Reply from Sofalistic

Jun 8, 2026

Yes, it is absolutely our responsibility to continually improve our systems, monitor for suspicious activity, educate users, and remove bad actors from the platform as quickly as possible. We take that responsibility seriously and invest significant time and resources into doing exactly that.

However, it is important to distinguish between a scammer attempting to misuse a marketplace messaging system and a platform itself being compromised.

The scam attempts referenced in recent reviews involved third-party users sending messages that instructed recipients to leave the platform, manually reconstruct external website addresses, and provide financial information on fraudulent websites.

For transparency, one of the messages instructed users to:

"Copy the link below and visit..."

followed by a web address that required the user to manually replace "(DOT)" with "." before entering it into their browser.

The same scam process then asked users to provide account balance information and, in some cases, approve payments in order to "verify" their account.

None of these steps form part of any Sofalistic process.

Sofalistic does not ask users to:

• Verify accounts using card details.
• Provide account balances.
• Make payments to receive payments.
• Approve bank transfers.
• Manually reconstruct website addresses.

As soon as these conversations were identified, the accounts involved were permanently removed, additional protections were deployed, and our team implemented further fixes to prevent similar attempts. We continue to actively monitor the platform and release security improvements as new scam techniques emerge.

It's also worth highlighting the speed of our response.

The first report of this scam attempt was received at approximately 7:30am on a Sunday morning. From that point onwards, our team immediately began investigating the issue, analysing the method being used, rewriting security protocols, implementing additional protections, and testing new safeguards.

By approximately 10:00am the same morning, a new fix had been deployed and the platform had been stabilised with enhanced protections in place.

This is the level of commitment our team has towards customer safety. Whilst many businesses would not have technical and support teams mobilising on a Sunday morning, our priority was protecting users and preventing further exposure as quickly as possible.

In addition, our customer support team remained available until approximately 9:00pm on Sunday evening, responding to customer enquiries, assisting affected users, reviewing reports, and ensuring concerns were addressed.

At the same time, users also have a responsibility to follow the safety guidance displayed throughout the platform. We repeatedly advise users:

• Never enter card or bank details via links sent in messages.
• Never follow instructions to leave the platform.
• Never share personal or payment information with another user.
• Report suspicious messages immediately.

The reality is that no online platform can guarantee that a scammer will never attempt to misuse a messaging system. What matters is how quickly those attempts are identified, blocked, and removed, how rapidly security improvements are deployed, and how effectively users follow the safety guidance provided.

We cannot prevent criminals from attempting to target online marketplaces. What we can do is respond rapidly, improve our systems continuously, remove offending accounts immediately, and support customers when issues arise. That is exactly what happened in this case.

Marc
Co-Founder

Reply from Sofalistic

Updated Jun 7, 2026

Hi Sanae, We have requested more information in order to help us look into this issue for you as we are unable to locate any tickets, emails or sales under the name alone. As soon as we have this we will be able to investigate this for you right away.

Please respond to the request of more information and we will get this resolved for you straight away.

---------------------------
Hi Sanae

Thank you for providing the additional details.

We can see there were some delivery issues which caused a delay in this payment being sent and we are sorry that the system message was never sent to you to inform you of this delay.

I can confirm - we have now manually released this payment for you now - and the funds should clear within the next two hours.

We apologise again for this and hope this resolves this matter for you.

Reply from Sofalistic

Jun 7, 2026

We're pleased to hear that you recognised the warning signs before any money left your account.

However, it is important to clarify that this was not Sofalistic asking you to verify your account, prove your bank balance, or approve a £2,000 transaction.

The messages you received were sent by a third-party scammer through the marketplace messaging system. Their objective was to persuade you to leave the security of our platform and enter financial information on an external website under their control.

At multiple stages throughout our platform, users are warned:

• Never enter card or bank details via links sent in messages.
• Never follow instructions to leave the platform.
• Never share personal or payment information with another user.
• Report suspicious messages immediately.

You mention being asked to prove how much money was available in your account and then being presented with a £2,000 bank transaction despite your sofas being listed for £1,000. This alone demonstrates that the process had no connection whatsoever to Sofalistic's payment procedures.

For transparency, one of the scam messages being sent at the time instructed users to:

"Copy the link below and visit..."

followed by a web address that required the user to manually replace "(DOT)" with "." before entering it into their browser.

The same scam process then went on to ask users to verify account balances, provide financial information and, in some cases, approve transactions in order to "verify" their account.

None of these steps form part of any Sofalistic process.

