I’m selling a lightly used home theater system on Craigslist and after a week of no activity and no interest I sudden got an email from someone who says they’ll pay full price plus a few dollars if I’ll accept a money order. Now obviously that’s suspicious, but I dunno, maybe it’s legit. Should I accept a money order as payment for stuff I am selling on Craigslist?
No you should not.
Let me explain the why’s and wherefore’s, though, so you understand why this is a tricky way to separate you from your stereo system or other expensive electronics.
I’ll start by saying that I have also experienced this sort of thing, and the email I got from the buyer looked like this:
From: suzandavis003@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Philips HTS8100 compact home theater system (North Boulder, Colorado)
I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pick-up after payment have been received by you. I dont mind adding an extra twenty dollars so you can keep it in my favor.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me.
Regards
Susan Davis
Now, in addition to the whole payment thing and the strange not minding paying an extra $20 for no reason (what legitimate buyer offers to pay more than the asking price?) I also noticed that her email address indicated she was “Suzan”, but she signed it “Susan”. Quite unlikely to be her (or his) real name.
More importantly, the words money order have become a flashing red warning sign in the world of ecommerce and auctions, and, heck, the very top of the email from the potential seller said:
To test out whether it was a scam or not, I responded with: “I’m afraid that’s not going to work for me. I only accept cash, as I indicated in the advert.” and, of course, never heard back.
But I was curious: how does this Craigslist (or, presumably, eBay or any other transaction) scam work? So I dug around a bit and here’s what I found from the US Postal Service, in a document ominously titled Top Six Counterfeit Check or Money Order Schemes [PDF]:
“You place goods for sale online. The perpetrator poses as a buyer, sends you a check or money order for more than the purchase price, and asks you to wire the excess money to a third party (often someone in a foreign country who allegedly handles shipping logistics). This scheme may be used for large items sales, such as automobiles, motorcycles, or boats.”
Gosh, that sure sounds like what the buyer had suggested!
The Postal Inspectors document goes on to explain what happens in these cases:
“You deposit the check into your account and wire the money to the contact (the employer, shipper, cyber-soulmate, businessman, etc.) when the funds are posted to your bank account. Few consumers realize that, while banks are required to post checks within a matter of days, it generally takes weeks for a check to clear. Weeks later the bank notifies you that the check was counterfeit or stolen, and you are responsible for the full value of the deposited check.”
Phew! The short answer is what I gave at the beginning: Just say no!
Good luck and be careful out there, whether you’re on eBay, Craigslist or just selling something through your local newspaper.
This thread solidified my suspicions as I received a text from 646 504 7058. I insisted that we use PayPal and they kept on saying “kindly accept my offer for a certified check”. This smells like a scam because it is a scam.
One time I accepted a money order but I knew it was legit. They actually sent me the money order from another state and I shipped the item to them.
Now to get to this email message, I got an email first saying:
anabel.robin
To j2qhp-4109877054@sale.craigslist.org
Today at 9:02 PM
still got the item for sale??
if so respond to my Dads personal
email asap- rubben.mark@gmail.com
for payment&pick up
rubben.mark@gmail.com
Thanks for replying, i am not in town at the moment. ..i will be pay u with a money order,it’s the only way i can pay you at the moment i wouldn’t mind adding an extra $30 too holding the item and consider it sold to me by taken the post down you will receive payment within 3 to 4 working days please reply with name, cell no…address of were you want payment too be sent too asap…when payment is receive and cashed i will arrange for pickup
Thanks
After posting an item for sale online, I’ve got an email from cipherymichael@yahoo.ca. Just want this name to be published and found by Google if this scammer uses it again. His scheme was exactly as described above: never asked about the item’s condition or other characteristics; claimed to be out of town on a business trip; promised to pay with a money order or certified check, and mentioned a “shipping agent” to arrange the pick up.
cipherymichael@yahoo.ca – SCAM!!
I too received an email from someone wanting to buy a mixer I was selling on Craigslist. Below is the email I received.
Thanks for quick respond….Well let’s do like this, actually now I’m not in
> town for now, I came to visit my Family so i wont be able to meet with you
> but am okay with the price as seen on the advert, I’ll proceed in issuing a
> Certified Check out to you and when you received the check , I will make
> arrangement for pick-up. So get back to me with below details asap.
