Another Scam Averted

SuperBee4406

New member
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
2,399
Reaction score
10
Location
greenville, South Carolina
I am trying to sell my Space Invaders Deluxe machine, so I decided to list it on Craigslist.
One day after the listing I got this email.

"Hello
How are you doing? i came across your advert today concerning the item you
posted for sale. I am really interested in this item. I like to know if the item is still available
and the details of the present condition and the last price you are willing to sell it to me.Looking
forward to hear from you........ thanks and stay blessed.Regards."

Looked ok.
So I replied back with condition and price.
And got this reply back.

"Hello
I am very sorry for my late response,I really appreciate your
response to my email.I want you to consider it sold and remove the add from the site to avoid
disturbance from other buyers.I want you to know that i will be paying via bank certified check ..I
will like you to provide me with the following.information to facilitate the mailing of the check to you .
1.....Full name to write on the check
2.....Full Physical address to post the check
3.....City, State and Zip Code
4.....Home & Cell Phone to contact you*** Note that the payment will be shiped to your address
via UPS NEXT DAYSERVICE and I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check cashed** Thanks.Let me know if i
can trust you on this so we can move forward from here.Regards"

Dam another scam.
I did reply back with the name and address of my local police department.

Keep a watchful eye when dealing with craigslist....
 
Whenever the email states that they are interested in "the item" instead of "the Space Invaders Game" or what have you, I always delete it.
 
A scam for sure, but I don't get the end game. What's he going to do with information that is normally publicly available (except cell number, of course)? Is he going to UPS a fake check?
 
I lile to give them my PO BOX, and a fake name.... and keep it going wasting their time as much as I can... did this to some one in Niger trying to have pure bread puppies "Adorpted".

email we got after posting an add for our missing cat. We also had alot of calls offering us kittens... The wife got so pissed at - "We don't have your cat, but we have alot of kittens you can pick from." calls.

-Mike
 
every notice every spam email says something like stay blessed or god bless. IN AMERICA WE DONT WRITE THAT IN EVERY EMAIL lol
 
This is a very common scam and believe it or not lots of people fall for it.

What usually happens is that you will receive a bank check for way over the amount you are selling the item for. The scammer will then e-mail you and tell you to cash the check and Western Union the extra cash to a third party who is going to take care of the "shipping" for the buyer since he is located somewhere out of the country.

Once you cash the check at your bank, they will give you the cash but it will be against your account until the check clears. You western union the money to the address the buyer gave you and think everything is kosher. A few days later your bank contacts you to tell you that the check is counterfeit and as a result, the amount of the check is deducted from your bank account to cover the amount the bank has lost. Scammer gets whatever free money you western unioned him and your left with a gaping hole where your ass used to be because you just got reamed. If you don't cash the check the scammer doesn't loose anything and just moves on to the next person.
 
every notice every spam email says something like stay blessed or god bless. IN AMERICA WE DONT WRITE THAT IN EVERY EMAIL lol
As part of my job I talk on the phone to clients on a daily basis, and I know a few of them who will end every phone call with "Have a Blessed Day" so I can see someone saying that in an email...

Edit: Actually I think my mother in law does this in emails, though I'm not sure if she would on an email to a stranger... I'll have to ask her.
 
Last edited:
I get that or a similar one whenever I put stuff on craigslist.

I recently posted a whole long list of electrical items, and received a reply that said something like..
Do you still have the item? I want to purchase it.
I had listed at least 20 different "items" so knew it was a scam before even answering.

Although a sort of different scam.. one of the people I recently e-mailed back with my "craigslist" e-mail added me to a political party website, so now I get lots of unwanted spam from them.
 
Last edited:
I lile to give them my PO BOX, and a fake name.... and keep it going wasting their time as much as I can... did this to some one in Niger trying to have pure bread puppies "Adorpted".

-Mike

I ran across his website a few years ago:

http://www.thescambaiter.com/

It is a forum where people bait these scammers, keep them going by replying and requesting them to do silly stuff in exchange for information. Then they post the results. Some of these threads are hilarious...
 
I know they pull this all the time with auto listings, happened to a buddy of mine but I didn't think they would start in on lower priced items.

Damn scammers.
 
I lile to give them my PO BOX, and a fake name.... and keep it going wasting their time as much as I can... did this to some one in Niger trying to have pure bread puppies "Adorpted".

email we got after posting an add for our missing cat. We also had alot of calls offering us kittens... The wife got so pissed at - "We don't have your cat, but we have alot of kittens you can pick from." calls.

-Mike

This is probably the best way to get these guys--waste their time. Of course, you have to waste your own time to waste their time, but I consider it a civic duty! Have a blessed day.

Regards
 
I ran across his website a few years ago:

http://www.thescambaiter.com/

It is a forum where people bait these scammers, keep them going by replying and requesting them to do silly stuff in exchange for information. Then they post the results. Some of these threads are hilarious...

I actually have two un-cashed money orders from someone trying to buy my PowerBook. They sent both for almost double what I was asking (I'm sure they were going to ask me to return some of the extra when I shipped the Laptop)
They started sending upset e-mails when I didn't respond a few days after the first fake check arrived, but QUICKLY were nice when I said I was thinking of selling elsewhere since I hadn't received any payment.
They only had a few e-mails after the second check "didn't arrive", guess they finally caught on that they were not getting away with it.
But I still have the Money Orders and the time they spent sending wasted e-mails as a small payment to society
 
Back
Top Bottom