Spotting a Craig's List Scammer

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Spotting a Craig's List Scammer

Friday, June 06, 2008 6:54 AM | Blogging Technology

I hate scammers. Especially Craig's List scammers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to catch one trying to scam someone.

I recently bought a used G4 MacBook to replace on older G4 tower Mac (bad power supply, but that's another story). In any case I have a 5 month old Dell XPS M1730 17" laptop that I have no use for as the MacBook serves well as a notebook and as a desktop computer when connected to my Apple Cinema display, keyboard and mouse.

Back to the story. I post my ad on Craig's list. And it clearly states "CASH ONLY. Must pick up in person, no exceptions. Any emails requesting other forms of payment or shipping will not be responded to. I work and live in Statesboro Georgia, so you will have to come here to see the laptop."

Someone contacts me this morning, states they want the laptop, but then attempts to take control and tell ME how they will pay and how it will be shipped, even though I clearly state that it is cash only and that the laptop must be picked up in person.

This is a classic ruse used by scammers to dupe unsuspecting sellers. Western Union is especially a No-No when selling on Craig's List.

From the email I received from llbts7@aol.com

"Thanks for swift response i am highly interested in the item but i want to pay through two(2)mode of payment the first one is via western union money transfer if u are ready for that get back with the details of how i can send it to you and the second one is via paypal and if interested in that kindly get back with email payapl account for fast payment and i am sending the item international for my business agent and i will adding $150 for shipping cost thanks hope to hear from you soon."

These scamming idiots use the same ploy nearly every time. I have posted probably 40 ads on Craig's list and on every single ad I get one or more scamming morons trying to steal from me.

Craig's List is an awesome way to sell items without having to pay a fee (as opposed to eBay fees). You just need to be ever vigilant and NEVER allow a potential buyer to set the terms of the sale. Anyone that tries to tell you they will pay via Western Union, etc. and you must ship it, etc., that they will pay extra for shipping, etc.

Delete the email and forget about it. It is a SCAM.

I have also ran into several scammy sellers on Craig's List. They will post an ad in a major city list on Craig's List, when you respond they will make an excuse of being out of town or out of the country visiting family (or something similar), then they will tell you they have the product with iSold or some other outfit and they will ship it to you. BEWARE of this, 99.999% of the time the seller is a scammer and the scam ads will generally involve high priced computers or electronics.

Hopefully AOL will do something about this scammer. I did report them to abuse@aol.com (who knows maybe they will cut him off from the Internet).

Has anyone tried scamming you on Craig's List? If so how did you figure it out or how did you catch them?

26 Comments

Comments

Posted by Alan on 6/6/2008 1:41 PM: Great post, not yet bothered with Craigslist, I have used eBay and even there you'll get scammers.
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 1:51 PM: Thanks. I have run into a couple on ebay, but I stopped messing with eBay a couple of years ago after getting screwed on fees. Craig's List is great, if you deal locally with potential buyers.
Posted by joe on 6/6/2008 1:58 PM: hey i used to work somewhere that dealt with these scammers every day. send me a message on stumble upon if you want to know more or need any info on them :D
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 2:00 PM: Hi Joe,
I would but I don't know your SU username, you can send it via the contact form if you like.
Posted by adam on 6/6/2008 2:48 PM: I love playing with these scammers. I put a boat on craigslist a few years ago, and of course got contacted by the guy in Nigeria. I played it out until he actually sent me a money order from Walmart. But it was an obvious fake, I noticed that the money order # was in regular print and not in the color/coded print. The scammer added $1500.00 to the price of the boat.
I turned it all over to the police.
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 3:36 PM: Hey Adam,
Very cool! I used to mess with Nigerian 411 scammers, I never got any money out of them but I baited a lot of them and ran them through hoops. It's a very fun and rewarding hobby!
Posted by Burg on 6/6/2008 4:08 PM: Whenever we've put an ad up for renting out a room in our condo, we always get multiple ads from
"supermodels" who are currently in some other country (often with doing something involving world peace/health). They want to send us money through paypal, which, as they remind us, is the safest way. All this without even mentioning the condo.

The biggest tip offs to a scam are seeming too anxious to give you money, and not actually mentioning what you're selling.

I've seen all too many questions on ebay to sellers of cameras and such where all they say about the camera is "My nephew is obsessed with this product"
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 4:11 PM: Burg,
I agree with you wholeheartedly on the anxious to give you money or more than you are asking. Big tip-off. Thanks for commenting!
Posted by seyit on 6/6/2008 4:34 PM: i was selling a big screen tv. they offered me 1200 more than i was asking for and sent me a certified check from Mitsubishi Bank in Newyork. thank goodness i have read about it a lot before.
Posted by John on 6/6/2008 4:52 PM: You're blog post reminded me of something else I stumbled upon recently. You've got to read about this guy Jeff who "scammed a scammer"--if there was ever justice done against a scammer, this is it! Check it out at: http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 4:56 PM: Hi seyit. I think I read that one too, good stuff!
Posted by Amber on 6/6/2008 5:35 PM: I am new to selling on craigs list. I get these emails about how the people are out of town and want to pay through paypal. How do you get scammed through paypal since it is suppose to be so secure, expecially if you do not disclose any information except your email address?
Posted by Tom on 6/6/2008 5:37 PM: Great tips and stories. =D
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 5:45 PM: Hi Amber,
Well the scammer could use a compromised account (hacked) or send you the money and when you ship it, they reverse the payment (dispute it). Either way you get taken. Only deal locally in person. 99.999% of the "out of town" paypal, ship it to me inquiries are scammers.
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 5:47 PM: Amber,
People get taken all the time on ebay via PayPal. I hate to say it but PayPal buyer protection is lackluster at best, same thing with ebay's protection policies. Just google a bit and you will many, many instances where PayPal and eBay have dropped the ball and don't honor their "protection".
Posted by Amber on 6/6/2008 5:52 PM: Thank You for your response! I have been figuring this is a scam and have been researching it for a few days now. Is paypal safe if you wait to have the money from your bank and then send the item?
Posted by allen on 6/6/2008 5:57 PM: Hi Amber,
Personally I only accept cash in person. I would only accept PayPal *if* i actually knew the person. Better safe than sorry. If they aren't local and/or don't want to come in person be very wary. Many scammers will try to buy sight unseen and up the money to make it look like a good deal.
Posted by Oscar on 6/6/2008 5:59 PM: I made scam baiting a sort of "when I'm bored" activity,

