Here is a classic scam from Craigslist.They offer to buy your item you advertised via classified for more money than you ask for ($375 in my case, he offered $500).They even give you a bleeding heart story about wife dying in accident.
From: ike derico Alright,i live in North Georgia United State.Am quite comfortable with the condition of the item since i wont be making any repairs on it,i will like to offer you $500 including packing materials without you paying for any shipping charges b'cos i already have an account with FedEx,i would have loved to make the payment in cash and carry but we are not in the same state so i will like to go ahead with the payment by sending you a Money Order But i will need your contact infomation in which the money will be deliver ok.I wonna buy this [item name] for my step son to fulfill the promise his mum made before she died,i lost my lovely wife to an auto accident on 29th of June 2005 and since then i and her step son john have been living seperately and i want to buy this item for him because his mom promised him before death took her away from us and i think with this i and tobi can live as a family. Kindly get back to me immediately you receive my e-mail and i will like you to take it off craigslist for auction cos am serious in buying it.So let me have your full infomation ofr pyment to be made.... Best Regards. .I.Derico
Note how they can't pick up proper English names? I got another from 'ortega hanson'.
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Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
Craigslist [Same guy trying to scam me]
Tue, 2008/06/10 - 21:46This same guy tried this scam responding to a tool I posted on Craigslist. I googled his name and found this post. Here are copies of his emails if anyone is interested.
Robert Adams (rbmails465@fresnomail.com)
I am satisfied with the description and condition of the item listed above by you on the Ad, Please let me know if the piece is still available for sale and kindly attach more pictures if available. I have a problem talking on phone because I'm hearing impaired I look forward to hearing from
you soon.
Rob
Sent by [CompanyName] Mail
Great. I'll send you a check from my bank to cover the cost as I'm happy with your early response.anyway, I'll not be available for the
pick-up of the item because of the nature of my job so i got the services of a mover whom will come for the pick up of the item on my behalf.so I'll like you to provide me with the following information
so as to expedite the payment for the item.
1.Your full name to be on the check
2.Home or work address
3.Your phone number
4 The final price
As soon as you have cashed the check I'll make arrangement with my mover to come over for the pick-up. Pls do me a favor of removing the Ad from CL as I'm committed to buying it. Have a nice day.
Rob
Hi,
How was your day? I will like to inform you that i contacted my bank to confirm if your payment has been mailed out , I was made to understand that instead of the actual amount for the item the bank made out check for $2500. The payment was already posted before I was informed about this but is a little problem which we can handle amicably. I wouldn't want this to delay the sales, as I have rectify this with my Bank and all you have to do is that, once you have the payment do take it to your Bank and have it cashed and you will then
deduct the money for your goods and in addition a $100 (the cost of your running around).
The excess fund on the payment will then be wired to my mover via western union that same day, so that he can come for pick up as I've already plan on using the excess fund the payment to offset the costof the previous shipments he has undertaken on my behalf. Do let me know if I can trust you to have the excess fund sent to my mover. Thanks and God Bless.
Anonymous (not verified)
I don't know if this one is
Mon, 2008/06/16 - 05:50I don't know if this one is new or not, but it was pretty new to me.
Hello,
If you are interested in my 2005 Honda Accord EX, it is in perfect
condition, with no need for additional repairs, no scratches, dings,
special marks whatsoever. It has 17,357 miles and the VIN # is :
1HGCM56805A051352. It has a clear title ready to be signed and notarized
on your name.
I have the pictures hosted on the net and you can see them at
:http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/2005HondaAccordEX/ .The car is
located Glendale, CA.
The price is $4,235 including shipping costs anywhere in the continental
US. There are no other costs regarding this transaction. I am selling
the car because I am in the army, and my unit will be deployed to
Afghanistan in July.
The transaction will be closed only through a 3rd party and this way we
will both be protected. My time is limited due to my job in the army so
I decided to use a service from Pivotal Payments. To begin the
transaction I'll need your full name and shipping address, I will
forward the details of our transaction to Pivotal Payments and then you
will receive an invoice from them. The car will be shipped insured to
your location with DAS and you will have 5 days for inspection.
Thank you,
Wilfred Jones
I have been looking to buy another car and was told to check out Craiglist from my sister. So I write a couple of people an email and I get this. When I first read it, it was Wow.. great deal! So I tell my Fiance who comes to check it out when she decides to google. We haven't been able to find any scams regarding this but I just wanted to share.. just in case.
Red flags definitely went up when we read the next email.. it was written the same way.. different name. So we replied to this message asking for who the 3rd party will be and from which base he was stationed at..
Anonymous (not verified)
I recieved this.
Fri, 2008/09/26 - 10:14Hello,
If you are interested in my 2003 Toyota Camry LE, it is in perfect condition, with no need for additional repairs, no scratches, dings, special marks whatsoever. It has 32,154 miles and the VIN # is :
4T1BE32K63U771971. It has a clear title ready to be signed and notarized on your name.
I have the pictures hosted on the net and you can see them at :
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=2035387.
The car is located in Simi Valley, CA.
The price is $2,500 including shipping costs anywhere in the continental US. There are no other costs regarding this transaction. I am selling the car because I am in the army, and my unit will be deployed to Afghanistan in October.
The transaction will be closed only through a 3rd party and this way we will both be protected. My time is limited due to my job in the army so I decided to use a service from ProPay. To begin the transaction I'll need your full name and shipping address, I will forward the details of our transaction to ProPay and then you will receive an invoice from them. The car will be shipped insured to your location with DAS and you will have 5 days for inspection.