>
> Full Name :
> Address
> City :
> State :
> Postal Code :
> Cell Phone Number :
> Your asking price
>
> And as soon as this is provided, the payment will mail out via Usps Priority
> mail or Fedex to you and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you
> to be honest with the sale as I am a God fearing person and also i want you
> to consider the item sold to me,kindly remove the advert from the site because
> am highly interested in it okay.
>
> Awaiting details from you now.
>
> Thanks
> God Bless
It originated from email address: marissamux@gmail.com
Funny since the second email came from someone named Tiffanie Chappell.
Do NOT sell to them. Jerks…
funny how they FEAR god but they scam people. hahahaha.
I just got almost word for word this same exact email. mine came from glazergalina@yahoo.com. Then it turned into Greg Martin. It’s a shame you cant do honest business anymore.
I so much appreciate your response to my earlier mail. I wish to let you know that I’m satisfied with the condition. Like I said there is no doubt I’m going to purchase it. Therefore I want you to consider it sold by withdrawing the advert from craigslist. Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling. My Shipping Company will come to your location for pick up. Kindly provide me with the address where it will be picked up so that i can forward it to the Shipping Company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. Please get back to me as soon as possible so that i can proceed with the payment via PayPal.So get back to me with the following details:
Your Full Name:
The Pick Up Address including Zip Code:
Your PayPal email address for the payment.
Thanks and in anticipation of your response.
Best Regards.Carey Evra14@gmail.com
I got a couple more scam replies today. One from Katee asking me to text 419-972-1542, and ones from Careyevra14@gmail.com and rbccarobert1@gmail.com .
Another clue they are scammers is they just want generic info on price, location, paypal address etc, but never anything directly related to the item like weight, condition, use, options, size etc. It’s obvious they just troll craigslist and send out hundreds or even thousands of identical emails to craig’s list sellers.
I wonder how much of Western Unions business is related to scams.
i’ve been trying sell a few things on craigs list and have also gotten a lot of these scammers messaging me. They all seem to like to use fake pay pal emails claiming they over paid with shipping and want me to Western Union them cash back. One thing I like to do is google any email address of a prospective buyer first, and see if they show up on any pages like this one. here are some of the idiots that have emailed me; myerkim10@gmail.com, rbccarobert1@gmail.com ,victorsmith238@gmail.com, milemags6@gmail.com, marissamux@gmail.com,
If you are selling, you should only be getting money, not sending any out.
I once received this same type of scam e-mail in response to a CL listing. I knew it was a scam, gave the guy my info, and a couple of weeks later received a bank check (from another state than the supposed buyer, another name than the buyer) for way more than the item. I figured if the scammer is busy trying to scam me, at least for that moment he is not scamming someone none the wiser. Hard to believe there is anyone left who is not aware of this scam. Then again, the Nigerian 419 email scam still makes the rounds every couple of years, and it started out as a fax scam.
Oh, and to the poster who stated “no matter the fake name, it’s always a he”: That’s quite sexist and stone age of you. Do you think women are incapable of the the intelligence, guile and underhandedness required to attempt such a scam?
Another sample of a scam e-mail:
I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay you with Money Order/Check as its the only way i can pay you at the moment due to the fact that i am away for a family emergency.I will make arrangement for the pick-up after payment have been received by you. I don’t mind adding an extra $50 just for you to keep it in my favor.Reply with your full name and address where payment should be sent,and a phone number where i can reach,you.Please take the posting off Craigslist today and consider it sold to me.
Yea I just got one today via text message, got curious about it and started doin some research, exactly the same wording even 50$ to keep you in my favor. I hope that i didn’t screw myself over because I sent him a name and adress. Nothing he couldn’t get in yellow pages however. If I do receive a fake money order though I’ll be sure to piss on it and then burn it. No buisiness for him.
Just got a text today with the EXACT same wording. Was very suspicious so I said “I will meet you in person and only accept cash”. Never heard back. Hmmm.
