Craigslist Scam: Cheque and Western Union For More Than Amount

Believable scam - I was selling tires on Craigslist. Multiple e-mails came thru regarding purchase of the tires. Last e-mail was as follows:

Hello,
I am sorry for the Late respond.Meanwhile,i was with my wife in the hospital that is why it took so long for you to hear from me.I will like to confirm to you that the check has been sent and you will get it on Wednesday or Thursday.I will like to tell you that the check sent is a Cashier bank Check.This was sent to avoid delay in this transaction and was sent in the interest protection between us.Also the check was purchased by my Company Financier sent as misc expenses to you. I really dont think its necessary depositing the Cashier bank Check but if you want to i can only wait 1-2 days for you to deposit the check into your Account and for the check clearance and will like to inform you that the check sent comes in excess (extra) fund.This Extra Fund in it will be for the Shipper who will be picking the item up. which implies that as soon you get the check and cash it. The extra fund will be sent via Western Union to my shipper so that the Shipper can come to your house to pick up the item.

Thanks

I posted tires for sale on Craigslist. Below is the string of e-mails between myself, and the "Buyer".

If this happens to you, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-382-4357. I don't know how much they can do, but I've reported this incident to them in the hope that the scammer will be brought to justice (I'm a dreamer and an optimist).

I hope this helps others before they get scammed. I know this site, and what people posted, helped me (the posted e-mails were nearly identical to what was being sent to me).

Here are the string of e-mails:

Scammer's first e-mail:

Hello,
>
>    How are you doing? I wanted to know if your tires  that you posted
> on here is still available for sale.Get back to me with me full
> information about it.How long has it been used and whats is the lease
> priced you can go.Get back to me as soon as you can because am
> seriously interested in buying it asap.
>
>
> Thanks
____________________________________
I responded by e-mail letting him know the tires were still for sale, and gave him my phone numbers to contact me directly
_____________________________________
Scammer's second e-mail:

Hello.

Thanks for your mail and Thanks for been nice to me in your message.I will like to affirm that i am really interested in your tires and i will like to inform you that my only mode of paying you is by mailing you cashier bank check and if you are okay with that you can get back to me with your Payee name,Home address that will be on the check and a valid phone number ( no voice mail number.As soon as you receive the check,i will send my shipper for the pickup of the item asap.

Thanks
_________________________________________________
I responded by e-mail giving him my phone numbers (again), my full name, and my address, and asked the check be for the exact amount.
_________________________________________________
Scammer's third e-mail:

Hello,

I am sorry for the Late respond.Meanwhile,i was with my wife in the hospital that is why it took so long for you to hear from me.I will like to confirm to you that the check has been sent and you will get it on Wednesday or Thursday.I will like to tell you that the check sent is a Cashier bank Check.This was sent to avoid delay in this transaction and was sent in the interest protection between us.Also the check was purchased by my Company Financier sent as misc expenses to you. I really dont think its necessary depositing the Cashier bank Check but if you want to i can only wait 1-2 days for you to deposit the check into your Account and for the check clearance and will like to inform you that the check sent comes in excess (extra) fund.This Extra Fund in it will be for the Shipper who will be picking the item up. which implies that as soon you get the check and cash it. The extra fund will be sent via Western Union to my shipper so that the Shipper can come to your house to pick up the item.

Thanks
______________________________________________
I responded by e-mail letting him know I had to terminate the deal because the check was in excess of agreed amount, and I no longer felt confident about his true intentions.

I then googled "Check Scam Craigslist", and found this site which people had posted similar e-mails (same wording, and broken language).

I then contacted the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-382-4357 and reported the incident.

Watch out for this Mark Carlos character. Typical money order scam. He did send a "real" cashier's check from the Navy Federal Credit Union, it was signed by Angela Spencer and made out to me. But you can see there are many names involved with this scam - and that made it even more suspect. Interestingly, there is no such address as 70480 Boulder Lane in Carrollton, KY.

From: Mark Carlos
To: John Doe

Hello John,
Here is the Ups tracking number J216 773 938 0 to the payment the check will be getting to your place today here is the caretaker address that you will send the remaining money to
NAME....Brenda Long
Address.......70480 Boulder Lane
CITY... Carrollton
STATE.... KY
ZIP CODE....41008
You deduct your money $500usd for the cleaning and send the rest money to the caretaker via western union. she is going fly in from KY she will be staying in my house so while you working she will be there i will be flying in on 30th of this month PLS I WANT U TO UPDATE ME ON THIS THANKS
Mark

I guess this is happening everywhere. Someone was interested in an Item I had which was for $20 and the guy claimed his secretary sent the wrong amount of cash ($2,500) and I received the check. I told him not even an idiot could mix up $20 between $2500. I sent him an email saying I can't cash that check. He says it is real and not a scam. Then he starts talking about "God" and beliefs. I'm just glad I got the scammers to waste money sending me a fake check. Everytime someone offers me a check I'll take it just so they waste money shipping it. Because they believe that someone will actually cash it and send them money back. You should never cash a check and get rid of the money, Just wait to see if it even clears.

The subject was my craigslist header.

Dear Seller,
I am interested in buying this item of yours. Payment will be made to you
via Check. As soon as you get the check cleared, remove your item cost and send the balance via western union to the shipping company that will come for the pickup of the item. Kindly get back to me with the following information below where the payment will be sent to :
1. NAME
2. ADDRESS
3. CITY
4. STATE
5. ZIPCODE
6. PHONE #
7. FINAL PRICE
I hope to hear from you soon.
Many regards Thomas.

I congratulated "Thomas" on his good English and that this was far better than the scam email that he or a fellow traveller sent me last month.

Why in this day and age are people accepting cheques from unknown individuals????????? The only cheques one should use are electronically printed cheques from government or big companies. NEVER accept a cheque for payment from someone you do not know NEVER!!!! The people looking for compensation, forget it, would you accept a cheque from a stranger for your car on the street? would you EVER send a cheque to someone you have never met for MORE than the purchase price of something? USE YOUR SENSES!!!

This just happened to me today.
I was selling a radar detector on crigslist and some guy "jonathan price" was going to send me a money gram. I was asking 275 and he said that was fine but he was going to give me an extra 30 just to take it off the internet.
he continued to say this...
Good day and how is your day ?I just received the confirmation from my
Secretary that the payment has been issued out and was mailed by the
United Parcel Service. It will be delivered to your address 2 days from
now according to the courier, and it was my secretary who posted the
payment,but to my greatest surprise,She included the moving fee with
your payment, instead of the actual amount of the purchase, she made
out the money order for $1,940.This was due to the accumulated unpaid
transactions undertaken by the mover in the past weeks and they said
they can't come and pick this up if I do not pay them all together.So
once you have the Payment,i want you to cash it and deduct the money for
the purchase.The remaining funds should please be sent to my mover via
Western union the same day you do receive the payment so that my mover
can make the trip over for the pickup at once.You will also have to deduct
an additional $30 to offset the cost of your run around expenses.**I will
need your immediate response via email assuring me that i can trust you to
handle this with care and have the remaining funds returned appropriately.
I am hearing impaired and will hope that your intentions remains noble through
out the duration of this transaction**

so today we received two checks for 940 dollars. we go to checkcashing and they almost arrest my boyfriend for trying to cash a fake check..

let me tell you if i ever find this person ill make him sorry he ever learned how to use a computer