Jerry Mercante.
Anonymous (not verified)
Craigslist auto scams
Wed, 2009/06/03 - 09:47Hi There,
I just got an email almost identical to the one you posted. I'm so bummed because it seemed like such a good deal. The make and model are even the same, in the Army and being deployed, using TrialPay, shipped by brother-in-law who works for DAS so it's free to him. Wow, lots of similarities. Super low mileage stated like the one above too. Guess I'll forget this one! Also, while researching I found that these scams are often Russian or Nigerian in origin. My potential scammer writes his name as Aleksandra Machnik. Coincidence?
Nate (not verified)
Nathan Bennett
Mon, 2008/06/23 - 15:25Nathan Bennett [love.bennett02@gmail.com]
this email address is also a scammer.
Matches another email address on page 1
Anonymous (not verified)
Craigslist Scam
Tue, 2008/07/08 - 15:12I started a blog which collects different scams and the con artists who perpetrate them. Please visit http://www.clscambuster.blogspot.com You can make a difference.
Anonymous (not verified)
Yet another scam on Craigslist
Wed, 2008/07/09 - 13:22This message is from someone at frescaamptil60@live.com
Thanks for your rapid response, Like i said in my message earlier i like the
rims and am ok with the condition,I will like to pay for the rims via Certified
Check,i will be making your payment as soon as you get back to me with your full
name your address and valid cell phone number, The check will get to you in 2-3
days and when you received the check you go head in cashing the check at your
Bank,i will wait for you to confirm and clear the check before any futher
transaction.You dont need to worry about the shippment,i will handle the
shippment myself.I have a shipper that will come for the pickup as soon as you
cash the check and deduct your money for the items.. The payment will be in
excess as i will want you to contact my shipper with the excess fund after you
must have confirmed and cashed the check at your bank,you will send the excess
fund to him via Money Gram Money Transfer he needs the money to come and pick
the rims up at your location you will also let me know when you will be
available for them to come for the pickup..If you have any question regarding this you can IM
me on this ID frescaamptil1910@yahoo.com for better conversation.You can get the
posting deleted from Craiglist.Thanks and God Bless>
Anonymous (not verified)
This is still an active scam... Thanks for the original post.
Mon, 2008/07/14 - 11:03From: Mark Ronald
Date: Monday, July 14, 2008, 8:01 AM
Sounds Great,
Thanks for your reply i got all the information about the item ,
well
Moreso, i will like to have your Info:
1. NAME
2. ADDRESS AND
3. PHONE NUMBER.
I'll make your payment today through Cashier's Check i will handle
the shipment myself. The check will get to you in 1-2 working days
time and when you recieved the check you can then get the check
cashed at your Bank or any check issuing bank branch around you.
You going to confirm and clear the check. The payment will be in
excess as i will want you to contact my shipper with the excess
fund for shipping the item after you must have confirmed and cashed the check. I will wait for your
bank to clear the check so you can deduct your own money and send the excess fund to the shipper
via Money gram .So as to cover the cost of shipping the item from your place to Orem, Utah, it's
destination.This really has to do with Honesty and Trust.
Thanks for your Understanding and coperation.
Thanks
GoatGuy (not verified)
SCAM TEST
Wed, 2008/07/23 - 16:02+2 = funky english
+5 = i'll use my own shipper
+5 = you'll give (him) some of the overpayment
+10 = unsolicited overpayment
+5 = impuning your ethics
+5 = over 'pat' reply. stinks of FORM LETTER.
+32 = TOTAL.
The maximum I allow is +5 from all anomalies combined.
This is clearly is a form letter, will probably send you a forged check, is trying to scam you out of your own money by sending it through the irreversible "moneygram" route.
Throw out their email, and don't waste any time replying. It is NOT A PERSON at the other end, just a sifting-and-replying program that awaits the escallation of the 'transaction/scam'. You can't hurt the feelings of a computer.
GoatGuy
GoatGuy (not verified)
They're ALL permutations on the same theme.
Wed, 2008/07/23 - 15:54CONCLUSION:
You should NEVER be asked to send money anywhere as part of a transaction.
The URGENCY of the transaction belies its invalid nature. No one needs anything that urgently "off of Craig's List". Come on - we wait for months to find a potentially juicy purchase. And the trawler needs the item yesterday? Bull.
The SOB STORY is the nail-on-the-coffin. It maybe soften's one's resolve, but its just a stream of words.
The ABSURD ENGLISH (malapros everywhere) shows that you're receiving a template form response. From Nigeria or some other stinking hole of a country of thieves and swindlers.
-- -- --
Its so simple to keep transactions working right, and to not get bitch-slapped by scammers.
WAIT for clearing of checks.
ONLY send using your own shipping carriers.
DONT EVER fall for the 'send part of the money elsewhere'
ALWAYS test 'sob stories' - by changing all the names (in your reply) to see if the sender 'catches it'.
BE ON GUARD for 'flimflam' sounding form-letters. You're smart enough to see when a response has many 'fill-in-the-blank' sections.
BE ON GUARD for terrible english.
NEVER be swayed by urgency. The MORE urgent the buyer seems, the more reluctant and procrastinating you should be in completing the transaction.
FINALLY - if there is an escallation of 'souring' in the email exchanges, then just cut it off by saying that your cousin wanted it more than you needed the money, so its gone. It is NO SKIN OFF YOUR BACK, to just crap out the transaction.
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