Posted: 9/20/2010 12:56:14 PM EDT
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I'm selling a few items on craigslist, just to make room in the garage. Hot tub, skis, ski boots. Posted the ads last night. Anyway, today I get emails from several "people", all gmail addresses. Here is the text:
"Hi Thanks for the respond, I'm cool with your price. let me know if you will accept payment with Money Order as this is the only way i can make the payment for right now because i am out for a seminar and i really like to buy this for my in-law.. I don't mind offering you an extra $40 for selling the item for me and i will ask my assistant to make the payment out to you. I would have loved to come over and take a look at it though but i will not be able to do so due to the distance but i'll really appreciate a picture from you again if you have that. You may reply with your name and contact address where you will like to receive the payment ( no P.O.Box please, Cos UPS or Fedex will not deliver to P.O box ) and also your direct phone number . And concerning the shipment i will handle all the shipping expenses myself, I have a mover that take care of my shipment. I shall look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks. Regards" Same dude sends me the same email on the hot tub, and on the ski boots. Same with another "person", emails me on two items with the same email, and the text is almost identical to the previous dipshit. They must be emailing everyone, not realizing I'm the same guy. Anyway, how would this work? Bogus money order? I sure as hell would let someone take the stuff without the money order clearing. |
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Scammer sends you a fake cashiers check, you send product. You find out a couple weeks later that the check isn't genuine and the money is removed from your account. Your products are gone.
The check will "clear" at first. I'd give a full month before I consider a check "cleared" for real. |
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Quoted:
I'm selling a few items on craigslist, just to make room in the garage. Hot tub, skis, ski boots. Posted the ads last night. Anyway, today I get emails from several "people", all gmail addresses. Here is the text: "Hi Thanks for the respond, I'm cool with your price. let me know if you will accept payment with Money Order as this is the only way i can make the payment for right now because i am out for a seminar and i really like to buy this for my in-law.. I don't mind offering you an extra $40 for selling the item for me and i will ask my assistant to make the payment out to you. I would have loved to come over and take a look at it though but i will not be able to do so due to the distance but i'll really appreciate a picture from you again if you have that. You may reply with your name and contact address where you will like to receive the payment ( no P.O.Box please, Cos UPS or Fedex will not deliver to P.O box ) and also your direct phone number . And concerning the shipment i will handle all the shipping expenses myself, I have a mover that take care of my shipment. I shall look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks. Regards" Same dude sends me the same email on the hot tub, and on the ski boots. Same with another "person", emails me on two items with the same email, and the text is almost identical to the previous dipshit. They must be emailing everyone, not realizing I'm the same guy. Anyway, how would this work? Bogus money order? I sure as hell would let someone take the stuff without the money order clearing. The problem with the fake money order scam is the quality of some of the fakes. They WILL initially clear, and are only caught as frauds much further down the line. You are still on the hook to return the money. The evil behind these scams is that people get greedy for that extra buck and figures if it clears, they are good to go. But down the line it is determined the check is actually a fraud, and you are screwed. This happened to a friend on Ebay with a dirt bike. He sold it for his outrageous buy-it-now price. THEN he was offered a ton of extra money, with the caveat he send back some of the extra with the bike being shipped. For this he was allowed to keep another $500 "for his trouble". Despite my desperate pleadings for him not to fall for it, the (Obama voter.....go figure....) moron went through with it. He thought he would outsmart them by waiting 2 weeks to make sure it went through.  Then the dumb son-of-a-bitch kept his word. 2 weeks later....yup....it was bad. poor guy minus $5500 dollars. (He straight up WIRED $2000 to the motherfuckers....lol) He had spent all the rest of the money on a new bike by then. Classic.
He eventually recouped some of the losses as the bike was tracked down to a warehouse/dock or some such in FRANCE where it had a few "issues". Not sure exactly what, but the shipping process was graciously arranged by the scammer and likely had nothing legit about it.  The scammer wanted nothing to do with the bike, just the extra cash he sucked out of my friend. Of course, my friend had to pay to have the bike shipped back from Europe first.
