Craigslist Scam: Cheque and Western Union For More Than Amount

I am very thankful for this site, for I almost fell for it. Thanks.

I've been scammed too. Except I haven't sold or listed anything. They stole my credit card information to open up a fed ex account to ship thousands of dollars in bogus cashiers checks to people who are selling things on craigslist and backpage classified ads. The sellers are now contacting me to find out what is going on. Fed Ex shipped 18 packages, and so far I've heard from six people who all say the same thing. Their stories are similar to all the ones I have read on this website. They are told to cash the checks and wire the money. The contacts are made either by email (with poor english) or use a relay phone service. I've encouraged everyone to report it, including reporting it to the FBI internet fraud website which is ic3.gov Unfortunately, this is such an epidemic it will probably go nowhere. It's very sad. It's like your hands are tied. =(

I am selling a compound bow on craigslist and i just got the first email the guy was asking for my full name address phone number email. I told him that a personal check mailed to me with name address phone number and drivers liscense number would be fine. So far i havent heard anything back but i found this site when i searched his id through yahoo. So if he does email again i will follow through and allow him to pay to overnight a check then i'm taking it my father-in-law who just so happens to be a fed.

I tried to look from a job from craiglist. this is my scam. I hate those people so much.

Hi, my name is Tieumy. I'm a student. I have school in the morning, but i'm free from 5h30pm. I can clean your house for really cheap. You can offer the rates that suits the job. I need money to pay for my school. So I just need to make some money before fall semester.
You can call me anytime. MY phone number is ( 972) 201-7366 or email me. My email is vuhantieumy@yahoo.com. I just can work around my area : Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Addison, Lewisville, Plano,..
Thank you for your time.

He replied
Hello there,
My name is Mr Richard, i want you to know i have a job for you.my Mum will be traveling down to you state and your city soon and i want someone with a good character,good attitude and very friendly manner that will be around her for at least 3 hours a day and help her to clean the house.she will be living in a house of 3 rooms, 1 living room and 2 toilet.you will make yourself available for this service 3 times a week and let me know when this will be convince for you and i will be paying you
$500 weekly.And let me know if this price is not good enough for you.
Get back to me if you're interested and i can get her inform and i will let you know when she will arriving to your state.

Regards
Mr Richard.

I sent him back

yeah. I can work from 6pm to 9pm. I can take care of your mom too, is you need my help. I wont mind working hard. Let me know when will your mom be here in Texas. When can I start the job. $500 a week is a really good price. Thank you so much for that offer. I couldnt beleive that. If you will hire me, thanks so much for that. I willing to do any jobs that vailable so I can pay for my tuition. Please let me know when she will arrive and the date you want me to start. Thank you

He replied

Hello there,
I am glad you responded to my e-mail, i want you to know i have contacted my Mum in New York concerning the time you will be available to work for her and she say its OK.she's 80 years old,very friendly and look young....lol,i love her so much,she's the best Mum in the world.
I believe you are fit for this position in as much you will prove yourself a reliable and good person. she will be in your city towards ending of this month i will let you know her arrival date and time and the address of the house she will be staying in your city as soon as she tells me the date she will be in your city, but do get it clear that your first payment will have been sent to you before then. I will be offering you $500.00 per week and you said the pay is ok by you.Am away now for a contract and i want you to know that my client who is in US will be sending you a check payment which i want you to know that the remaining funds will be used by Mum for her travel expenses,shopping and any other expenses(overdraft), kindly get back to me with the following details of yours below.:-

Full Name...
Address(No P O Box)...
City...
State...
Zipcode...
Phone number...
Sex(M/F)...
Age...

Kindly Forward me the this filled details above if you are good with the offer so that the paycheck can be issued out to you as soon as possible and i will appreciate quick response from you.
Thanks and please get back to me asap..
Regards

I replied my inforamtion
then he replied

I want you to know i received your information.I will let you know as soon as the check is been issue and sent to you.
When you receive the check you take it to the bank and cash it immediately and i will give you the information to wire the remaining money through Western Union to my Mum for her traveling and other expenses.
Am sure you will be a nice person to her.

Regards
Mr Richard

I replied
I just want to know something, because I'm really scared. Why do you pay me when I havent worked yet. I want to know if this is not a scam or anything. I just want to work and get paid. You can pay for me when I'm done the job after the first week. I think it will be better

He replied

don't be scared, is the excess money that my mum will use for her travelling expenses and the rest to get to state then u can perform teh services to her ok

I replied

No, you can wire the money directly to her if you need to. I wont take the money until I start working. And wont take more than I'm supposed to get. If you are a scammer. Please leave me alone.I'm just a student who have to work for my school. If you are not. You can email back to me with the information of your mom arrival date and location. I would love to help your mom out

He replied

am not a scammer, am just trying to tell u this is how it will work out i dont want to give the job to another person bcos i have pple disturbing me on the job , if u know u cant accept what i said let me give it to anotherperson who is ready to work then ok

