Stopped reading right there. I don't know why anyone thinks this kind of transaction will ever work out in their favor. FB Marketplace/Craigslist etc. are fine, but the golden rule is to use them for local, in-person, cash-only exchanges and nothing else.
Believe it or not, in most of the USA you can leave a backpack visible in your car and it won't get broken into. It's only some shithole cities where this is a serious problem. So, it's unsurprising that many people would be surprised by that particular type of crime.
Online marketplace scams are prevalent pretty much everywhere because the scammers can use fake accounts and are often in another country.
If so, the idea you can safely leave stuff in a car is the triumph of anecdotes over data.
Long ago when starting a software & network company, I got a commercial insurance policy on the computer equipment. It covered everything, suprisingly including the usual exceptions such as war, terrorism, Acts Of God, lightning, fire, etc.
But, there was ONE thing it did not cover:
"Theft from an unattended motor vehicle".
I took the hint and to this day never leave anything in a parked car, and never had anything stolen, and I have friends who didn't follow it and have been robbed that way, sometimes literally in <10 min. I know people in some areas (and these aren't bad areas, parking at beaches, yacht clubs, ski areas, etc.) who leave their cars unlocked with trunklids popped open.
The actuaries have data and know some things ordinary people don't.
Theft from a parked car would typically be covered under an auto or homeowners insurance policy, and most of those contain no such exclusions (although there are limits on covered losses). I don't understand what point you're trying to make by bringing up commercial insurance which is irrelevant to most people.
That the actuaries of that insurance know it was such a big problem they expressly excluded it.
Also, many auto and homeowners insurance policies have low (or no) coverage for personal property theft in cases like this, at least for computers, etc. unless you expressly pay for it.
I knew a woman that legit would frequently leave her purse in her passenger seat. Told her it was only a matter of time before someone broke in, but she just insisted that she hated carrying it around, and would just pull out her credit card from it when needed.
Sure enough, her window got smashed and her purse was stolen, and she was all Surprised Pikachu. She legit didn't think it would ever happen.
And you know what...I really don't think it's victim blaming when the victim not only didn't do anything to protect themselves, but even took action to make themselves a prime target. Leaving a purse in sight? Might as well just leave cash on the dashboard. She could have at least put her purse in her trunk or glove box, somewhere it can't be seen.
I don't know how "victim blaming" became such a taboo. There are plenty of cases where the victim could have avoided the problem entirely by taking easy, sensible precautions, but nowadays if you point those things out (for the benefit of future potential victims), you're an evil Victim Blamer. People have agency--we're not just helpless sheep walking through life getting inevitably victimized by things totally beyond our control. It should be OK to talk about preventative measures.
Without knowing what proportion of non-local transactions are scams its hard to say that this is reasonable. I've used ebay and facebook for non-local purchases and not been scammed. I do my best do to due diligence and then hope.
Stopped reading right there. I don't know why anyone thinks this kind of transaction will ever work out in their favor. FB Marketplace/Craigslist etc. are fine, but the golden rule is to use them for local, in-person, cash-only exchanges and nothing else.