Another Craigslist classified scam

Hello Seller,

I am interested in the immediate purchase of your Item and I will be
responsible for the shipment from your location using my Shipping
Company. However, the payment for the Item shall be in form of
Certified US Cashier's Check.Therefore If you are satisfy with this
reliable mode of payment, kindly get back to me with your
fullname,Address and Cell phone number in other to effect payment
without any further delay.Information such as :

Name:
Contact Address:
City:
State/Zip code:
Phone Number:
Final asking Price:

I will be waiting for your reply as soon as you get this mail.

Regards,

NB:Kindly Confirm the working condition of the item and the final
asking price.Also attach present picture of the item if available.

I told this guy no but he still sent me a check for $2900.00. His name was Paul Locus from Ropner Shipping but the thing is Ropner Shipping doesnt even exist anymore, I was suppose to wire him the money to LONDON watch out for this guy. harr.gate123@googlemail.com,ropner_shipping@yahoo.co.uk. I never cashed the check and now I wonder what would have happened if I did.

Same old Craigslist routine.
1. I don't trust any gmail, and won't deal with anyone who I can't speak to on the phone.
2. They give me their phone # first.
3. I always meet in a public place. If jewelry, in front of the courthouse
4. Finalize deal before meeting, and cash only. Cash hits "my" hand before my stuff hits theirs.

Have a little fun with them trying this:

1. Setup a Gmail to post with. Use something like senior1944@gmail (they'll think your easy pickins')
2. Place the fake ad for expensive jewelry, laptops or cameras for a slightly low price (shows desperation), include email and say you'll consider shipping. Also sign at bottom of post your fictitious first name (see below for name)
3. When the flood of scammers home in on you...and they surely will, use their greed and stupidity to lead them on to the point of salivating. Follow steps below... (note: Take down the ad as soon as you have enough spammers in your net.)

A) Create a basic form letter that you can craft to personalize to "each" scammer like, "My wife of 40yrs just passed and I need the money for a proper funeral". Add in a little phoney personal information, and that your sooooo happy it will be going to a good home. Hit send and wait (10-15 min) for the flurry of replies.(only reply to emails that have different text so the same group doesn't catch on)

B) When they request your contact information and say they are sending a check or money order (that you cash and wire money back extra for shipping), Send them back an email saying you don't have a bank account and you'll need a usps postal money order. Make sure to praise them for the extra money they are sending as you have many bills to pay and how you need your diabetes medication soon. End by saying your deceased wife would be sooo happy. (you want to project your excitement for getting the deal done as soon as possible without actually saying it)

By this time they are drooling, picking out a vacation destination and telling all their friends about how they hit "the big one".

C) When they agree to the terms, you send back the contact information:
Name: Deputy Attorney General for your area.
Address: His office...his home if available.
Phone: Your favorite collection company, Ex boss, Ex wife....you get the picture :)

At this point they will be emailing daily asking if you've received the mail. Keep telling them you haven't
got it yet. Eventually they will try to call the number and the jig will be up. When they email you back...cause their really pissed, reply to them with a belittling tone, telling them "this is what happens when mothers lay with goats". Then tell them they've been targeted by the CIA's new satillite, and if they listen close they should hear the Predator plane getting closer and they usually will come very late at night.

You have just set them up to be seen as complete fools amongst their peers. They won't sleep for fear of the CIA and they just got fired from their spammer job!

Now, the Deputy Attorney General gets a flood of bogus USPS money orders, some at his home so he's really pissed too. The local newspaper picks up the story, The postmaster general gets wind of it, the story goes national, Obama's quoted as being "appalled" and vows to "find those responsible" and labels them as "internet terrorists". The CIA is called and sends out Predator drones to bomb the spammers. Weeks later the headlines read "Nigerian Spammers Eradicated"!

Of course the last part after the local newspaper is only wishful dreaming on my part but, all the rest could work "and" get the attention it deserves.

