How to spot a Craigslist scam

[seilerbird]

There have been several threads here lately about possible Craigslist scams.

First off if you are going to ask if it is a scam then it is a scam. No question.

If it seems too good to be true then it is not true.

Here are the two hard and fast rules about dealing on Craigslist that will keep you from ever getting scammed.

1 - Only deal face to face with buyers.

2 - Only accept cash.

If someone posts a deal that seems too good to be true you don't want to email them for more information. They might be harvesting emails to spam.

 

[PancakeBill]

When they are 'acting on behalf of a buyer', it is a scam.  If they want to pay you moore, and have you give back some cash, acceppting a percentage as a thank you, it s a scam. 

When we were selling off household goods back in RI we got a number of this type response.  Don't fault CL, it is a free service, but there are groups that routinely answer such ads with these requests. 

Deal in person.

 

[COMer]

I used the local newspaper last year for some "for sale" items and got the same collection of scam requests.  It isn't just CL.  I guess it is a sign of the times. 

Another time I was trying to sell a boat and got an e-mail from somebody who said they lived in Ireland and they wanted me to crate up the boat and send it to them.  They would of course cover all costs to ship, as soon as it arrived and they knew it was in good condition.  After consideration, I opted to pass on his offer.

 

[Wendy]

Another time I was trying to sell a boat and got an e-mail from somebody who said they lived in Ireland and they wanted me to crate up the boat and send it to them.  They would of course cover all costs to ship, as soon as it arrived and they knew it was in good condition.  After consideration, I opted to pass on his offer.

Gee, how long did you consider their offer? About a nanosecond?

 

[Luca1369]

There are certain keywords and phrases that shoud raise a flag.

First, the scammers tend to call the item for sale "the item."  Instead of saying I'm interested in your Geekbox 3.0, they'll say I'm interested in "your item."

Sometimes they'll ask you to send them a "final price" for the item.  Never do this.  Just ignore it.

When selling something on Craigslist, I always add the line: No emails, call XXX-XXX-XXXX to reply.  This whittles down some of the scammers, and usually the only emails you get at this point is a scammer (or someone who just can't pay attention to your ad).

One of my last sales, I received a call from a gentleman who resided in Kansas and offered to send me a Cashiers Check.  Immediately I thought it was a scam.  After further conversation he turned out to be a good guy who thought he was doing the right thing and didn't understand the scammer situation on CL and other similar sites.  I asked for a regular check, money order, or Paypal, and after the check cleared I shipped him the item.

As for never doing a deal unless it's face to face, I've enjoyed several good deals, mostly out of town deals, where the seller accepts my Paypal and ships me the item.  You must have a good feeling about the deal before going through with it, no red flags, none whatsoever.

This info is gleaned from numerous good deals on Craigslist, and no bad ones. 

Is it just me, or am I the only person whose email address wins some obscure lottery for millions of dollars every couple of days?  Am I someone who seems destined to be selected by certain foreignors who desire to put millions into my bank account for helping them get money out of their country?  You gotta love the Internet...

 

[COMer]

Wendy,
Yes, the consideration phase did not drag on very long.  The troubling thing is that the only reason there are so many scammers doing this must be because some of them are successful.  We talk about these obvious scams and how "nobody in their right mind" would fall for them but apparently some do.  Or the sammers would dry up and go try something else.

 

[Marc L]

There is a sucker born every minute, that's why they keep trying.

 

[Tony_Alberta]

Is it just me, or am I the only person whose email address wins some obscure lottery for millions of dollars every couple of days?  Am I someone who seems destined to be selected by certain foreignors who desire to put millions into my bank account for helping them get money out of their country?  You gotta love the Internet...

No, I get dozens of such every day.  But I run my own email server and use Mailwasher to control the spam so I momentarily see the headers of all incoming emails.

 

[Ned]

I've used MailWasher since it was first offered.  It's a great way to filter out the spam without ever having to download the entire messages to your computer, protecting it from malevolent scripts and tracking bugs.  It's also great for blocking those people that insist on forwarding every old joke and chain letter on the internet

 

[Joezeppy]

And it's not just online. The "live and in person" scammers are still out there, too. Last year a "contractor" knocked on my 83 year old Aunt's door and told her about an an addition he was going to build on the neighbor's house. He convinced her to walk out in the back yard to show her where it was going to be in relation to her property line. While they were out back, his partner walked in the front door and rifled through her purse, dresser drawers, etc.

 

[seilerbird]

I get about one piece of spam per week. It is a simple matter of controlling who gets your email address. I only give it out to people and places I trust. If any of my friends send me a joke, a chain letter or a forward I send them a notice to never send me anything like that again. Back in 1998 when I had my web site I made the mistake of putting my email address right on the home page. In quick order I was getting 100 pieces of spam per day. I changed my email address and since then I have been extremely protective of it. I hate spam.

 

[PancakeBill]

The new smoked spam is pretty good.