Sofalistic does not ask sellers to:

• Verify accounts using card details.
• Tell us their account balance.
• Make payments to receive payments.
• Approve bank drafts or transfers.
• Manually reconstruct website addresses.

In fact, no legitimate marketplace would require a seller to prove they have money in their bank account in order to receive payment for an item they are selling.

The scam messages also instructed users to leave the platform and manually reconstruct an external website address before entering it into their browser. This is a well-known tactic used by scammers to bypass platform security systems and should immediately raise concerns for users.

As soon as these conversations were identified, the accounts involved were permanently removed and additional protections were deployed. In this case, our team had already identified the method being used, implemented a fix, and continues to actively monitor the platform for similar activity.

We agree that scams targeting vulnerable individuals are extremely concerning, which is precisely why safety warnings are displayed throughout our platform and why users are repeatedly advised never to enter financial information via links sent through the messaging system.

The reality is that this scam only works if users ignore the platform warnings, leave the Sofalistic platform, visit a third-party website, provide financial information, and follow instructions that have nothing whatsoever to do with selling a sofa.

Whilst we understand your concerns, this was not a Sofalistic payment process and did not originate from Sofalistic. This was a third-party scammer attempting to persuade you to leave the platform and ignore the safety guidance provided.

Reply from Sofalistic

Jun 7, 2026

We're sorry to hear that you became the victim of a scam and that you are now dealing with the consequences of that.

However, it is important to be clear about what happened here.

Sofalistic did not ask you to verify your account, enter your card details, provide your card balance, make a payment, or transfer £620 to anyone.

The email you received from Sofalistic was a genuine notification advising you that you had received a new message. The scam itself was contained within the message sent by a third-party user through the marketplace messaging system.

At multiple stages throughout our platform, users are warned:

• Never enter card or bank details via links sent in messages.
• Never follow instructions to leave the platform.
• Never share personal or payment information with another user.
• Report suspicious messages immediately.

You state that it was not obvious that the message was not from Sofalistic. However, the scam messages instructed users to leave the platform and manually reconstruct an external website address by replacing "(DOT)" with "." before entering it into a browser. Legitimate businesses do not ask customers to manually build website addresses in this way.

Equally, Sofalistic does not ask sellers to verify accounts using card details, provide card balances, or make payments in order to receive proceeds from a sale. The request to make a payment before receiving payment is one of the most common scam indicators in existence.

You also mention that the scammer subsequently requested proof that you had a further £610 available in your account. Again, this has absolutely no connection to any Sofalistic process, policy, payment flow, or verification procedure.

As soon as these conversations were identified, the accounts involved were permanently removed and additional protections were deployed. In this case, our team had already identified the method being used, implemented a fix, and continues to actively monitor the platform for similar activity.

Whilst we appreciate your honesty in acknowledging that this was a scam and not a genuine Sofalistic process, responsibility ultimately lies with the criminal who sent the message and with the decision to proceed with instructions that required leaving the platform, visiting an external website, entering financial information, and making payments that were never requested by Sofalistic.

We encourage all users to follow the safety guidance presented throughout our messaging system and accepted when using the platform. These measures exist specifically to protect buyers and sellers from exactly these types of scam attempts.

Reply from Sofalistic

Jun 7, 2026

It is important to clarify that there is no evidence that scammers obtained customer email addresses from Sofalistic, nor is there any evidence that Sofalistic's systems were hacked.

The scam attempts referenced in other reviews involved third-party users sending messages through the marketplace messaging system, which is a feature available on virtually every marketplace platform. The scammers' objective was to persuade users to leave the security of the platform and visit fraudulent external websites under their control.

The fact that a scammer is able to send a message through a marketplace messaging system does not mean that they have gained access to customer data, email databases, payment information, or internal systems. Nor does it mean that the platform itself has been compromised.

In the cases referred to by other reviewers, users received a standard Sofalistic notification email advising them that they had received a new message. The notification email itself was genuine and sent by Sofalistic. The scam content was contained within the message sent by the third-party user, in the same way that a scam message can be received through other marketplaces - which happens on a daily basis.

As soon as these conversations were identified, the accounts involved were permanently removed and additional protections were deployed. Our team had already identified the method being used, implemented a fix, and continues to actively monitor the platform for similar activity.

At multiple stages throughout the platform, users are warned:

• Never enter card or bank details via links sent in messages.
• Never follow instructions to leave the platform.
• Never share personal or payment information with another user.
• Report suspicious messages immediately.

Marketplace operators unfortunately face the same challenge as every online platform: bad actors continually attempt to misuse communication tools. The presence of a scammer attempting to abuse a messaging system is not evidence that a platform has been hacked.

