Craigslist Caution

JohnnyG

Honorary Lifetime CEO
Staff member
If you get a response to a Craigslist ad that reads like this, run away. This is the biggest scam going and guaranteed you will get a bad check. Tell them the deal is cash and they will run away.


Good Morning
I hope we proceed with the sale, with the belief that you will hold it for me. I will need your full name and address so that I can drop the check payment this evening. Meanwhile, once the check clears, my mover will come for the pickup at any location of your choice.

I can understand the complexity of this sale, and i wish i was around to bring the cash but I will be adding an additional $20 to compensate you for the inconveniences that may arise due to my absence. Let me know the last asking price.
My number is 814 422-xxxx, you can text me

Thanks and God Bless.

Seller beware.
 
I got a similar one yesterday---"i am interested in having it and know it is in good condition right and what is your final price for it?" The ad was for a set of drum microphones with stands, cables, and mixer. I haven't seen the check scam for a while!
 
It's been going around for a while in different wordings and such. I rec'd this type of reply when listing furniture, a vehicle, paver stones, and musical gear.

Scammers deserve to have their arms broken will a ball-pein hammer...to start with.
 
Exactly how does this scam work? If someone turns up to collect before the cheque has cleared, surely you just tell the collector to piss off?
 
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I think the main plan ois to show up early and BS their way into making you believe the check will be no problem. probably get enough folks to believe them to make a living.
 
I get all kinds of responses to my CL ads all some effect saying they "want to buy what I'm selling so long as it's in good condition" and "what is my final price?" Since I clearly describe the condition and the price in my CL ad along with posting photos, I just delete these responses as soon as they come in. They are clearly scammers, so there's no point in wasting any time on them.
 
If you get a response to a Craigslist ad that reads like this, run away. This is the biggest scam going and guaranteed you will get a bad check. Tell them the deal is cash and they will run away.


Good Morning
I hope we proceed with the sale, with the belief that you will hold it for me. I will need your full name and address so that I can drop the check payment this evening. Meanwhile, once the check clears, my mover will come for the pickup at any location of your choice.

I can understand the complexity of this sale, and i wish i was around to bring the cash but I will be adding an additional $20 to compensate you for the inconveniences that may arise due to my absence. Let me know the last asking price.
My number is 814 422-xxxx, you can text me

Thanks and God Bless.

Seller beware.

Yeah, that's got scam written all over it. Also avoid PayPal. My son was selling his car and someone wanted to buy it using PayPal. I did a bit of checking and found it's a regular scam. People steal log-in information from a real PayPal account and then use that to transfer the money. Everything looks good, until the actual owner finds out he/she has been robbed. Then you have to pay the money back and you've lost your car, drum set, whatever.
 
Also avoid PayPal.

Granted for something as sizeable as a car, I wouldn't accept anything less than a bank cheque or cold hard cash. But for 99% of all other internet purchases, Paypal is as safe as it gets.

Paypal offer full compensation. As far as recourse after a rip off is concerned, they're easier to deal with than just about anyone. Far easier than the tedious process of chasing your bank to recoup funds lost through credit/debit card fraud.

I've made several claims and been swiftly looked after each time. Generally speaking, I won't pay anyone over the internet if they don't offer a Paypal option.
 
here is the crazy part. Everyone of these scammers, 100%, have gmail.com emails. The other part was the email I go above was sent to me minutes after my posting the sale. Almost like a robot-call or mail.
 
Granted for something as sizeable as a car, I wouldn't accept anything less than a bank cheque or cold hard cash. But for 99% of all other internet purchases, Paypal is as safe as it gets.

Paypal offer full compensation. As far as recourse after a rip off is concerned, they're easier to deal with than just about anyone. Far easier than the tedious process of chasing your bank to recoup funds lost through credit/debit card fraud.

I've made several claims and been swiftly looked after each time. Generally speaking, I won't pay anyone over the internet if they don't offer a Paypal option.

I agree PayPal is fine. But there isn't much one can do if someone hacks your PayPal account and starts using it to buy things. That's what's happening with cars, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen with instruments.
 
I agree PayPal is fine. But there isn't much one can do if someone hacks your PayPal account and starts using it to buy things. That's what's happening with cars, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen with instruments.

But a credit/debit card carries exactly the same risks. I see no more reason to avoid using Paypal than I do either of those payment methods. Paypal as a site is far more secure than any number of websites that people happily provide their financial details to on a daily basis.

The important thing is recourse and protection. Of which Paypal offer both. You can't stop theft or fraudulant activity. It's gonna occur anyway. But you can take steps to minimise its impact should you ever fall victim. My experiences have taught me that Paypal is one of the better services with respect to that minimisation and as a result, I figured a counter point to the "avoid Paypal" argument was ripe for discussion.
 
All transactions are cash only, in person, and final. I've been doing business this way since long before Craigslist or Ebay, and never had any problems!
 
But a credit/debit card carries exactly the same risks. I see no more reason to avoid using Paypal than I do either of those payment methods. Paypal as a site is far more secure than any number of websites that people happily provide their financial details to on a daily basis.

The important thing is recourse and protection. Of which Paypal offer both. You can't stop theft or fraudulant activity. It's gonna occur anyway. But you can take steps to minimise its impact should you ever fall victim. My experiences have taught me that Paypal is one of the better services with respect to that minimisation and as a result, I figured a counter point to the "avoid Paypal" argument was ripe for discussion.

That's not what I mean. The problem isn't with PayPal. But if someone gets access to someone else's PayPal account and purchases something with it, like your car or drum set, you have to give the money back. In other words, you are out both the item and the cash. The problem isn't with PayPal, it's with scammers who have figured out how to take advantage of people through CL.
 
For a long time now I've been into researching internet scams, and on the rare occasion I get targeted by a scammer, it doesn't end well for them. I was selling a Roland TD-10 kit for my church in Alaska some years back, and I had a response similar to this. I played it through because I immediately recognized the scam, but also had the know-how and tools to prosecute it.

The thing is, usually the check will be a cashier's check drawn against a fictional business. You can cash it, but when the bank finds out the account against which it is to be drawn doesn't exist, they will levy the funds back against you. Meanwhile, you're out whatever you shipped them. Often the scammer will include "some extra money for your trouble", which means not only did you lose the goods and the cost of shipping, but the profit plus some.

In my case I kept the scammer stringing along for long enough to backtrack his IP. When the cashier's check came via FedEx, I didn't open it and bagged it. The very ironic thing was, the whole thing was a couple of Nigerian guys running an electronics shop in Durham, NC - right down the road from where an old Army buddy of mine lived.

I asked him if he'd like to get some intel for me and he of course said sure. So we got pictures of the perps, and I sent the whole kit and kaboodle to the FBI's internet fraud division.

Never wire money. Never accept checks for a Craigslist transaction. Whenever possible meet in a neutral business - INSIDE the business if possible. Never go to a transaction alone. And if someone from "out of state" or named "Amy Sanders" answers your ad, forget it.
 
What Al said, in spades. I work at a financial institution, and I will tell you, you absolutely cannot trust even the most professional looking cashier's or certified check. Every check I've ever seen that was presented from a CL transaction has been counterfeit. Good counterfeits, but drawn on invalid or fictitious accounts.
 
I hope this isn't too off topic to the scammer issue, but since it's CL related I thought I'd ask.

I've been encountering a problem with CL lately where I respond to an add, by copy/ paste email, but never hear back from the seller, and it's happened on multiple ads. So I googled it, and evidently it's a "thing" some people are experiencing where CL isn't properly forwarding email from some accounts. The incompetent wankers.

Anyone else had this problem?
 
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My Mother had one of these, and me, being like 11 at the time decided to mess with the girl, and yes, it was a girl.
I told her to give me her address. She wouldn't let go of our deal. I told her at her residence, or no deal. She still pushed. She sent the check in the mail and everything. I proceeded to show her a video of me ripping the check. She sent another one. NOTE- it had the same check number on it. I responded the same way. I then told her to lock her doors around 9:00 pm. And deleted her from my mothers contacts.
It has no lastling affect, but I caused her trouble for 2 1/2 weeks and left her in a bit of worry. Hopefully stalled her next scam.
This was over a four-wheeler, btw
 
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