Doll Buyers Beware

A fellow doll collector encountered a person on Facebook Marketplace and in Facebook doll groups who used doll photos from the Virtual Black Doll Museum and/or Pinterest in an attempt to sell a Patti-Playpal-type doll and others. 

Before realizing it was a scam, the collector sent a message to the scammer asking the price of all three advertised dolls. Some of that message is captured below, but the scammer's response is no longer visible because they were later reported to Facebook and Facebook removed the post and possibly that account.

The collector messaged the fraudulent seller about the price of the doll(s).

The scammer's former Facebook Marketplace ID is circled.

The collector used Google Lens to determine if the "scammer's photograph" was original and found that the photo is from my Virtual Black Doll Museum. She then notified Facebook of the fraud and Facebook removed the listing. This all happened before I was informed. As a result, I could not contact the person on Facebook to insist they discontinue unauthorized use of my photos. 

This post is to warn all potential buyers responding to posts about "dolls for sale reasonably priced" and similar phraseology because if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Always ask for additional photos of the same doll and other forms of security to determine if the seller really has the doll/item. Ask the seller to include in the new image(s) a handwritten note that has the current date. You could ask for a specific object to be  included in the new photo or for the seller to take a photo with the doll. Asking for references is not always a reliable security method because many sellers use co-conspirators to vouch for them. 

The scammer stole this photo from DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum.

After stealing the photo, the scammer changed the background and posted the doll for sale in Facebook Marketplace in an attempt to "scam" a potential buyer into thinking they were purchasing a "reasonably priced doll."

The collector used Google Lens to determine if the photo was preexistent on the Internet and found it in my Virtual Black Doll Museum. 

How to use Google Lens is described below:

I conducted a Google Lens search of the stolen photo and captured the results in the screenshot copied below:

(Left) I right-clicked the scammer's image. Then I chose the "Search with Google Lens" option and selected the search area of focus (concentrating on the doll's face and torso). (Right) Google Lens found my doll's photo on the installation page of DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum.

When using a phone to search with Google Lens, touch and hold the image until a drop-down menu appears. Select "Search with Google Lens," and follow the next steps outlined in the above caption.

Again, please be careful when purchasing dolls from an unknown individual and/or from unknown websites especially when the price is too good to be true.

And if you see any of my photos in dolls for sale posts, please let me know. Thank you!

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

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