Reply from Sofalistic

Jun 7, 2026

We're sorry to hear that you encountered a scam attempt and appreciate you taking steps to protect your account once you became suspicious.

However, it's important to clarify that this was not Sofalistic asking you to enter card details, verify your account, or provide information relating to your card balance.

The messages you received were sent by a third-party scammer through the marketplace messaging system. Their objective was to persuade you to leave the security of our platform and enter payment information on an external website under their control. The request to verify card details and provide card balance information is a common scam tactic and is not part of any Sofalistic payment or verification process.

At multiple stages throughout our platform, users are warned:

• Never enter card or bank details via links sent in messages.
• Never follow instructions to leave the platform.
• Never share personal or payment information with another user.
• Report suspicious messages immediately.

You mention that the website looked genuine and that the notification email came from the same address used for Sofalistic account communications. Unfortunately, scammers often use legitimate marketplace messaging systems to initiate contact before attempting to move users away from the platform.

The fact that a message appears within a Sofalistic inbox does not automatically make it genuine. In this case, the sender instructed users to leave the platform and manually reconstruct an external website address by replacing "(DOT)" with "." before entering it into a browser. This is a well-known tactic used by scammers to bypass platform security systems and is not something Sofalistic would ever ask a user to do.

The verification process you describe — including requests for card details and card balance information — is not part of Sofalistic's payment or verification procedures and never has been. At the time of listing an item, sellers are informed that Sofalistic will never ask them to verify an account using card details or make payments in order to receive sale proceeds.

As soon as these conversations are identified, the accounts involved are permanently removed from the platform and additional protections are deployed to prevent similar attempts. In this case, our team had already identified the method being used, deployed a fix, and is actively monitoring the platform for similar activity.

We would encourage all users to continue following the platform safety and security guidance that is presented throughout our messaging system and accepted when using the platform. These measures exist specifically to protect buyers and sellers from the constantly evolving tactics used by scammers.

Whilst we understand your disappointment, describing Sofalistic itself as responsible for this scam attempt is simply incorrect. This was a third-party scammer attempting to persuade you to leave the platform and ignore the safety warnings provided.

Reply from Sofalistic

Jun 7, 2026

Hi Ben,

We're sorry to hear that you encountered a scam attempt and that you have had to deal with the inconvenience of trying to recover funds.

However, it's important to clarify that this was not Sofalistic asking you to make a payment, verify your account, or complete a test transaction.

The messages you received were sent by a third-party scammer through the marketplace messaging system. Their objective was to persuade you to leave the security of our platform and enter payment information on an external website under their control. The request to make a "test transaction" is a common scam tactic and is not part of any Sofalistic payment or verification process.

At multiple stages throughout our platform, users are warned:

• Never enter card or bank details via links sent in messages.
• Never follow instructions to leave the platform.
• Never share personal or payment information with another user.
• Report suspicious messages immediately.

You mention seeing the same message within your Sofalistic inbox. Unfortunately, scammers will often use legitimate marketplace messaging systems to initiate contact before attempting to direct users elsewhere. The fact that a message appears in an inbox does not automatically make it genuine, which is why our safety guidance is displayed throughout the platform and accepted when using our messaging system.

To address another point in your review, Sofalistic has not been hacked. Rather, the scammer used the messaging system to attempt to move the conversation away from the platform and onto a fraudulent external website.

The URL itself should also have been a significant warning sign. Rather than being directed to a normal Sofalistic page, the messages instructed you to manually reconstruct a web address by removing brackets, replacing dots, and entering the address yourself into your browser. This is a well-known scam tactic used to bypass platform security systems and is not something any legitimate business would ask a customer to do.

The verification process you describe — including requests to make test payments before receiving funds — is not part of Sofalistic's payment or verification procedures and never has been. At the time of listing an item, sellers are informed that Sofalistic will never ask them to verify an account using card details or make payments in order to receive sale proceeds.

As soon as these conversations are identified, the accounts involved are permanently removed from the platform and additional protections are deployed to prevent similar attempts. In this case, our team had already identified the method being used, deployed a fix, and is actively monitoring the platform for similar activity.

We would encourage all users to continue following the platform safety and security guidance that is presented throughout our messaging system. These measures exist specifically to protect buyers and sellers from the constantly evolving tactics used by scammers.

Whilst we completely understand your frustration, describing Sofalistic itself as a scam is simply incorrect. This was a third-party scammer attempting to persuade you to leave the platform and ignore the safety warnings provided.

Marc
Co-Founder