I agree, red flags, nothing happens.  I don't mind using the anon mail address, and if it appears as though it is still available, I will then escalate to phone.

I have had very good luck with CL, mostly FTF, if I want to deal by mail etc, I use eBay.  Almost 500 trouble free transactions.  Still have my 100% and sometimes you can get more. 

I underpriced my outboard motor and my tow dolly, because they sold in less than an hour.  Then again, they sold in less than an hour!
 

 

[quaddriver]

Im wondering how much are REALLY scams and how much are scare tactics.  C/L is a huge bugaboo in the side of Ebay.  Ebay has managed to jack fees thru the roof, driving the casual seller away, only those with true liquidation businesses can continue (and their prices are out of line - I wrote a couple buyers guides for them a number of years back which are among the top read guides on ebay - instructing people to avoid ebay and hence my name is scum over there)

However, if we follow the money, we find that Ebay has purchased 25% of C/L from a former partner.  And ebay sits on the board.  by internet standards its a tiny company (what 170M in revenue?) but by hits is in the top10-US.  No one has asked anyone to investigate, but I have a strong suspicion that a lot of the scammers are put in place by ebay.

To date on c/l, not counting small stuff, I have sold 1 motorcycle, 1 station wagon, 1 truck, and 1 house in the last few years.  thats a lot of 'final value fees' someone is not getting.

 

[seilerbird]

I don't think eBay has to pay anyone to post scams on eBay. Scammers are thick as fleas on the Internet.

I have read the singles ads for the last few years on CL and it is almost impossible to find a real woman. 95% of the singles ads are email harvesters. It is easy to spot their ads. It goes something like this: "23 year old good looking and ready for action. I love dancing, movies and good times." Notice a complete lack of things she is looking for in a man. Notice that it sounds too good to be true. Women are a lot pickier than this.

 

[COMer]

Tom,
I think you have a "keeper" there.  Don't make any rash decisions.

 

[scottydl]

No one has asked anyone to investigate, but I have a strong suspicion that a lot of the scammers are put in place by ebay.

Then the opposite it true too, because I've been scammed on eBay too... and I'm sure they still got their fees.  A friend of mine almost took a HUGE loss on eBay, after winning and paying around $5000 for a Rolex and then receiving a "Simpsons The Movie" CD case in the mail instead.  (Note I said he only received the case, there wasn't even a CD in there )  What's sad is that eBay and Paypal both gave him the runaround for weeks on a Buyer Protection refund, and finally he ended up getting the refund through a dispute with his credit card attached to Paypal.

Just be cautious all the way around.

 

[Lowell]

and finally he ended up getting the refund through a dispute with his credit card attached to Paypal.

That's why I like to use my credit card.  You can always dispute the payment if you have a problem with the article before you pay the credit card payment.

 

[seilerbird]

Then the opposite it true too, because I've been scammed on eBay too... and I'm sure they still got their fees.  A friend of mine almost took a HUGE loss on eBay, after winning and paying around $5000 for a Rolex and then receiving a "Simpsons The Movie" CD case in the mail instead.  (Note I said he only received the case, there wasn't even a CD in there )  What's sad is that eBay and Paypal both gave him the runaround for weeks on a Buyer Protection refund, and finally he ended up getting the refund through a dispute with his credit card attached to Paypal.

Just be cautious all the way around.

You actually know someone who bought a $5000 Rolex watch on eBay? Does that person wear a t-shirt that says "Please scam me?" There are more fake Rolexes in existance than there are grains of sand on the beach.

The easiest way to not get scammed on eBay is to only purchase from dealers with over 100 positives and at least a 98% positive. And as Lowell said, pay by credit card.

 

[scottydl]

You actually know someone who bought a $5000 Rolex watch on eBay? Does that person wear a t-shirt that says "Please scam me?" There are more fake Rolexes in existance than there are grains of sand on the beach.

The easiest way to not get scammed on eBay is to only purchase from dealers with over 100 positives and at least a 98% positive. And as Lowell said, pay by credit card.

Believe me, he and I did ALL the research we could on this user/history to make sure it was legit (or at least seemed that way) first.  They had photos posted of all the documentation, had their username displayed in the photos, etc.  Established seller with several hundred positive feedback points and other high-end watches sold in the past.  Yet it was still a scam.  My friend did not receive a fake Rolex, he received a plastic case of nothing... straight up theft.  In hindsight, it appeared that the seller built up the eBay account to appear trustworthy with the intent of finding the perfect "victim" and that happened to be my friend.  Luckily he got his money back, but it looked as if the seller got away with $5000 too since eBay/Paypal never seemed to be very interested in recovering the funds.

 

[seilerbird]

His account could have been hijacked. Buying anything over a thousand dollars sight unseen from the Internet is not my idea of a really smart move. For that type of purchase I would want to see it before I bought it. And I bet the price was too good to be true.