PHONE NUMBER was 347-345-2149
Wow, these scammers are just stupid. I received this reply from “Forrest Gross” – literally within seconds of sending him a reply. Apparently Forrest types really fast…
From Forrest Gross to me:
Thanks for your response,Am comfortable with the condition of the item am willing to add $50 plus your asking price for you to hold this item for me because am very interested in buying it from you,i must let you understand am a busy person I own my business and i resume at office 7:45am to 6pm,i will be unable to come and look at it,i would appreciate if you can send the me recent picture apart from the one on Craigslist and if not no problem just want to know the condition. I would make payment by Bank Certified Check which you can cash at your bank,i would appreciate if you can send me the details to mail out the check to you,It will only take 2 business days for you to receive the payment after i receive the details from you,After you receive payment and cash it t your bank,then i will arrange for the pickup because i have my Private Mover that will handle the pickup,they will be coming down for the pickup at your location.Once again i will make payment by Bank Certified check which i will instruct my account manager to get this sent over.Please provide me with your full Name,Address and your cell Phone number where you want the payment to be mailed out to.After i receive the details from you,i will give you a call to confirm the details,Please take the ads off Craigslist and consider it sold to me.Your response will be appreciated
Best Regards
“Dave Edwards” appeared to be interested in buying some used furniture from me. Unfortunately the language of his inquiry looks similar to others posted here, including another from “Dave Edwards.” So I told him cash only and that he sounds like a scammer to me.
From Dave Edwards: ( dav00edwa@gmail.com )
Thanks for the response and sorry for the late response, I am really interested in buying it from you asap. Kindly attach more pics of it if you have. I would like to tell you that the form of payment will be by sending you a certified check. Please let me know if this is acceptable if so I will be needing the name to be written on the check,mailing address and a cell phone # you can be reached. For the pick up i will be using the service of a mover to come for the pick up right after you have cashed your payment, because i will not be able to come down cos of the nature of my job will not permit me.Kindly delete the posting as well as am committed in buying from you. I await your response..
Here is what I received today after posting my PS3 on craigslist in Santa Maria, CA.
Adam Shepherd
To: Douglas
Re: Original PS3 for Sale – $250 (Santa Maria)
Good to hear from you,I’m okay with the price and I will like to
know much about its present condition.I will have to issue out a
check in your name due to the distance between us..I do buy things on
Craigslist with cash but i pay with checks if its a long distance
transaction because the last time i tried mailing out cash via US
express mail it never got to the destination but i can assure you that
there won’t be any problem of any kind because i don’t mind waiting
for your bank to check-out the authenticity of check. . I don’t mind
adding an extra $50 just for you to keep it in my favor you will
receive payment within the next 3 business days Reply with your
full name and address where payment should be sent, and a phone number
where i can reach you. Please take the posting off Craigslist today
and consider it sold to me.
Expecting to hear from you soon.
Regards
jenn, just cease all contact with the scammer. Don’t worry too much, the police won’t do anything and the third party in Virginia is another innocent third party falling for a similar or could be very different scam. Most importantly, cease all contact immediately, ignore the scammers even when he (no matter the fake name, its always a he) threatens to call FBI and your local police department.
Jenn, an interesting tactic could be for you to email the “buyer” and say that you’re suspicious about the entire sequence of events and are going to go to the police so they can investigate everything. See what they say. Good luck.
My fiance and I posted a guitar on Craigslist for $140 and had never heard of a scam, however, I told him not to give anyone our home address which of course he didn’t listen. We had someone send us a money order of more than two thousand dollars which the money order has a different name from what the buyer’s name is. Of course the “buyer” wants us to cash the money order and then send the remaining money to a third party in Virginia, his “mover.” We haven’t cashed the money order in 48 hours since we received it via FedEx who sent the “buyer” a notification that we received it. Now this “buyer” is saying he will take us to court if we don’t respond within 24 hours. What do I do? Some people are telling me to take eveything, including text messages and emails, to the police so they can track it.
I received this response to an ad on Cragslist for an inexpensive item, from nbvcgssks2@gmail.com :
Hi
Thanks for your response. am glad you still have it up for sale, I’m
going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my secretary to
prepare and mail your payment which I’m sure you will get in about 4 –
6 business days. I’ll add $20 extra for the delay. I’ll pay by M O or
cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and
your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will
also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have
received and cashed the payment.
Awaiting your info.
Thanks
I just had the same experience with two different scam emails. I am upset becasue the people that really wanted y items could have bought them. I now require a telephone number to call the interested people for my items.