I posted a single girls canopy bed for sale on craigslist and got a response from a woman/girl by the name of Stephanie Paradiso saying she wanted the item. I was asking 250.00 for the bed since we paid 750 for it. It's like brand new hardly used a full yr. We kept sending messages back and forth and she said she would send me a cashiers check thru her bank via fed ex. She said she was moving to the UK and was having stuff shipped from CO NY and Fl. I live in Fl. She said she was going to send me the check for my amount plus and extra 50 bucks for my troubles and was going to include the money for the shipping company. All I needed to do was send the money left over after my cut for the item to a MRS Ann Carpenter in MA. When I recieved the check it was for 4,988.00 dollars. The name on the top of the check was for a government contracted company called VSE out of VA. I called the company and UPS which is how it was delievered to me and they both said it is a dead account. I've been sending her messages and when I talked to the VSE company they said to send them the check and all emails she sent me. So I did. They said someone got ahold of there one account # and have been writting checks on this account for 4 yrs now. Can't believe the FBI hasn't caught these people yet. So if you get an email from a Stephanie Paradiso with a Yahoo.com email address don't respond to it. Thank god I didn't deposit the check and send the money out or I would be in hock with my bank for the 4 grand. So if something doesn't seem right to you check it out first. It might cost you a couple long distance phone calls but I would rather pay a 20 dollar phone bill then pay over 4 grand back to my bank. Beware ppl. This stuff goes on all the time. If your going to post something on craigslist that's find just make sure you post it as local ppl only. I reposted mine and put local ppl only if you can't pick it up or I can't deliever it to your house do not respond. One lady didn't check it out and now she owes her bank big time. Plus she's on a fixed income so that makes it even harder when your trying to make some money and survive in this economy and then you find rude arogant ppl that just want to take you accross. Get a job ppl and survive like the rest of us. Don't rip ppl off. What goes around comes around. Remember that! PLEASE BE CARE! If the money seems to good to be true more then likely it is. Check it out.

put outriggers on craiglist, and got this email within a few days of putting it on........

From: "Brittany Gilbert"
Hello,
Is the item above still available?
Brittany.

my reply was: yes it is

Hi there,
Thanks for your prompt response and i will love to make an instant purchase, so please and please do withdraw the advert from Craigslist, i dont mind adding an extra $50.00 for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item. I will also like you to know that i will be paying via check,and it will be over night payment due to the distance. You dont need to bother yourself with the shipment ok,i will do take care of that. So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1. Your full name
2. Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3. Your Phone Number.
Once again, I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping...i will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check. Thanks
Brittany.

my reply was: cash and carry ONLY!

I had the same thing happen to me.I was selling my engagement ring to have some money for my little girl's first birthday because im going through a divorce and Im broke because of it.And he sent me the same emails,except I screwed up and sent my ring without having my money first,and I just now discovered all of these pages of how they are a scam.I was heart broken when I found out.But they also tried saying that the buyer accidently sent to much money and that i needed to send the extra four hundred dollars to them western union before they could credit my account with my money.

I just put my first item on Craigslist; a gold and diamond pendant appraised at $2,300, that I was selling for $1800 because, well, I'm just cool like that.
I received an email from rosalynuzzle@hotmail.com saying they wanted the item and they were going to wire me the money via Western Union, and wanted my name and address. This didn't strike me well, so I wrote them back with a few questions. Wanting my name and address right away made me think it might be from someone planning a home invasion, so I told them I kept my expensive jewelry in a safety deposit box. They didn't answer any of my questions, but said they wanted the item for their boss. My thoughts were, who buys an $1800 pendant for their boss? And if they were rich enough to afford that for a gift for their boss, why the hell would they be on Craigslist?
While I was trying to get any personal info out of them to prove they were legit, my wife checked out their email name online. And she found the same person, just with @gmail.com instead of @hotmail.com. The person was a scammer that used fake websites for paypal to rip people off. Basically, they "sent" the money via paypal, and the seller got an email from paypal saying the money was there. However, it was a fake paypal site that said this.
There were other Rosalyn Uzzle's out there, so I decided to give this person the benefit of the doubt, but when none of my attempts would get any personal info out of them at all, I sent them an email saying that I would see that it was insured and that I would have it sent so someone would have to sign for it...for THEIR protection. This person was emailing me about ever 5 minutes up to that point. After that, they stopped sending emails to me. That is when I knew it was a scam. So, being a deviant little bastard, I decided to make things a little more worth their while to keep this up, taking some advice from someone else here on this site. I wrote them back saying:

Hi again!

Good news! I was able to get the pendant tonight! My uncle is the Chief Administrator at the bank I use and he was able to open the bank for me so I could take care of this right away. He told me not to worry about insurance or certification because he knows the people personally and knows it will get there safely. He also decided to toss in a little incentive for you to get the money wired as quickly as possible. He is going to throw in, at no extra charge, an 1816 United States gold eagle coin. He found it on the floor of the bank and no one claimed it for over a year, and he wants to just get rid of it because it would put his finance books over if he were to add it to the bank funds.
So you are getting the pendant AND the coin! Lucky you!
So just wire me the money and let me know where to ship it. I will send it out and then go pick up the funds. :)

- Dave

I am waiting for their reply. Let's see how long I can string these scammers along.

has anyone got scammed by 2 guys there names are james vernon and mike smth.if so please email back.

