Have you experienced this kind of scam ?

Question

Has anyone been scammed in Craigslist?
Last month I had advertised some items in Craigslist for sale- Within 1 hour I recd. an email from a woman named just Kelly( obviously a scammer or confidence trickster) as you will see why in my post below I label this person such -She wrote that she was very interested in my item for sale( it was about 1300 $) AND SHE WOULD PAY ME AN EXTRA $50, to remove my ad, as she was sending me a cashiers cheque and that all I had to do was send her my name and address for her movers to pick up the item-This took me by surprise and I emailed her back saying , I did not wish her to pay me extra but to make an appt. first to view the item, and also the chq. would have to be cashed first and though I do not accept chqs, I would accept the chq as it was a cashiers chq. She then agreed for me to cash the chq and then would ask her movers to pick up the item-As I was emailing her I received another email, this time from someone called Mac, and the emaIl WAS EXACTLY IN THE SAME TONE , however this guy wanted to pay me an additional 100 $ to remove the ad-I immediately saw red flags in my mind and realized that this was not any genuine buyers and all they wanted was my name and address, and something was very wrong, how can anyone buy an item without viewing?

On asking some friends I was told that these days fake cashiers chqs were issued and though the banks would honour it, as they could not make out a false cashiers chq to a genuine one till such time -a period if 7 to 10 days when the issuing bank would let my bank know that it was a fraudulent chq, this meant that I would be notified by my bank and I would have to return the money , BUT IN THE Meantime the fraudulent parties would have already taken my item away by some movers whom either they were in cahoots with or maybe just ask some movers to pick up items from a place.

I would like to know if anyone has had similar experiences/ Please be very AWARE of these con ariutsts. Thanks

? · Accepted Answer

100% scam, you are correct.

There is no buyer in all those emails.

There are only a scammers trying to steal your hard-earned money.

They are not interested in your identity or bank account, only your cash.

The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be the "secretary/assistant/accountant" and will demand you cash a large fake check sent on a stolen UPS/FedEx billing account number and send the money via Western Union or moneygram back to the scammer posing as the "shipping company". When your bank realizes the check is fake and it bounces, you get the real life job of paying back the bank for the bounced check fees and all the bank's money you sent to an overseas criminal.

Western Union and moneygram do not verify anything on the form the sender fills out, not the name, not the street address, not the country, not even the gender of the receiver, it all means absolutely nothing. The clerk will not bother to check ID and will simply hand off your cash to whomever walks in the door with the MTCN# and question/answer. Neither company will tell the sender who picked up the cash, at what store location or even in what country your money walked out the door. Neither company has any kind of refund policy, money sent is money gone forever.

Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of being the perfect buyer, great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.

You could post up the email address and the emails themselves that the scammer is using, it will help make your post more googlable for other suspicious potential victims to find when looking for information. 

Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.

Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.

If you google "fake check scam", "fake paypal buyer fraud" or something similar and you will find hundreds of posts of victims and near victims of this type of scam.

Kittysue · Answer

At least 50% of the people responding to anyone with anything for sale on Craigslist will be the exact same scam. Google "overpayment scam" - it's been around for years

Read Craigslist's own scam warnings http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams -- just the first 3 bullet points warn you about this exact scam as it's so common
# DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
# NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
# FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later. 

I always post in bold letters across the top and bottom of any ads
** CASH ONLY, LOCAL BUYERS ONLY, NO SHIPPING **
and ignore anyone who wants anything else

Also, once you post a lot on Craiglist it's easy to tell the scammers from the real buyers
- a real buyer will mention the specific item you are selling, ask questions, and either give their phone number or ask when they could meet you. A scam buyer will use generic terms like "the item" because they send the same email to everyone no matter what they are selling, won't ask any questions, and are always "out of town"
- a real buyer will often try to get you to lower the price, only a scammer will offer MORE money

Anonymous · Answer

Had this when I offered a old Harley for sale.  When I told them I would have to wait 30 days from when the check is cashed they disappeared.  Be very careful on graigslist.

? · Answer

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Have you experienced this kind of scam ?

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