Just received reply to craigslist posting and first email went like this –
“Hi, is the item worth the price and available for pick up ?”
‘Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel’
Then after replying that item was available I received the following email –
Thanks for your prompt response.I will be buying from you so please kindly withdraw the advert from C…LIST.Please be informed that i will be paying with a certified check from my Bank as i just moved here from MISSISSIPPI on a job transfer….I will need the following details to mail the payment as soon as possible.1.Name to be on the payment__________________2..Home address_____________City____________State_____________ Zip Code________________3.Cel llphone#____________________I will make arrangements for the pick up as soon as you have your money.I am completely satisfied with the advert and the payment will be delivered within 2-3 working days.I use hearing impaired phone.I can only receive calls via emails
I then received the following response –
I got the info I will let you know as soon as the check is sent out to your mailing address.
Is this a scammer, sure seems like one to me.
How should I proceed to see that this individual gets caught for fraud. Thanks for your help.
Hi, I’ve sold many items on craigslist, always in person, cash sales with locals. I’ve many apparent scam responses also. But, this is a first: my husband is selling a $100 expensive electrician’s tool. I put my husband’s cell phone number in the ad. He received a text from some with a russian sounding name from NYC. The guy wants to pay with paypal, he’s provided his paypal user email address and his mailing address. He hasn’t offered any extra funds except any assoicated shipping costs. We discussed UPS but he doesn’t want to sign to it in case he misses the UPS guy then he says he has to drive 40 min. to pick it up. Something is just nagging at me about this. Thoughts? Thanks!
Val, call the bank first thing in the morning and explain what’s going on. Hopefully they can stop payment in time!
Quick question. I think my daughter got caught up in a scam. And if she depostited a check is it to late to call the bank and tell them to cancel that check????? If its before the 7 days
Received this job offer after sending my resume in for a personal assistant job. Part of me wants to believe that it’s a real job, but the logical part of me knows that it’s not. It’s amazing to me how much time must have gone into the scammer writing this bogus job offer.
Job Description.
I got your resume and it has been reviewed, I did appreciate it. So I will give this a GO”
I’m looking for someone that can be trusted and reliable to work very well and with good understanding.
This position is home-based and flexible, working with me is basically about instructions and following
them,my only fear is that I may come at you impromptu sometimes, so I need someone who can be able to
meet up with my irregular timings.As my Personal Assistant,your activities amongst other things will
include;
*Running personal errands, supervisions and monitoring. Scheduling programmed, flights and keeping me
up to date with them.Acting as an alternative telephone correspondence while I’m away Making regular
contacts and drop-offs on my behalf. Handling and monitoring some of my financial activities..
Basic wage is $600 Weekly
I’m sure you’ll understand I intend to have a very busy schedule at this point..I am presently in Mexico, I will be back in Two Weeks.
I think you’re the right person for this position,Please note that this position is not office based for now
because of my frequent travels and tight schedules, it’s a part-time work from home and the flexibility
means that there will be busier weeks than others, so it’s a little difficult judging the exact number of hours
you’ll be doing per week.If you can manage your time properly,this job may even give you some extras while
you do something else on the side. Like i said, I’d want us to get a head START with things as soon as
possible.I do have lots of works piled up presently and a number of unattended chores which you can
immediately assist me with, I hope we can meet up with the workload eventually. Permit me to use the
coming week to test your efficiency and diligence towards all this, also to work out your time schedule and
fit it to mine. I really need to find the perfect person for this job, I’m confident you can take up the challenge
and on the long run we should have a relatively sound working relationship between us.. I’m online most of
the time as I am hard of hearing so I prefer we contact each other through E-mails,but if there is need for
me to call, I will do that and i will be glad you are willing to work with me and I promise to be a good boss. I
am also glad on the commitment in working.I have been checking my files and what i need you to do for this
week is to run some errands out to some of the orphanage home because it happens every month.
Payment:
A payment inform of a Cashier Check/Money Order will be sent over to you from one of my clients and i
have some lists to email you once you received the funds.The check will be in the amount of your money for
the first week and money for orphanage home.You will deduct $600 which is your payment for the first week
and have all the rest of the money sent to the Orphanage home via western union or money gram.If you are
OK with my terms and condition,I will need you to provide me with the information stated below:
Full Name:
Current Street Address, #apt if available (No P.O Box) :
City:
State:
Zip code:
Phone number: (Cell and Home)
Sex(M/F):
Age:
Present Job :
Email:
If interested a swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this email will be appreciated.
