Craigslist Scam

[Mayo]

I received this second e-mail from a prospective "buyer" for an item that I have listed for sale on Craigslist:


Thanks for the prompt response, I am satisfied with the explanations
and condition stated at craigslist and  i will love to make an instant
purchase.
I will pay an extra $50 for the posting to be taken down from
Craigslist.I should be rest assured that the item is reserved for me
and will also like you to know that i will be paying via bank check,
which will be over night payment due to the distance .You also dont
need to bother yourself  with the shipment, my secretary will take
care of that. I will need you to provide me with the following
information to facilitate my secretary to cut the check.
Your full name,Your mailing address be it residential or postal
address, and Your phone number.
Once again ,I will like you to know that you will not be responsible
for the  shipping.
I will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check.



It comes from a GMail account, natch... The only other communication from this person was an e-mail asking whether the item is still for sale.

[RHPConsult]

What are you selling, a fridge?    He's going to send his truck!

The only thing your eager "buyer" didn't ask for is your SS nr!

You should see the "replies" we receive when posting a vacancy in a house with 4 grad student renters in Berkeley. Very similar language, identical "European" (i surmise) abbreviations for "ad", i.e. "advert. The language is so stilted and phony I've often wondered why so much work on the miscreants' part for nothing.

Have never answered a single one and over the years we've received 100s!

[Paddy]

This is the same as the 419 rent scams. He'll send you a check for more than the item is worth, you cash it, send the overage back to him and then two days later your bank tells you the check he gave you was fake and now you get to pay the fees plus the amount of the check...

http://paulm.com/inchoate/2004/06/419_rent_scam.html

This guy went as far as getting the check: http://pr-me.blogspot.com/2008/04/integrat...ist-proves.html (a check with no routing number and no account number, BTW)

Of course, if you feel like it, you could have a bit of fun with him...

[RHPConsult]

Well, well, well.

Here's another "advert" responder. It's all clearer now. Thanks, Paddy.

Since ordinary prudence never permitted me to go as far as even answering these clowns, I have never been confronted with such details as cashing checks from Western Union for excess amounts promised. Thus, the scam was never laid out. As I mentioned, i received 100s of similar "responses" each time I post a vacancy.

The tortured language is always there for me to savor, including transparent and intricate fantasies about "modeling assignments in the West Indies" after "tearfully leaving Mum in London" following a "vacation in West Africa" subsequent to which a rich Daddy would send a check for the year's rent (!), if, of course, the "flat's health and condition" was satisfactory.

Whoo Hoo, these guys must attend "seminars' on how to compose this dreck. They presumably assume that CraigsList is, potentially, a gold mine, given all the volunteered information the "seller" posts. Yet  I've always surmised that if one is sufficiently aware of what it is and how to use it, a person is also better tuned-in than the naive folks who are falling for the abandoned-bank-funds scam of the deceased Finance Minister of the Democratic Republic of Western Wherever, that occasionally come in over the cyber-transom.

Very interesting, again, what one can learn on TeeEss.

[Xairbusdriver]

The only response I've had to an iMac AppleCare offer was the "I am interested in your item. Is it still for sale" thing. From a GMail account, of course. I thought people had given up even mentioning that they had a GMail or HorMail account! Any I get go directly to the SPAM folder! I once thought these people were earning great sums with these scams. Apparently not enough to spend some of it on better English tutors...and why bother if there are enough fools around?