I replied

I'll report you to the police. I dont know who you are. Where you come from. But What you are doing is really dirty. I hate people like you. You are a scammer. Thats so shameful of you to take avantage of a me or any other people like me. DO you think making money that easy. Do you know that those people whom you are cheating on have to work hard to make thier money. I was so happy thinking that god helping getting a job so easy. BUt you, people like you trying to take my hope, my trust in people. Please dont do that any more. If you cant be able to work, you ask for money from governent. If your ass can work then get to work and stop taking avantage of good people. Trust me, you wont die in peace if you keep doing this

I had a strange feeling when I got this "Harry Lucas" email about an item I had posted for sale on Craigs list. Then when he responded again today-it was very obvious. So, everyone-beware!!

Hello all, first off thanks for having this site available because it too saved me 2500.00!!

I have noticed most that I have read so far were for selling things on craigslist and the "buyer" wanting to pay more for the item and then having us send the money back via western union. Well there is another scam somewhat similair to this. There was a job posted on craigslist for a work at home position packaging envelopes and shipping them out. I figured hey I could use a couple extra bucks. Contacted them and heard back a few days later. This guy had a website and everything and was from the U.K. It was supposedly a furniture company and like I said there is a link to a website for an actual furniture company in the U.K. I am always skeptical of too good to be true situations so of course I was hesitant but all he needed from me was an address to send the check to. So I gave him my work address. It was supposed to work with him sending me 850.00 a week, 450.00 to be paid to me to package these brochures and 400.00 to pay for the postage at the post office, seemed like there really couldnt be a scam here so I figured hey if i get a check what the heck lets do it. THEEEEEENNNNNNN the email came, stating something to the extent of, "our accounting department just let me know that they accidently sent you a check for 3650.00, please subtract the 850 for our deal and send the rest of the funds to our accounting department via western union" the partial red flag went completely up after this. I received the check in an envelope from the U.k. but the cashiers check is from a florida bank haha, the bank does exist but the address is not the address of the bank and the remitter on the cashiers check is john smith, very smoooooth. The good thing about the bank that was on the check is that on their website they actual have their staff, and none of them match the person who supposedly signed and approved this cashiers check. Another thing to think of is I received this cashiers check for this great deal of money yet it came with no delivery confirmation or tracking number of any sorts, no in theory if this was a real check I could go cash it and they would have no knowledge if I even ever received it, there is no tracking of a cashier check being cashed, at least its very difficult to track. I got an email today asking if I received the check but I am not going to respond to him ever again and I bet after a couple more emails I dont hear from him again...maybe he will contact the police because I took his fake check haha Just keep an eye out for this guy too, his name in the emails was Daniel Brasford from a company called DFS furniture his email is amershamltds@gmail.com, hope this helps and remember if its too good to be true its probably some sort of scam!

i recently posted an ad because i am desperate for a job. a guy called adams sammy got in touch and said he is a engineer in australia and needs someone to basically do his shopping he sent this

Are you looking for a part time Job? Are you available to run errands? I am looking for someone who can handle my personal and business errands at his/her spare time. Someone who can offer me these services: Mail services: Receive my mails and drop them off at UPS (nothing illegal). Shop for Gifts Sit for delivery( at your home) or pick items up at nearby post office at your convenience. Let me know if you will be able to offer me any of these services. (adams.sammy@rocketmail.com) Thank you. Adams Sammy

This job is flexible so you can do it wherever you are provided that there is a post office in the area. In addition to that, I don't mind you doing all of the tasks during your spare time outside of work or school. I wish I could meet up with you to talk about this job in person but I am currently away on business. I am in Australia so there will be no interview. I will prepay you in advance to do my shopping and have my mails/packages forwarded to your address. If you will be unable to stay at home to get the mails, I can have them shipped to a post office near you and then you can pick them up at your convenience.

All errands will be in your city/town so It is not a must that you have a car for the job, you can go places by bus or taxi. When you get my mails/packages; you are required to mail them to where I want them mailed to. You won't have to put money out of your pocket, all you have to do is have packages shipped to your house and do my shopping. You are allowed to open the packages to reveal the content. The content of the packages will be business and personal mails. All expenses and taxes will be covered by me. You will work between 15 and 20hrs a month.

How much will you charge per month? I will pay 400(pounds). That is not a bad offer is it? I need your service because I am constantly out of town... I am an Engineer. I will return to United kingdom in September so this process will be on going till then. If you don't mind, I will meet up with you when I return and then we can talk about the possibility of making this long term. Well, let me know if you are able to handle the position..

Thanks for your time.

Adams Sammy

i thought it sounded ok then he wanted to send a cheque for 2.500 pounds and to take 400 and wire the money through western union ive just read all these comments and think it is a scam. should i just rip the cheque up? i was going to go to the bank to see if the cheque is legit but even if it is it could still bounce a week later couldnt it?

thanks nicola