Regards.
Thanks Dave! This site helped me to recognize that I was also getting sucked into this scam. Rick Sandefer[rbraybusher0@googlemail.com] sent me and email offering $20 extra to hold an item because he was out of town and that he would send me a money order. I am glad I was warned about this scam through your web page. Thanks!
I got a similar one.
“Great to read from you again. I’m going to make a quick purchase of it from you, but I will not be able to come and look at it, because am out of town right now. Payment will be made through certified business check and you don’t have to worry about the shipment;because i will hire a shipper for the pickup. I know there are lots of dirty pool online, therefore I would absolutely wait for the check to clear at your bank before we set up with the shipment plan. So if you are interested in selling this item to me, provide me the payee name and contact address, with your phone number, for me to mail the check to you.
Regard’s,
Anderson Marcus
7702 Smugglers Cv
Arlington, TX 760166”
To which I responded:
“Craigslist advises against this type of transaction. It doesn’t make much sense to me that you would not be able to find a porta bote in Texas. Why would you go to all thattrouble and take that sort of risk?”
To which I got the response:
”
i would have love to come over cash, it’s because of the long distant and i’m very busy at work, i understand that there are many scams going on online, but to keep you rest assured about the payment, i will wait for the bank to verify and clear the check before we proceed with the pickup, so let me know if you really want to sell it to me”
Obviously not legit, you can practically hear the Nigerian accent in the writing style…
I got the scam email as another poster for something I listed on Craigslist. It’s definitely a scam:
I am glad it’s available. I’m going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I’m sure you will get in about 4 – 6 business days. I’ll add $20 extra for the delay. I’ll pay by M O or cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment. Awaiting your
info.
Thanks
Thank you for this post. This is the email I just received after posting an item on craigslist:
“Hello,
Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pick-up immediately after payment have been received by you. I don’t mind adding an extra thirty dollars so you can keep it in my favor.Please reply with your full names,cell phone number,and address where payment should be sent.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me. Expecting to hear from you soon.
Regards
T Giasullo”
I was about to give him my info…how stupid is that?! Great post, thank you very much!
First get the numbers from the money order and see if it checks out.. second when you get the money order cash it before you send them anything what so ever! To Dave it sounds like the person suzan may have been selling the same thing as you and wanted you to take your posting off, basicily dont fall for silly things like that! keep ur posting up until your deal is sealed!! fallow my steps and you will be just fine!!
Hi,
how are you doing? thanks for your response. I’m willing to pay your
asking price and I’ll be paying with a Money Order which you should
receive within 2 – 3 days. As per pick-up, I will take care of that
after you received the payment.
I’ll also offer you an extra $50 so that you can keep it in my
favor. I’m going on vacation so my assistant will issue and mail out
your payment to you once you email me your full name and contact
address and (Not P.O.BOX). I would really appreciate if you take the posting off
Craigslist today and consider it sold to me. We’ll proceed on the
pick-up once the payment is delivered to you.
Note: Make sure you add your cell phone number, so that i will be able
to reach you.
Regards,
John
john sandy
johnsonfeg5@gmail.com
And they’ll do it by text message, too.
404-913-6829 is the number they used. Probably a disposable phone, but I’ll posted it in case someone else is contacted by them.
My reply:
Your phone number has been forwarded to the Attorney General.
Thanks for playing.
received this email…responded with url to youtube video explaining this scam and of a link to this page
Hello Seller,
I appreciate your response to my inquiry. Am interested in buying it
from you. I would love to come and check it out myself but I am out of
state now i am working with KLM .So Please withdraw the advert from
web so I can be rest assured that the ADS is held for me. I don’t
mind adding $20 for you to do that, I should believe that it is in
good condition as stated. I will be making the payment via a Certified
Check or money order, which my secretary will mail across to you.
