BoSoxYacht

For a couple of weeks I've been trying to sell my Flyte SRS-3 on Craigslist. Every time I check my E-mail there are at least a dozen responses, but all of them are trying to scam me(All of them use terrible grammar + ask the same questions about shipping, money order as payment,etc. ). Has anyone had the same experience?

JayC

Yea.. Every time I post my Blue, I get a scam email. Here's the last one.

cydewaze

My wife was trying to sell a few things, and she got several of those. The ones she got always asked the price, and some other detail, both of which were clearly stated in the ad.

I think they don't care what you're selling, as long as they can send you a fake check for it (written for some amount over the asking cost) and beg you to wire them the excess funds.

About the only good thing about these scams is that you get to keep your item.

badkarma

I've sold a few things on the DC craigslist and I've never had an issue. I just put up some snow tires, perhaps I'll get contacted by some Nigerian agent working for his client in England trying to secure him some snow tires etc etc etc.

DocRay

Sese Conseco's wife wants my old pool table.

BoSoxYacht

My buddy is selling his 2001 Altima on craigslist. His 1st response was from some guy in Maine that wanted to buy it, and ship it back east. If he was selling a '67 Charger, I might believe it, But an Altima???

timmhaan

yeah, i've had a few of those. they're pretty easy to spot, thankfully.

the thing that bugs me most about selling stuff on CL is going through all the trouble of setting up an appointment (to look at your stuff) and then the people don't show up or call. i had 3 or 4 of these kinda people contact me about my bike. i even left work early so i could meet one of them. he called 4 hours later and said "mind if i drop by now?". jerk. i told him not to bother as the bike was sold.

BoSoxYacht

here is the latest Scammer trying to buy my Flyte.

Hello Seller
My name is Mr Bill Martins,i saw your ad for sale and
i will like to purchase it from you and i don`t know if it`s
still available for sale? if it is i will want you to get back to me with the
selling price of it immediately when you receive my messages as to
facilitate the peace of this transaction. Thanks.
Mr Bill Martins ..........

Scammers are easy to spot

cole505

Have them send you those fake checks (only foreigners spell it cheque) it costs them money

jeffc7

I received a few of those when selling a bike on CL. The fake cashiers checks they use can actually be cashed at the bank. So the seller thinks they are in the clear. A couple of weeks later is when the bank discovers that they are fradulent and the seller ends up being liable for the money.

timmhaan

you don't want those guy to have any personal information...address, name, etc. just flag the post and move on.

badkarma

Yeah, that's a ******** idea. Then that guy will start using your address for other scams, and you'll have people contacting you thinking that you're the scammer.

Better yet, give me your address. Next time I'm contacted by a scammer, I'll have the cashiers check sent to you.

donrhummy

This was a few years ago so maybe it's changed but i sold furniture on craig's list and the responses were great and I ended up selling everything for a good amount. People were very friendly, only one didn't show up and they pretty much bought on the spot with no negotiation.

oilman_15106

How much is shipping to Nigeria?

thewalrus

www.419eater.com

ryanspeer

We had this happen with our '95 Blazer last year. It's a nice looking vehicle, 4.3L engine, 4x4, nice wheels, etc., but isn't any sort of actual "head-turner" by any stretch. It's just a mass-produced 10-yr old 4x4 valued around $4K. I had it on Craigslist and got a response from a guy claiming to be in Michigan, acting as a broker for a member of Canadian government who "travelled alot" (the supposed reason he needed a "broker") and who wanted to pay with a $11K money order (I'm supposed to keep the $4K and refund the $7K balance to the "delivery agent" who was supposed to pick up the vehicle). I obviously smelled a rat and called the Seattle Police Department to see if there's anything I could do to really confirm this (we needed to sell the car and needed the cash) and basically get their slant on things. I got on the phone with a detective, started telling the story and got only half-way through maybe the third sentence before she cut me off and finished the story for me. She said they often get 3-4 calls about this A DAY, but that unfortunately there's nothing they can do unless the money order actually arrives and is proved a fake. She surprised me by telling me that if I wanted to, I should feel free to string them along for as long as I wanted to and have "some fun" with them. I tried for a few days, grew bored of it, and my last email basically called him out in not-so-civil terms, told him that when he gets caught and ends up in jail to try to not let himself end up as some big guy's "toy", that if I ever catch him on the street I'll take great gusto in banging his head into the curb, and finished with "may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits".

The one-sentence reply from him was "WHITE PRICK!"

Ahhhhhhhh, good times.

urban.one

Theres forums devoted to baiting these scamsters. google "419 scam" or "nigeria 419 scam". theres some pretty funny stuff out there. these guys will go to pretty far lengths to try and complete a transaction.

waterrockets 

If I ever get one of those I'm going to fill a shoe box with dog sh*t from my back yard and send it to them.

pl8ster

I guess I'll have to stop trolling out-of-state Craigslist postings when I'm drunk

thewalrus

When you're selling something small and valuable (laptop) the scammers will send you a prepaid shipping label and a fake money order... It's quick and easy to put a large rock or brick in a box, put the label on the box, and throw away the money order. Of course don't give them your home address to send the label to, but it works great if you work somewhere that gets a large volume of mail.

jet sanchEz

For now they are but they will improve with time and more people will get scammed. When I was selling stuff on eBay 5 years ago, the scammers were very very obvious and had no english-language skills at all. They have improved immensely if your email is any indication of what to expect nowadays.

Some people must fall for it or they wouldn't still be doing it. Older people who are not net-savvy maybe?

thewalrus

The same 0.02% of the population that falls for the twenty phishes that are sorted into my spam box every day... random credit unions, visa, bank of america, ebay, paypal, wells fargo, etc.

P.T. Barnum was right.

odl21

are you old and not net-savvy?

Jamtastic

i had a situation like this when i was selling an ibook 2 years ago. I posted it on the NYC craigslist and got a response from a person saying they lived in houston. I really live in houston so i said i would meet him. then i got an email saying he is moving to maryland tomorrow. I realized that he was scamming me...

Why would he want me to mail something to houston if he is moving TOMORROW. I told him what luck, im in maryland for business in about a week and we could meet. He replied that he will be in michigan on business at that time. I told him my sister lived in michigan and could facilitate the transaction.

At this point i thought he would say forget it... i was just having a grand time. i actually looked forward to his email response.

Next he said he could meet with my sister, but did i trust her with this amount of money? hahaha. he wanted me to trust him more than my fictional sister in michigan. I told him she could handle it. He replied 2 days later (from maryland) saying his michigan trip was canceled and he really needs the ibook for business.

i asked him exactly where he was today. He replied again that he is not in michigan and that he stayed in maryland. I said huzzah. i am on my honey moon in maryland. i brought the ibook just in case. Where can we meet.

He emailed me 4 days later with. " I was transfered to canada for business"

I gave up... this guy would go forever i think.

cydewaze

I advertized an old couch on Craigslist once (for $10 - I just needed the space), and some lady drove all the way from the sticks of VA to get it. After we loaded it into her minivan, she asked if her daughter could use the bathroom. I showed her where it was, then went to fetch the vacuum to clean the spot the couch was on. While I was getting it, she snuck out and sped off, lights off and everything, like it was some sort of bank robbery.

I emailed her, in case she just forgot to pay, and never heard another word. A stolen couch, for ten bucks!!