toptenmaterial Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I am selling some Wii stuff locally on craigslist in Providence, and I get message that looks an awful lot like s scam. So, how specificly does the scam work? Here is the email: Hello,My assistant told me your item is still for sale on list, I will add $50 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 lose 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 6 -7 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Just a guess, but it sounds like a scam...maybe it's just a means of phishing for some sort of solicitation list. That's what the info they are requesting seems to fit. Telemarketing companies pay big bucks for that type of data, coupled with what kind of item you are selling...that provides a vague demographic as well. As for the part about removing the listing...that just makes it easier for the phishing bots to not end up emailing the same sellers over and over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrat Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 They send you a bogus money order which your bank initially accepts. When its found to be fake (and you've sent the stuff) the bank says you have no money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Yeah, definitely a scam. I get those seemingly every time I list something for sale on Craigslist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grig Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Try posting "no emails" and see what emails you still get. But yeah - it's spam! spam! spam! spam! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari2atari Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 (edited) I am selling some Wii stuff locally on craigslist in Providence, and I get message that looks an awful lot like s scam. So, how specificly does the scam work? Here is the email: Hello,My assistant told me your item is still for sale on list, I will add $50 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 lose 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 6 -7 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. Yeah, fraud. Too complex. My rule of thumb - - if it doesn't SPECIFICALLY mention the item by name, AND in a different way then just verbatim repeating the post title, or a fragment of it . . . . . . It's fraud. State up front "if it's still up, it's available, and requests for 'is it still available' will be ignored" helps to weed out a lot, too Some classics "fishing lines" from this week due to a computer listing I put up - - > Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:29:57 +0100 > Subject: like new 32 GB DELL Mini 9 running OS X 10.6.8 - $260 (Golden) > From: tonymoore009@gmail.com > To: k5krs-3274475652@sale.craigslist.org > > ** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY > ** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home > ** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping > ** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams > > -- > Good day seller > Am Tony, am a computer engineer and dealer, i like to buy this > computer and would want you to give me reasonable and considerate > price so we can move further in the transaction. > Regards And, > Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:35:22 -0500 > From: tara1353@sbcglobal.net > To: k5krs-3274475652@sale.craigslist.org > Subject: like new 32 GB DELL Mini 9 running OS X 10.6.8 - $260 (Golden) > > ** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY > ** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home > ** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping > ** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams > > Hello > > > Please, I want to buy this item, hope that you still have it ?? Thanks > > > Sent from my BlackBerry® PlayBook™ Mmm, yeah . . . no thanks, robots! -a2a Edited September 21, 2012 by atari2atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thanatos Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 (edited) I'm very surprised that someone that has been here so long doesn't know about these scams! Craigslist is horrible. Don't EVER put a phone number in an ad! You'll get yourself on a ton of telemarketer lists. I worked at an ISP in 1999, and a few of us were 'fortunate' enough to get some of the first Nigerian lottery messages. I remember reading my new e-mail to my coworkers and joking that I was going to quit the next day. 13 years later and people are still falling for those things. Edited September 21, 2012 by thanatos 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pangasinan Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Got this one yesterday: I am Mrs.Mona Saeedi, a Muslim woman. I have picked your email address for an inher itance. reply for more details: mona2saeedi@nana10.co.il wow how lucky am I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grig Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I got an inher itance once. Took me two weeks to get rid of it and the doctor helped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeshed Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I got an inher itance once. Took me two weeks to get rid of it and the doctor helped! It burns, it burns!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetal88 Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 One time I actually got as far as letting a scammer send me a check. The check looked 'not right' when I got it, so I took it to the bank and said, "I think this is fake, I need you to verify it for me before I do anything with it." It was a fake. I e-mailed the scammer and told him not to message me again. The incident was reported to the bank that the check was supposedly drafted from. Hopefully, they got some legal action going. Luckily, all it cost me was a little bit of my time. One of the red flags about it was, after the guy sent the check, he said, "I found out my secretary made it out for too much, so send me back the extra after you cash it." Yeah, right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Its amazing how many people with assistants are always out of the country on business trips when they should be home buying video games on Craigslist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protoplasym Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 hilarious thread, loved reading all the comments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Yup it's a scam. http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/gmail/-GGANJgQTxM/iDwjDZMtMaIJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icemanxp300 Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I'm very surprised that someone that has been here so long doesn't know about these scams! Craigslist is horrible. Don't EVER put a phone number in an ad! You'll get yourself on a ton of telemarketer lists. Not true for me. I put my phone number in every add I post. I never get any telemarketers. It drives my wife nuts lolol. She gets calls all the time and her number is no where. I was just thinking about this the other day. I think it's because I had my number put on that "do not call list." A few months back I did have someone pretending to be JC Penny's calling me up wanting to go over my account. I called them out, told them I was calling JC Penny to find out who the hell they were and hung up. In the 5 minutes it took me to get ahold of customer service that number they called me from had been disconnected lol. I know it worked because I originally missed the call and called it back to see who it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicGMR Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Topten... I gotta say I'm feeling boxed in. You're both in my state and I was here first! You and Soulblazer get off my lawn dang it! Will have to remember someone is in this area "scraping" Craigslist. Usually watching for it but I'll keep both eyes open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toptenmaterial Posted September 22, 2012 Author Share Posted September 22, 2012 (edited) And then there were three! Another Rhode Islander! I have a feeling that some Nigerian robot mass-spams these everywhere, so I doubt it has too much to do with locality. There was another spam submission thread at some point on AA somewhere. It turned into people here posting fake spoof spam that they themselves had written. I wrote a few myself, mostly involving Uday Hussein and poop as topics. The funniest one that someone here posted (can't remember who) was from "the Princess of West Virginia". Edit: the guy who wrote the "princess of west virginia" post was Recycled. Here is is: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/183521-twist-on-the-nigerian-scam/page__st__25#entry2319999 Edited September 22, 2012 by toptenmaterial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marthbrightblade Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 10 robots to 1 potential human buyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I got an inher itance once. Took me two weeks to get rid of it and the doctor helped! It burns, it burns!!! Well, you shouldn't have put your itance inher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Topten... I gotta say I'm feeling boxed in. You're both in my state and I was here first! You and Soulblazer get off my lawn dang it! Will have to remember someone is in this area "scraping" Craigslist. Usually watching for it but I'll keep both eyes open. Don't worry about me -- I'm a gamer, not a collector. That said, I do have some stuff here I'd like to sell that is too much hassle or too expensive to list online and I've not had any bites on Craigslist. Stuff like: 32 inch CRT TV and a 19 inch combo TV/VCR Nintendo 64 with expanded power pack and hookups Board games such as Samurai Swords and Solarquest 19 inch CRT monitor Complete 5.1 speaker surrond system So anybody in RI or local interested, send me a PM and let's talk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toptenmaterial Posted September 23, 2012 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 ^^ I left a post on your thread, SB. Likewise, if anyone in the area is looking for a Wii and a bunch of games, I'm your man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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