the overlords get to data scrape too.