I’ll be picking the ADS from you with the aid of my shippers. My
shippers will be coming to pick it from you once the money order or
Certified Check has been cashed. Information Below
NAME IN FULL
ADDRESS IN FULL
CITY
STATE
ZIP CODE
COUNTRY
CELL NUMBER
LAST ASKING PRICE
Once i have the above information,payment will be sent to you with
immediate effect.The shippers information will be sent to you when you
receive payment,so they will let you know how you will transfer the
excess funds on the payment back to and when they will meet you for
the shipping..Thanks once again
FROM: tom cool
PREVIOUS MESSAGE:
Hello seller,
> is your advert still available for sales?
Dave, I would like to thank you and Krys for the information regarding our Craigslist scammer jansoandy@yahoo.com. It is now 4/23/12 and he (Andy) is still at it using the same email address he did in January. Today he sent the following email:
Sounds Good,I am ready to purchase it asap. I anticipate that I’ll have a Certified Check issued out to you from my bank. I’m in no rush with you till fund’s are cleared in your bank which takes only a day. You do not have to bother yourself about the pick up. I’ll instruct a Shipping Co Agent to come for pick up at your door,when you must have gotten your cash at hand. Kindly e-mail me back with your physical address such as Name,Address (NOT P.o.box# City,State, Zip-code, Phone Number.I will be sending the payment via Overnight FedEx Express Mail Delivery .You can proceed to take off the ad on craigslist because I don’t want any other interruption by another buyer, so get back to me with your full name and address with your phone number to mail out the check to you.Thanks
Text or Call me
#757) 828-3927
Andy
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless
Wow……I just received an offer on craiglist that reponded exactly as you said. Buyer offered to pay $20 in addition to asking price and asked me to remove post/ad to ensure his sale. They said they were going to London, but would arrange for their personal assistant(3rd party) to send money order and pick up merchandise I thought, well if it’s a money order or cashiers check and clears the bank……..it should be okay. I didn’t realize it could take the bank longer to verify a bad check and come back weeks later to bite my in the butt. I however had reposted my ad as I had not received the money order within 2 days and had a bad feeling about this deal. Thanks for the info!!
This is the email I got from someone that pretended to be interested on my item I posted in creigslist
Be aware!!!!
Hi,
Thanks for your response,am the one emailed you in the other time
about this posting,and am very happy you still have it up for sale,i
will love to buy this item from you as soon as i can brofre someone
else hijacked it from me,am ready to pay your asking price for this
item, I will likely make the payment for you by a check or money order
which am very sure you should receive within 2 – 3 days,then i will
come for the pick-up,after you must have recieved and have the Check
or Money Order cashed at your bank. I’ll also add you an extra $30 so
that you can keep the item on my favor.but I will be out of town for
business, so i wiil have my son to sent you the payment,once you email
me your full name and contact address with your cell#,I would really
appreciate if you can take the posting off the site today and consider
it sold to me,and i will also love to see more pics of this item,I
look forward to your full name and address for the payment,so the
payment can be sent out to you immediately,i will email again and
comfirm to you immediately my son sent you the payment in the mail,so
that i can make arrange for the pick up as soon as i can…
Thanks…
Here is the email I got and my response below:
Thanks for your response. I’m willing to pay your asking price and I’ll be paying with a Money Order which you should receive within 5 – 7 days. As per pick-up, I will take care of that after you recieved and cashed the Money Order. I’ll also offer you an extra $30 so that you can keep it in my favor. I’m going to london on vacation so my assistant will issue and mail out your payment to you once you email me your full name and contact address. I would really appreciate if you take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me. We’ll proceed on the pick-up once the payment is delivered to you.
Note: Make sure you add your cell phone number, so that i will be able to reach you.
My Response
—————
Thanks for your generous offer. Reading your email, you come across a very generous person. To make it up to you, I will give to you for free, and offer you an extra $30 for your last name.
I am going to Papua New Guinea on vacation so mail me your full name and complete address with cell number so I can ask my assistant to send you a gift of an exotic Hawaiian Ukelele from there. You can take it to London next time, and remember me when you play it on the shores of the Thames. After all, life is all about remembering each other.
I got an offer on a motorcyle seat that just fits right in..extra 50 to hold it “in his favor” which is the same unusual phrase as in one of your examples.
He claims to be on a trip and must use money order and will have someone pick it up. Also wants me to delist it on Craigs list.