Maybe you would look at these stories, I'm sure you'll like them :)

the failure, alias the Anus laptop saga

http://www.thescambaiter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109

funniest ever

lot of funny stories here also, about scammer phranks.
http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm

Bye
Posted by Sparky on 6/6/2008 6:03 PM: Reporting them to AOL probably did nothing.

The address was probably faked. I use spamcop.net. They have an annoying splash screen every time you report, but it reads the email headers so you report to the correct system.

Oh, and this happens everywhere. I'm amazed at how many people fall for the same scam over and over.

I'm also amazed that no one holds western union responsible in the slightest. They have to know that when someone comes in to wire $3000 to Nigeria something is up.
Posted by rob on 6/6/2008 6:31 PM: I saw a great blog about an experience like this recently, they baited the scammer to pay for shipping, so the mark shipped the scammer junk in large boxes, which the scammer had to pay for (was using their own UPS account) this went on for weeks, with thousands being spent on shipping charges by the scammers. it was a riot. best of luck on craig'slist.
Posted by Crystal on 6/6/2008 6:53 PM: I was job hunting on Craig's List and replied to a posting regarding placing newspaper ads. The ad is pasted in the body of this email, below. I responded to them that I knew this was a scam and it would be reported to the proper authorities and not to contact me again. I subsequently received three more emails with the same premise but different scenarios. One was a supposed orphanage in Africa who would receive the donation monies faster if the check was deposited in a bank in the US by me as foreign banks take 30 days for checks to clear. The last one had the careerbuilder logo in it. I forwarded it to them and haven't heard back yet. First of all, they can't possibly be sending me anything by snail-mail as I've never given them my address. I'm sure you can figure out all of the other reasons why this is so ridiculous. DON'T BE TAKEN IAN BY THESE PEOPLE! Thank you for the information you gave.

from =??Q?107=B0?= COMMUNICATIONS GMBH <sylvia@107comm.com>
reply-to =??Q?107=B0?= COMMUNICATIONS GMBH <sylvia@107comm.com

date Sat, May 17, 2008 at 2:05 PM
subject Newspaper Job Confirmation 16 May

hide details May 17 Reply

My name is Sylvia Kohl, from 107° COMMUNICATIONS GMBH,

A cashier check of $1,399 was released to you today for the Advertising Job you applied for. Simply cash the payment when you receive it at your bank and follow instructions.

You will place 2 job ads after you receive this payment in Chicago Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer. You will call an 1-800 number to do this task. You will receive instructions and complete "how to" specifications, also the text that will appear in the ad.

Please let us know when you will receive the cashier's check next week. Your commission is $200 from this order.

You must place the order in max. 48 hours after you receive the money. Of course, we will instruct you 100%
Please reply to confirm that you received this email.

Thank you

107° COMMUNICATIONS GMBH - Contact Person : Sylvia Kohl
Address : Kennedydamm 1 40476 Düsseldorf Düsseldorf -GERMANY
Phone : +49 (211) 198 78 11 Fax : +49 (211) 198 78 12 - Website: www.107grad.de
Posted by Tom on 6/7/2008 12:56 PM: Even if the @aol.com address was faked anyone can get an @aol.com address these days so having an @aol.com address does not necessarily mean that AOL is their ISP.
Posted by allen on 6/7/2008 3:02 PM: Tom,
I replied to their first email, and they replied back with the scammy email. so the AOL email was a good address.
Posted by Ed on 6/10/2008 6:59 AM: I love busting or scamming a scammer when I'm bored or can't sleep -- I have about $50,000 worth of bad checks ranging from $800.00 to $5500.00 that I've had sent to me as payment for things I was selling - My favorite was when I was looking for a part ( not selling anything ) and a scammer wanted to know if it was "still for sale" - Since I wasn't offering anything for sale and their english was so bad I knew it was a scammer right away so said Yes it was - I then told them the $50.00 part was offered at $2500.00 and they said it was a good price and they would take it - They send me a fake check for $5500.00 which of course was no good - Most of the fake checks seem to be delivered via UPS or FedEx overnight delivery which has to cost a bundle - I have notified UPS and FedEx that since the ckecks were picked up from an address that they have a record of maybe they could have the police go there to arrest the scammer's but have not heard back from either - I hope they do as if enough are arrested it may stop this madness - When bored play with the scammer's and cost them their money and freedom
Posted by allen on 6/10/2008 7:30 AM: Keep up the great work Ed!
Posted by newyorkdude on 6/10/2008 2:18 PM: Not only do I get scam on the net, I still also get scam phone calls, even though I registered on the Do Not Call list. The way I handle it is I push the button for the live operator. When I get a human being I warn her that she (usually) probably won't be paid because the company she works for is a phony company that breaks federal law and will have no compunction about not paying her pay check. Most of the time the operator hangs up on me in mid sentence. But once in a while the operator listens tome and my warning. I don't know for sure, but my warning seems to register on her brain. I'd like to think my message makes her quit the next morning.

newyorkdude
newyorkdudeinindia.blogspot.com