Potential Craigslist scam??

I placed an ad in Craigslist recently, and I received several replies like the notes below. The funny thing is, when I reply to their inquiry, I receive the exact same reply as their original one...very interesting!

Hi there,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will love to make an
instant purchase, so please and please do withdraw the advert from
Craigslist, i dont mind adding an extra $50.00 for you to take the advert
down from craigslist and also with the shipping funds so that i can be
rest assured that am in hand of the item. I will also like you to know
that i will be paying via check,and it will be over night payment due
to the distance. You dont need to bother yourself with the shipment
ok,i will do take care of that. So i will need you to provide me with
the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1. Your full name
2. Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3. Your Phone Number.
Once again, 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 cashed the check. Thanks .

Yes, it's scam-spam.

I heard something about people sending out checks and when they were cashed, the person's account information was available and money was actually taken out instead of deposited. Not sure if it relates to this. I wouldn't entertain the "buyer" though. Good Luck

Of course it is a scam, do not EVER reply to someone who wants an item shipped from a craigslist posting. The entire point of craigslist is to have an easy, and LOCAL, transaction ...

I love when you post an item with a very clear description, price, condition, etc. and they email you asking what the condition of the "item" is. They never mention the "item" by name or description, it's always just "the item".

Yes, that one is clearly a scam. I refuse to answer those, because they harvest your email, besides trying to scam you.

A major scam - it happens all the time. It blows me away how many still fall for this.

Thank you all for your point of advice. I was not about to send any information to these bastards.

All Craigslist replies come with a WARNING. If you don't read the warning shame on you.

No wonder, this is not new thing for me. I have been getting this kind of email (against the reply of my ad) almost everyday for the last at least four years or so and most of them from Nigeria.

I swear they don't change any details at all with their scams

Not all people wanting you to ship something are a scam. I often look on other craigslist sites (using a global craigslist search engine) and I've bought several items on craigslist sites from other states.

The key to the scam emails is that they almost NEVER specify the item you're selling. If they refer to what you're selling at all, it's always "your item", "the item", "this item", etc...

A legitimate buyer will typically specify the item he/she wanting to buy from you, not only in the subject line, but in the body of the email.

And let's face it...who is REALLY going to pay you an extra $50 for something, when often times, the extra $50 would cover the difference of buying it retail (or close to it anyway) depending on the item.

Oh yeah...the other tell tale clue is the broken english, as in the OP's note above. "I will love to make an instant purchase..."

Anytime people are willing to pay more than your asking price will generally be a scam.

Buckeye1 wrote in post #7882076
I placed an ad in Craigslist recently, and I received several replies like the notes below. The funny thing is, when I reply to their inquiry, I receive the exact same reply as their original one...very interesting!

Hi there,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will love to make an
instant purchase, so please and please do withdraw the advert from
Craigslist, i dont mind adding an extra $50.00 for you to take the advert
down from craigslist and also with the shipping funds so that i can be
rest assured that am in hand of the item. I will also like you to know
that i will be paying via check,and it will be over night payment due
to the distance. You dont need to bother yourself with the shipment
ok,i will do take care of that. So i will need you to provide me with
the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1. Your full name
2. Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3. Your Phone Number.
Once again, 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 cashed the check. Thanks .

...FUNNY! I got similar inquiries to my ad. SO.... I Decided to have some FUN!...

I sent them A FAKE NAME
The address to MY LOCAL POLICE DEPT.
The phone number to the Police Station

..They actually sent the check with tracking with UPS. Then he says his Secretary mistakenly wrote out the check $2,000 over the actual amount and wants me to wire back the balance.

He was more concerned with wanting me to cash and wire the check than getting his camera, in which he never ever mentions in 4-5 back and forth emails.

I was really trying to find out more about the scam, so I dragged on a bit, telling him I will not cash it until his "MOVER" picks up the camera to make him feel he won't get scammed by me with his check. He never responds to picking up the camera (which he never mentions) but continues to request me to wire the money.

...LONG STORY SHORT...
I called the Police Station that the check was sent to, to see what they can do. They said, not much, because it would be hard to track them down. As far as the check, Unless it was attentioned to an actual person, They would probably Return to Sender.

Before I decide to stop the games, I requested he check the address that I gave him on Google Maps and find out information about it. I was trying to surprise him when he finds out he sent the check to the Police station but the scammer never replied to it.


...BY THE WAY.. Most of the scammers ALL HAVE GMAIL ACCOUNTS with very American Names...so if its a gmail account, be very careful.

LOL! Sounds like you did have fun with these low life scums!

Thanks,
Ben

Definitely a scam, I got many of these when I put up my camera on Craigslist. All of them follow the same pattern of adding extra $$ to their check and asking you to ship to Africa..