I’m going along and will see how much of a problem I can create for this SOB.
Had a similar experience two years ago with a whole motorcycle but he wanted to send extra cash for me to forward to his “shipper”. Took the check to local Bank of America and the account was, of course, empty. Couldn’t find any of our “public Officials ” or at bank of America even slightly interested in chasing the guy down.
In response to Shannon:
No, you are not correct. You, and you alone, are responsible for any and all checks and money orders you endorse and attempt to cash. It does not matter if you did not know it was a fake. You are at risk. If the check or money order is fake, you are responsible to give the money back to the bank.
wow, I got the same exact e-mail from jsboutiqueinc16@gmail.com. These people are crazy.
What is my risk, as a seller, to accept payment via western union, and only after getting cash in hand sending the sold item? The out-of-town buyer has agreed to forward the money and has given me the MTCN#. Am I at any risk by doing it this way? If there is a fraudulent transaction with the buyer and WU it wouldn’t come back on me in any way as I wouldn’t be presenting a fake document like the money oorder scam. Am I correct in my thinking?
Got this today from jsboutiqueinc16@gmail.com
Hi,
My assistant told me your item is still for sale on list, I will add $30 to the purchase price for you so that you can hold it for me as i am on a business trip and wouldn’t want to loss it to someone else. Please provide your full name, Address and your Phone number so that I can send your payment.I will be paying you by a Money Order … It will take 4 -5 days for the payment to get to you and as for delivery I will make arrangements for the pick-up after you have received payment.kindly get back to me, as soon as possible, with your name,phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent.
Note:As soon as you have your money in hand, we can talk about the picking up of the item. i would like you to take the posting off from craiglist today.
Best Regards
Thanks for having this site, education is power, this was my first craigslist posting and received this message after a few hours. I responded back to the person to send me their telephone number so we could discuss and havent heard anything back.
Thank you for your site and all those who have posted. Here is the one we received today. the first email came from andyjanson21@gmail.com and the one posted below came from jansoandy@Yahoo.com.
Sounds Good,I am ready to purchase it asap.I anticipate that I’ll have a Certified Check issued out to you from my bank.I’m in no rush with you till fund’s are cleared in your bank which takes only a day. You do not have to bother yourself about the pick up. I’ll instruct a Shipping Co Agent to come for pick up at your door,when you must have gotten your cash at hand. Kindly e-mail me back with your physical address such as Name,Address (NOT P.o.box) City,State, Zip-code, Phone Number.I will be sending the payment via Overnight FedEx Express Mail Delivery .You can proceed to take off the ad on craigslist because I don’t want any other interruption by another buyer, so get back to me with your full name and address with your phone number to mail out the check to you.Thanks Sent from my BlackBerry® Wireless.
I received the same exact email scam while trying to sell something on craigslist. The first email was sent asking if the item was still available and when I responded yes I received the following response.
“Hi Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will
pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pick-up after payment have been received by you. I dont mind adding an extra twenty dollars so you can keep it in my favor.Repdollars for inconveniences. Please keep it in
my favor. Kindly reply with your full name,cell phone number,and address where payment should be sent.You can stop other offers and consider it sold to me.
Expecting to hear from you soon.
Regards”
Just as most other people thought this just did not sound right. I searched the net and found your web site here. I sold many other things on craigslist and never experienced such a scam.
Thanks for all the other postings and info.
Thanks for posting this! I received a response today for an ad I placed with the identical text from your example:
“Hello, Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pick-up immediately after payment have been received by you. I don’t mind adding an extra thirty dollars so you can keep it in my favor.Please reply with your full names,cell phone number,and address where payment should be sent.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me. Expecting to hear from you soon. Regards, A.Long (along@ymail.com)”
Too fishy to accept, I’ll follow your lead and decline for cash only. Thanks for the warning!
Here is my scam from today
from victor r michala
Thanks for keeping me touch with the scams
Hello,
Thanks for your mail, and am sorry for the late respond, i dont know what happened to my yahoo account, i cannot reply the message i have in my inbox so thats why i couldn’t get back to you. The price of the item is fair to me and i wouldn’t want to loose it so it would be my pleasure to add another $20 to the asking price so you can sell the item to me and also tell other interested parties that it has been sold to avoid competitions. I don’t have much time to come over to take a look because of my Business i have limited time, i am ready to make money order to you but i need you to get back with your full details as
1)Full name for Payment
2)Full Address
3)city
4)State
5)zip code
6) cell or home Phone Number(also let me know the best time to reach you on phone
I will be waiting to get those infors from you later today so i can make money order out to you immediately, Please don’t bother yourself about the pick up, i know a forwarding courier in your state, they will handle the pick up immediately you inform me that you got your money order cash, then i will contact them to come for the pick up of the item at your location at your own best time….
I will be waiting for your quick response tomorrow latest.
Stay Blessed.
On Oct 15, 2011, at 1:47 PM, Myer Kim wrote: myerkim10@gmail.com
Thanks for the prompt response..I fully understand the condition of what i am buying. I’m ready to buy it now for my personal use but am not local and due to the nature of my work, phone calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it.Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling. My shipping company will come to your location for the pick up. Kindly provide me your name and full address so i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. And concerning the payment, i will prefer PayPal because i don’t have access to my bank account online as i don’t have internet banking but i can pay from my PayPal account because i have my bank account attached to it. I will also need you to give me your PayPal email address so i can make the payments immediately and if you don’t have an account with PayPal yet, it is very easy to set up, go to http://www.paypal.com and get it set up, after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with PayPal so as to deposit the fund. So get back to me with the following details:
Your Full Name:
The Pick Up Address including Zip Code:
Your PayPal email address for the payment.
Thanks and in anticipation of your response.
Best Regards.
Wow. Thank you so much for this site!!! Just got one of these “offers” for a couch I’m selling. Seemed weird. Did a little research and found your site. Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving me the time and sheer annoyance!!!
Please i want to rename my site name to another name, so if i do it can i let you know about it. Please
OMG .. I just had the exact same offer.. the fact that buyer wanted to give me extra $20 to hold the item for him and take it down from craiglist,made me suspicious.. why will someone want to pay more than what I ask for??? Thank you for your posting…. Deep down I knew it was a scam.
PEOPLE BEWARE!!! I am attaching my posting and scammers reply ( I removed my full name and my email of course ) :
Re: KIDS Traveler TWO seat Wagon – $75 (East Windsor,NJ)
3:27 PM
From: Morris Russells (morrisrussellss16@gmail.com)
Sent: Tue 8/30/11 3:27 PM
To: alexa zco (aa@hotmail.com)
HiThanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I willpay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.Iwill make arrangement for the pick-up after payment have beenreceived by you. I dont mind adding an extra twenty dollars so you cankeep it in my favor.Repdollars for inconveniences. Please keep it inmy favor.Kindly reply with your full name,cell phone number,and address wherepayment should be sent.You can stop other offers and consider it soldto me.Expecting to hear from you soon.Regards
Stacey,
I too was selling something on craigslist and it was the last email that I new it was a scam, but I had already given up my name, address and phone number. I also hope that nothing bad will come of this.
Email From: J S rhonicaluvsjeff.com
I urgently have to bring something to your notice. I just found out
that my Assistant overpaid you. The payment meant for another
transaction was made out in your name and sent to you. However I want
to believe I wont have a problem with you on this. Once you receive
the payment, Please proceed to the bank and cash the payment, deduct
your money and send back the balance to me via western union. So I can
proceed with arrangement for pick-up. Once more, I hope I can fully
trust you with this? I will await your response on this so my mind can
be at rest.
Thanks
I am trying to sell an item on Craigs List and was excited to have a potential buyer, however, this is the latest email I received. It instantly made me realize it was a scam, but only after I had given up my name and address. I’m hoping nothing bad will come of this?
From rbraybusher0
I think i urgently must bring to your notice,I discovered that somehow my assistant had over paid you. the payment meant for another transaction was made out in your name and sent to you, however I want to believe I wont have a problem with you on this. Once you received the payment, I want you to proceed to the bank and cash the Money order, deduct your money and send back the balance to me. So I can proceed with arrangement for pick-up. Once more, I hope I can fully trust you with this? I will await your response on this so my mind can be at rest.
Richard.
Kyle, dunno, maybe you can call the sheriff and they have someone who deals with fraud? Otherwise, glad you didn’t get ripped off!