Most Karrot deals are fine. The ones that are not tend to repeat the same handful of moves, and almost all of them funnel toward the same place: getting your money out of the app before you have seen the item.
If you only remember one thing: the scam needs your money to leave the platform. Danggeun Pay (당근페이) holds funds until you confirm, so a seller determined to avoid it is avoiding the part that protects you. Every sign below is ultimately a way of getting to that.
"계좌이체로 해주시면 5만원 더 빼드릴게요"
The discount is cheaper than the item. Paying the Danggeun Pay fee yourself is still cheaper than losing the whole amount.
"안전결제 링크 보내드릴게요 → danggeun-pay-secure.co.kr"
Danggeun Pay never happens on an outside website. Any link asking for card details is phishing, no matter how closely the domain resembles the real thing. Real escrow lives inside the app, full stop.
Abroad, posted overseas, deployed, in hospital, moving this week. The specific excuse varies; the function never does — it rules out seeing the item before paying. A seller who genuinely cannot meet can still use Danggeun Pay.
"입금은 제 동생 계좌로 해주세요"
A different account holder means the money lands somewhere you cannot trace back to the profile you were talking to. This is also how a stolen account gets cashed out.
"10분 안에 입금 안 하시면 다음 분께 넘길게요"
Real sellers want the sale, not a stampede. Pressure exists to stop you checking, and anything that stops you checking is the point.
Reservation fees, holding fees, "serious buyers only" fees. There is no legitimate version of this in a person-to-person deal.
Ask for the item next to today's date on a scrap of paper, or a 10-second video. A real seller finds this mildly annoying and does it. A scammer cannot, because the item is a photo from somewhere else.
"이체확인증 보내드릴게요, 은행 점검시간이라 늦게 들어와요"
Screenshots are trivially faked. Only your own bank balance counts. Bank maintenance windows do not make money arrive hours later.
Off-platform means no record, no reporting, no recourse. "카톡으로 옮길게요" early in a deal is a request to remove the safety net before anything has gone wrong.
Worth saying plainly, because caution has a cost too: