Craigslist Scams
 

When I changed to a high travel job four years ago, I gave up the bike flipping and constant presence on the local Craigslist. After moving to our new house, I have some bikes and parts that I thought I'd sell off to reduce some clutter. I can see things have changed. I've received several responses where they are ready to buy whatever I'm selling, but they're a little busy right now so they'll send their son/brother/neighbor/father to pick up the item, just send them my address and phone number. Of course, they refuse to provide their phone number and will not meet in a public location like a bank parking lot or a Targets store. That's an obvious scam. Not sure what they plan, but don't intend to find out.
The other is more subtle and a new twist. When I post, I have always insisted on the buyer providing a phone number, no exceptions. I've had a couple responses that seem legit, they want the item, will pay cash, even willing to meet at a local parking lot, but won't provide a phone number and the e-mail never has a name. They usually want to meet right away. Despite my insistence on a phone number and a call to set up the meeting, they insist on not providing any information.
What concerns me is I'm getting these type of hits on almost every bike or part I list.
In light of the recent CL response crimes, with one happening right here in central NC, I absolutely refuse to hand out my address and refuse to meet with anyone who hides typical contact such as a phone number or their name. I know that an e-mail name can be falsified, throw away phones are available and meeting in a public parking lot is no safety guarantee, but anyone who balks at sharing reasonable information is sending me a message, not one I want to hear.
Anyone else running into these issues?

Maybe they don't want to give out their number any more than you want to give out your address..

I've responded to a couple Raleigh CL ads and they gave me their home addresses for meeting/pick up, which I thought was odd. I countered with public locations, which worked out fine. Haven't listed anything so I can't comment on the local angle, but it pays to be careful, whether you are buying or selling.

I think you are being too paranoid. If anything the buyer should be more paranoid because they have the cash. Your insistence on a phone number may make you seem like a stalker.

I have started putting my text number in the contact info section. That seems to work well as most college kids who want to buy from me use text exclusively. I also have their phone number when they text me.

The scammers have picked up on the text angle though. Last couple times from I have gotten a text from an out of state number asking me to email them because they are at work. When I have emailed then I get a response stating the usual scammer stuff. Maybe they do this to get around the hidden CL email.

Scammers are pretty easy to filter out.

I'm not nearly as careful as others on this topic. If I get a response from what seems like a legit source, I have no problem providing my address and having folks come to the house. I never understood the fear - that they'll rob you since they have your address? I guess if I was selling something very expensive I could see that concern, but not for a few hundred dollars.

Advertising bikes, I get a lot of these, thankfully they don't flow naturally. They also include the exact title of the ad "I am ready to buy you item 23"Fuji Espree 1986 vintage road bike fully serviced today. I am leaving town a will send cashier check and my brother will pick up." And so on. I ignore more replies than I respond to at this point. Often I get the same reply to 3 or 4 bikes in a row, sometimes exactly the same or sometimes with the title copy and pasted into the fill in the black spot

I don't require a phone number. I always insist on a public location.
But if it doesn't feel right, I ignore them.

Usually they provide a phone number after the second or third round of emails.

You know the first one: "Is it still available?"

i've never had a single issue. i don't ask for a phone number and only suggest we text the day we agree to meet at a public park.

only once did i show a bike where he didn't buy it ... but he bought another of mine that same day. batting 1000. (knock wood.)

i meet so many great folks just trying to get into road cycling, either for the first time or first time as an adult. it's a lot of fun seeing the smile on their face...

I bought a bike from an individual who didn't meet me at his house... I think he wrote his name down, but it was something like "Smith". I still wonder if the bike was "legit", or if there was a reason the seller provided minimal info.

As far as meeting as soon as possible. Hot items disappear quickly. You snooze, you loose. And, I've had sellers state that they would hold an item... then sell it out from under me.

A phone number is nice, and I like to exchange the number before heading to see something, just in case I'm late, get lost, or something comes up for either person. Are there people without cell phones?

Say you choose to meet in the local grocery store parking lot, have say $50 worth of misc bike parts in your vehicle. Is there any more risk to you than the person who wheels out a shopping cart with $100 worth of groceries?

Now, you might not want to let one of these mystery buyers do a test-ride of your $5000 bike and get out of your sight. And, only meet one at a time, not a group of 5 or 6. Perhaps verify who you are meeting in the communication. Husband, Wife, Kid, Mechanic, ... Not the crowd of neighborhood goons.

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to continue to insist on a phone number. It helps when waiting for someone and they're late. Additionally, I've found the folks that were problematic/ weird refused to provide a phone number. From all the folks I've dealt with, and it's way over 100, only one problem person that did provide a phone number. So as a filter, it's worked pretty well for me.
I also appreciate the comments about the scammers because I'm seeing the exact same type of e-mails. There must be a Scammers Manual or something because it's uncanny how similar they are.

when i'm trying to buy a bike, i provide my actual gmail address in my signature and never a phone number even if they ask for it.

it's gotta be a great deal on a very coveted bike/part for me to give out my phone before any email correspondence.

If you insist on a phone number in the ad, you are losing buyers. I would have to want something *really* bad to send you my phone number immediately. I don't want to send you my phone number until we've exchanged a couple emails and I know you're not a psycho. When we're arranging pickup, that's when we exchange phone numbers, because that's when you need them.

I have dealt with some real weirdos on CL and I am really glad they don't have my phone number.

I also almost never get scam emails anymore. I had assumed CL was filtering them or something. Maybe because you're NOT using their redirect you're getting more scams?

+100 on the phone number...to me, it is MUCH harder to have to change your phone number if something does go wrong...I try (both buying and selling sides) to do a couple rounds of emails (email addresses are quite easy to change if it becomes a problem)...then...when everything seems legit...exchange a text (of course the number goes there)...then meet in a public type place...

Had no real problems...except some sellers that agree to hold and then sell when you are on the way...

And...email scams...pretty easy to detect...

A few years ago, my brother in law was selling a drum on CL. It was something like a Rodgers 22" floor tom or something. He gets an email from a guy who offers to pay in advance, but to hold on to the drum for when his band is coming through town on tour- and he'll get tickets and stuff for him...

I'm thinking- F that- hanging out at some crappy dive bar on a Monday night through a crappy band...

But my BIL said 'sure' he had no other bites on the drum anyway.

Turns out the guy was Marco, the drummer from Robert Plant's band. My sister in law couldn't make the show, so I got to go to the show and hang out on Robert Plant's tour bus. That was pretty cool.

I've gotten a few of those, only on higher-end items. They have very poor spelling and grammatical skills, always done by text mesage. If you follow their leads, you'll see how it goes, an offer to send you money via delivered check by a 3rd party, and willingness to give you more than you're asking, "for your trouble", then there'll be a "good faith" payment by you to facilitate, etc. There's a bunch of them out there. They're easy to recognize.

Huge difference. The seller is the one with the goods. Divulging the address is an invitation for a burglary.

Here's an example I saved, exactly as sent me.

text 1 - "morning, pls just wanted to know if you still have the 1985 Schwinn Paramount - $xxx for sale"

text 3 - "Am really sorry for the late response.how i wish i could come and complete this face to face but am kinda busy with stuffs over here.I am quite comfortable"

text 2 - "with the price, i will be making the payment by cashiers check then after it clears in your Bank, which shouldn't take more than 24hours according to the"

text 4 - "bank,I will have my movers come over for the pick up, If you are OK with this, Do reply back with your full name, address and phone number for the mailing of"

text 5 - "the check,i"


What's funny is how the sender mixed up his order of texts, and didn't send texts 2 and 3 sequentially. It's probably all done by software. I followed another one earlier, and it led to him wanting me to send him a good-faith check via Western Union, only a part of that "extra" he'd be sending me, so I would hold the bike for him in case it took a while. These 5 texts all came in during the same minute, so I know he couldn't have been sitting there typing on his cell.

Maybe, but just FYI when you type an extra long text and send it out, the system often splits it up into separate texts, and occasionally they arrive out of order. This has happened to me more than once under innocent circumstances. So while the content of the message indicates a probable scam, the text order and speed doesn't really have anything to do with it.

And now the scammers have your phone number.

I have bought and sold over 500 bikes in the last 5 years mostly on craigslist, never had a problem. I have sold 8 bikes in the last 2 weeks,,all sales done at my house

The only problem I have right now, is that you can post something at a reasonable price and not even get a bot scammer message in my spam folder. There are hardly any individuals selling their bike anymore. It's flippers, and pawn shops, and huffy's. with an occasional WAY overpriced nice bike. I like my local bike friends, they will sometimes offer me things before they sell them elsewhere. I see them once a month at Frankenbike, which is where I like doing business. Everyone there likes bikes, or they wouldn't have shown up. It makes it easier to sell something, when everyone there is in the market.,,,,BD

I read the OP. I think it's a bit paranoid. I have friends go pick up stuff for me in other cities. I do the communication, I send my friend to buy it. I had a friend do one last weekend, the weekend before that, and another this coming weekend. I'm not exactly sure what other option there is if the city is far away for me. If everyone who keeps contacting the OP with this type of arrangement is truly doing something illegal/harmful, then wouldn't the general media be reporting on this type of incident? Again, if he doesn't know what occurs, and yet the situation is so common, it wouldn't be a jump to suggest that "nothing bad" happens. We would hear about the bad cases.

Agree to the poster who says sellers who demand a phone number right away is losing business. I personally want to first interact over email with any one I give my number to.

As well, I prefer when people give me their home address. That way, I feel there's less chance I'm buying a lemon. My feeling is, if they only want to meet in a public location (and not give me their home address), there might be something wrong with what they are selling (since they could disappear after the sale and leave me with no way to retrace them). As such, if I was buying something from the OP (who insists on a public transaction), I'd be weary of the item he's selling to me. Why don't you want me to come to your home to pick it up? Further, for large items, I prefer people coming to my home to pick it up. Why wouldn't I? It's obviously more convenient for me, and when you go deliver/meet places, as a seller you subject yourself to haggling since you've already invested in time/travel to meet the buyer, and they know that.

"why don't you want me to come to your home to pick it up?"

1. i don't know you.
2. i'm not selling my home, i'm selling a bike or part.
3. i live on a huge hill and don't want you to try to gear down going up on my beautiful bicycle when you don't know what you're doing giving you the opportunity to fall and sue me ... or worse, injure my beautiful bicycle.
4. there are better places to test ride my bike with less risk.
5. normal people don't mind meeting at the park a couple blocks away.
6. at the point we actually meet, you have either my email, phone number or both, and it's easy to reach me through my ad.

In lieu of phone numbers, I insist upon a ZIP code. If it's local, I am okay. Also, if not selling to a student in Ann Arbor, I often meet buyers and sellers at the local public library parking lot, which it happens to share with city hall and the PD.

Also, it is easy to spot the fake responses, particularly when you have more than 1 item up at a time.

I'm lucky, we have a store in town, right by the bike path. I always meet there. I tell them it's easier to find as it's right on the main drag though town, it's better for a test ride and the store setting is generally more comfortable to buy in, even though they are my personal deals rather than the stores.

I require a "code word" for all inquiries; email or text. That eliminates almost all scammers as they don't really read the ad.

If a buyer doesn't want to come to the house; he doesn't get to buy. I don't deliver. I also NEVER meet in a parking lot; as a buyer or seller. Cash only at time of sale.