Almost scammed on Craigslist

Thanks for the heads up. Glad you caught on to it before something happened.

-- Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein

Carefully read the warnings about scammers on the sale sites. So many crooks! I won’t sell an article unless I have solid assurance that it is legit. Usually in person. Then, you’d better look at the money to make sure the bills all have different (non-sequential) serial numbers. ;^)

This is a pretty commons scam. I haven’t seen it before with machines, but I see it all the time when I try to rent out a room. They actually get pretty funny with the scammers trying to make up ever more elaborate explanations for why they are sending you a check for too much money and wanting you to send money back.

Pretty much your best bet is to never accept a check when selling something. Any check can be canceled within 2 weeks of being deposited in a bank account.

the first time I posted something on craigslist I got something like this. I got it like 10 minutes after I posted the item & thought, “wow, that was easy..” . I actually had listed two completely unrelated items in two separate posts, & got the exact email within a couple minutes of each other. Funny thing was, they were from two different email addresses. Nothing good can stay good, it seems…

As internet time goes, that scam is as old as dirt. I dispise loosers that try to scam others.

-- Jerry Nettrour, San Antonio, www.topqualitycabinets.net

Just think what the internet could be if these morons would work on something constructive rather then these rediculous scams.

If you can’t beat them – join them—- You could be seriously rich if You could turn all the phony money you’ve been promised into more phony money with more promises and….and…....until it is real money????. – How about you get one of those moneygrams and pay them back with the 7gazillion Euros that the President of Namby Pamby will give you as the intended recipient (don’t ask me what that means).
Sounds as stupid as some of the other scams….it might work?

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Easy way to deal with this… specify local and cash. Everything else is a scam!

Sorry to say it, but, you know, CL was set up to be a local thing. I post somehting, I say, if they come by and look at it, then they want to pay cash (but I look at their cash! UV is cheap now), then I sell. Until then, it stays on CL.

Nothing beats dealing face-to-face!

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

The same guy just sent me an email to my post for some couches on craigslist. He wanted to pay via money order and the bells and whistles went off. I did a Google on the email listed in the email and found this site. Thanks for your post hopefully people will not fall for this guy’s antics.

email address: Paul Johnson thegracestore1@gmail.com

here is his email to me
“Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by MoneyOrder as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pickup after payment have been received by you.I don’t mind adding an extra $50 so you can keep it in my favor.I would have loved to come take a look at it but i am presently out of town,send me some pictures.Reply with your name,phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent.I will appreciate it if you take the posting off CL today and consider it sold to me.As for the pick-up,it would be handled after you receive your payment.
Expecting to hear from you soon.
Warm Regards.”

craigslist = cash only passed from their hand into mine.

There’s more crooks around than you can shake a stick at.

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

So I am not the only one…

The very same thing happened to me a little while back. I was selling an old machine on CL and I got pretty much the same email. They were away on business trip and their partner was going to arrange the shipping. Oh and for my trouble they would send me a check for the asking amount + some extra for me agreeing to hold it for them.

I smelled a scam right away but I went along and told them to send the check…. After about 3 weeks I got a check in the mail for 2,000 dollars… Oh and my asking price for the machine I was selling was 350.00. They wanted me to cash the check and take like 600 out of it and have me send the rest back to them with the item… I just laughed and emailed the seller and told them off. I called them out on their scam and never heard back from them..

The sad thing is I know people who have actually fallen for these scams… They see a check that looks very real and they are dumb enough to believe there is a bunch of free money that they are about to get. The banks will usually take the checks and wont find out they are fraud until after you have all ready taken the cash out… My wife works at a bank and tells me it happens often…

-- Dan - "Collector of Hand Planes"

Like someone said once” In God we trust, all others pay cash”.
Too bad there isn’t an open season on scammers.

-- Don't rollerskate in a buffalo herd

I got an email that I won one million dollars in a Coca Cola sweepstakes. I smelled something real funny. My son-in-law works for the local Coke bottler. I called him to see if he knew anything about it. He said he never heard of it. Funny thing, in order to claim it, you would have to reply to the email. Either it was a scam wanting money up front or someone looking to send you a computer virus.

-- Regret- the feeling you get just after you do something really stupid.

Knothead62…as bad as it sounds there are a lot of people that would fall for that. Especially the elderly. My fatherinlaw got sucked into a scam in Iowa and the mail never stops coming…even from The Netherlands, Holland ,England,Germany. I’ve even wrote deceased on the papers and sent them back(with a .10 cent stamp) and they still keep coming. We just put them thru the schredder now.

-- Don't rollerskate in a buffalo herd