On the internet, if it's too good to be true....it's too good to be true. No matter what. ETA: I think this is "phase one" of this guys scam. He is not after the products. Eventually, he will ask you to send some money back from an oversized MO or some such "accident". |
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Only take cash, never use your real # or main email. I use a Google Voice # for Craigslist and do not give them an email option in the listing. Also try to meet them away from your house. Many people see what you have on CG, goto your house only to case it. Many use CG as a way to rob the seller..always have a 2nd person in another vehicle. Sucks but a sign of the times. If it sounds weird or someone doesnt sound right, blow off the sale. |
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This happened to my sister's coworker, who works as a bank teller/loan assistant. She was selling a car (2007 Honda Accord) and got an email just like yours. She replied back with her phone number and address and they setup a time to meet. A tow truck came to her house, handed her a cashier's check, and she allowed him to load it up and signed the title over. She took the cashier's check to the bank and found out a day or two later that it was invalid. FBI got involved since it crossed state lines. Never heard what the outcome was.
However, I could not believe a banker fell for a fake cashiers check. |
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Quoted:
Please tell me you didn't pass along an address?? 
http://img2.moonbuggy.org/imgstore/you-gonna-get-considered.jpg No, I knew it was a scam. I'm just curious how they expected it to work. As for just getting email addresses, a simple "Do you still have the item?" email would suffice for a response instead of the elaborate one. |
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They avoid the PO Box & use FedEx/UPS to avoid mail fraud.
They will send you a bogus Western Union money order; or they will come steal your shit (since they have your home address & a phone number to check when you're out); or they will sell your information. If you deposit a bogus Western Union money order it will appear to clear your bank - two weeks later it will bounce & the money will be taken out of your account by the bank. If you must deal with money orders - demand USPS ones, then go to the post office & cash them in at the counter before you give up the merchandise. If you want to respond to a suspicious CL buyer, use a hotmail address you can dump once it starts getting spammed. |
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Quoted:
They avoid the PO Box & use FedEx/UPS to avoid mail fraud. They will send you a bogus Western Union money order; or they will come steal your shit (since they have your home address & a phone number to check when you're out); or they will sell your information. If you deposit a bogus Western Union money order it will appear to clear your bank - two weeks later it will bounce & the money will be taken out of your account by the bank. If you must deal with money orders - demand USPS ones, then go to the post office & cash them in at the counter before you give up the merchandise. If you want to respond to a suspicious CL buyer, use a hotmail address you can dump once it starts getting spammed. I take it you've never handled a money order worth more than $50 then...good luck getting $2500 in money orders cashed at a post office. I got lucky once and was able to cash a $500 money order, once. That was the only time since 2000 that I've been able to do that. Most of the time I can't even get $100 MOs cashed. There's just not that much cash in the till. USPS MOs are nice in that they force a government agency into it, thus opening the door for mail fraud. Otherwise, that's about it. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
They avoid the PO Box & use FedEx/UPS to avoid mail fraud. They will send you a bogus Western Union money order; or they will come steal your shit (since they have your home address & a phone number to check when you're out); or they will sell your information. If you deposit a bogus Western Union money order it will appear to clear your bank - two weeks later it will bounce & the money will be taken out of your account by the bank. If you must deal with money orders - demand USPS ones, then go to the post office & cash them in at the counter before you give up the merchandise. If you want to respond to a suspicious CL buyer, use a hotmail address you can dump once it starts getting spammed. I take it you've never handled a money order worth more than $50 then...good luck getting $2500 in money orders cashed at a post office. I got lucky once and was able to cash a $500 money order, once. That was the only time since 2000 that I've been able to do that. Most of the time I can't even get $100 MOs cashed. There's just not that much cash in the till. USPS MOs are nice in that they force a government agency into it, thus opening the door for mail fraud. Otherwise, that's about it. You have to call ahead for big amounts. They will also be able to tell you instantly if it is counterfeit & you could also cash them in for another money order if you wanted to. |