Seems this asshole has changed his or her name. However Nigeria and alertpay were the two big details that red flagged my suspicions. Not to mention I have been trying to sell a ring (that this Cheryl wanted to buy) now for 1 year. Each person that had been interested all asked the same things: What was it appraised at? Can I see it before I commit...etc. Who shops from over seas not ever seeing their purchase and spending almost 2k for it? No one but scammers. Cherly wanted me to send the ring packaged as a present to:

AME : KAREEM ABEEB
ADDRESS : 120 AGBOWO ROAD
CITY : IBADAN
STATE : OYO
ZIPCODE : 23402
COUNTRY : NIGERIA
PHONE : 08039147759

Here are the emails that were sent:
Email 1:
Hello,
Hope this item is still up for sale...
Thanks...

Email 2:
Good Day, I am happy to read from you that the item is still available
for sales and to let you know that presently am not in state am in
paris on business trip and,I will like to purchase it from you as soon
as possible for a friend as a gift present.My mode of payment will be
via (Alertpay).Read more about Alertpay via (www.alertpay.com ) I will
add $100 to your asking price to cover the cost of Shipment to my
friend via (Express Mail Service Us Post Office)Get back to me with
your full Name,Address,City,State,Country,Code and PhoneNumber.So that
i will proceed to send the fund to you immediately and better of you
can sign up with alertpay via www.alertpay.com and get back to me with
the email used...
Thanks...

Email 3:
Thanks for getting back to me and please kindly get back to me with
the cost price of the item ASAP so that i can order for your cash via
alertpay immediately...
THANKS ...

Email 4:
Ok
I have just made your payment now via alertpay and i am sure you
would have been contacted via email by now or sooner with the
payment confirmation .I have also included $100 to cover the
shipping cost of the item to my friend destination. Kindly ship the
item immediately you receive the payment confirmation via Express
Mail Service (EMS) of US postal mail and return to alertpay customer
care with the tracking number of the item ship as proof and for
proper verification and your money will be release to you
immediately.
Please when you receive the payment confirmation get back to me
asap and and kindly help me package the item as a present gift package
and do not write the value to it when shippping it...

I then got the confirmation emails from alertpay. The money would show up in my account once I sent the tracking mailing numbers to their customer support email. Never got that far however. Googled the name KAREEM ABEEB and found this website. Glad I did too, thank you all for all the posts and I hope this helps.

Also, I would like to know where to put in a complaint or how to report someone like this? Let me know please. Thank you.

On Fri, 1/8/10, leereading350@aol.com wrote:

From: leereading350@aol.com
Subject: Re:
To:
Date: Friday, January 8, 2010, 9:22 PM

Hello,
Thanks so much for your prompt reply.Well sincerely i must say you ve got a nice item and as a matter of fact,In a transaction like this,i believe so much in trust and i will appreciate it if we can put trust first so that the transaction can go smoothly .I would have love to come and take a look and pay with cash then pick it up but at the moment am a kind of too busy to come over,due to out of own on business trip that was why i asked you questions,with trust and honesty i think i can send you a cashier check via Fed ex Or UPS overnight and i have a shipping company that will come pick it up once payment is cleared.The Check will be excess and all what you will need to do is to just send the remaining balance to my Shipper for the pickup payment after deducting your money,if you are ok with this please do kindly get back to me with your full name,address and direct phone number so i can call you to discuss and also proceed with the payment and please do keep this item for me and inform other interested party that its been sold..ok. thanks for your communication and co-operation.Hope you bear with me and get back to me soon.

Sincerely
Lee

I am with him on another screen right now and he is trying to get me to accept a check from his company. I really wish there was something I could do. He said he would send movers to get my stuff I wonder if it's worth it to contact the authorities?

Here's the email chain for those who search for it in Googlo or some other search engine

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will love to make an
instant purchase. My Office will be mailing (overnight) a certified
check from my account to cover the cost, while you hold on my behalf.
Once you have this, my mover will come for the pick up at your place.

I will be needing the following information to issue out the payment . . .

1.Name to be on the check
2.Home address
3.Telephone

Please note that the payment will be overnight by my Office to
your address and its bound to be delivered within 2 to 3 days. I have
taken a close look at the advert and am completely satisfied, i really
need this and would appreciates that you help save this till the
payment arrives. Furthermore do remove the posting as am definitely
buying it from you and it would be sad for me to have the payment in
the mail only to be alerted it as been sold when the check does
arrives. Am A Respectful Buyer On CL,

Regards.