Selling Online? Keep Verification Codes Out of the Buyer Chat

You have listed a used desk on an online marketplace. Someone wants it, but first asks you to send back a code to prove your listing is real. A text arrives moments later.

Do not send the buyer that code. For sellers, the useful habit is simple: keep verification codes out of the buyer conversation, even when the person sounds ready to collect your item.

Why a buyer asks for a code

The FTC describes a scam in which someone responds to an online listing, asks the seller to prove they are a real person, and requests a Google Voice verification code. The scammer can use the code to set up a Google Voice number linked to the seller's phone number and use that number to contact other people. See the FTC's explanation of the Google Voice scam.

Google sends these codes when someone signs up for Voice or adds a phone. A genuine Google text does not make the buyer's request legitimate. The code belongs to a service's verification process, not to your sale. Google's guidance on verification codes says not to share them with anyone.

Separate the sale from the account request

Consider this made-up exchange:

Buyer: Is the desk still available? I can collect it today. I need to check you are real first. Send me the code that just arrived.

The first two sentences concern your listing. The last sentence asks you to move something from a private service message into a stranger's chat. Being interested in the desk does not establish a reason to receive that code.

Use this decision rule: a buyer's request is not authorization to share a verification code. If your marketplace asks you to verify your own account, open its app or website independently and follow the instructions there. Do not use a link supplied by the buyer to complete that check.

Decline without sending the code

You can end the conversation without replying. If you choose to reply, keep it brief:

I do not share verification codes. I am ending this conversation.

Do not include the code in a screenshot, forward the text, or read it aloud if the buyer switches to a call. Use the marketplace's report and block controls for the suspicious conversation.

The observable result is modest and specific: the buyer chat contains no verification code from you. You do not need to establish who is behind the account before declining.

If you already shared it

For a Google Voice code, open Google's verification-code help page and follow its option to disconnect your phone number from Voice. Google provides this option for people tricked into sharing a code, including people who do not use Voice.

If the message named a different service, use that service's official account-help route instead. Keep the buyer's links out of the recovery process. For the broader pattern of messages that ask you to act through a stranger's instructions, read how to recognize a scam text.