An old fool scammed, warning

[54FordPanel]

What, exactly, do you mean by this?

Oh, jeez. I hope you aren't trying to go where I think you are.

Go thru the emails in your junkbox, and look at the names. I scan mine and see "title-y" looking names like Dr Adam H Brown, Mrs Karen Franch, David Alexander.
Maybe you should do a profile on why the scammers pick the names they do.

I think he means it now sounds like a professional, phony, title name rather than Bob Smith who would own a bobcat.

I think it takes some humility to post a thread telling the world that you got scammed. I think more of the person willing to admit they got taken than the people who are posting "Jeez, what an idiot". He knows he got taken, and that's an awful feeling.

 

[Ohio Auto]

I am so sorry this has happened to you. Thanks for reminding all of us to be careful.

This is posted on craigslist as a warning to all potential buyers:

How to recognize a vehicle scam attempt on CL:
•Shipping a vehicle to you is suggested by seller
•eBay Motors or another intermediary is specified by seller
•Payment by Western Union or a money wire is requested
•Price is unusually low (fraction of blue book value)
If you see these tell-tale signs, flag ad as "prohibited" and avoid

Offers to ship a vehicle are virtually 100% fraudulent

eBay has no involvment in craigslist for sale ads, and any eBay or similar emails or web pages you receive are fake

Never use Western Union or wire transfer to pay for goods - only a scammer will ask for this, and any funds sent will be lost

Do not buy vehicles site-unseen, regardless of low price. The vehicle does not exist, and any money you send will be lost.

 

[jktruck150]

g.corey 74,

What is the outcome? Did you go to the cops? Have you tried to get a refund from the seller? I appreciate you letting us know that it happened. I am curious as to the result. Maybe there is a creative way you have found to get it back, or to stick it to the scammer!

We all know scammers exsist, and it *****. What most of us like to know is what happens after as well. Just in case someone else is scammed later.

Thanks again for posting.

 

[milkovich]

Always buy in person. I thought that was the point of CL.

Also if the guy's legit and the product is EXPENSIVE, I don't see why they wouldn't take a check and wait till it clears or go down to the bank with you. Walking onto a strangers property with a huge wad of cash in your pocket is asking for trouble whether you're armed or not.

Another helpful tip if you're selling is to wheel the stuff out into the driveway and close the garage door. Don't let strangers "case the joint."

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

I thinking at the time of purchase, the poster just had CL confused with Ebay.

I buy cars, trucks and equipment from both sites, upwards of $20k. Ive never gotten burned, and Ive NEVER SENT A PENNY TO ANYONE on CL, prior to picking up the vehicle/piece of equipment, and I mean NEVER. I'm buying cars/trucks on both coasts and live in the Midwest. So I travel extensively to acquire the items. If someone needs a deposit, and they are "straight up" on ebay, I will do a couple hundred via paypal, otherwise I pass. Until I see the item, and see the title, no cash changes hands. Craigslist, no way... no deposit, no nothing.

Only downside to this, is I'm afraid I'm going to get caught up by the SS, I mean TSA, for having "too much money", as I travel with cash (and have to explain I'm not a drug dealer or laundering money, but it hasnt happened yet).

There is a saying, "that a fool and his money soon part". While I may be a fool from time to time, when it comes to cash, "me no touchy, you net get cashy" If a seller is not good with that, walk away,....

After seeing this post, I now I know why Nigeria's GNP is internet fraud on America, I just blows my mind that they can find enough people to keep it going. Yes, I can spot a CL fraud listing from across the room. Its usually a
$15-20k used tractor, with loader, one owner, couple hundred hours, for around $4500.

Sorry to hear this happened to the buyer, but for the love of common sense, never ever send anyone money for anything, ever, on craigslist. I dont think there is a "page" on craigs that does not spell that out ?

 

[shoot summ]

Oh, jeez. I hope you aren't trying to go where I think you are.

Go thru the emails in your junkbox, and look at the names. I scan mine and see "title-y" looking names like Dr Adam H Brown, Mrs Karen Franch, David Alexander.
Maybe you should do a profile on why the scammers pick the names they do.

I think he means it now sounds like a professional, phony, title name rather than Bob Smith who would own a bobcat.

I think it takes some humility to post a thread telling the world that you got scammed. I think more of the person willing to admit they got taken than the people who are posting "Jeez, what an idiot". He knows he got taken, and that's an awful feeling.

After reading the initial post several times I'm not sure his intent was to share with humility, the intent was more asking for help with any "buyer protection".

I know several of us haven't been nice and kind in our responses but the point is folks need to wise up. There have been people that will screw you selling items for YEARS, it's nothing new. I have my perspective on dealing with folks because I was screwed at one point many years ago. What I learned from that is that it is ALWAYS Buyer Beware. Just because we now have the internet and CL and other means to buy it doesn't change the basic principle. But so often I hear folks on many forums whining, crying, and bitching that they were screwed. I also learned that if your gut tells you something isn't right you listen to it, get past the thrill of the good deal and figure out what is really going on.....

 

[5lima30]

I'm sorry for your loss. Be sure to report this nefarious criminal so that he can get what he so richly deserves! More than likely he hasalready victimized others just like you.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

Most of this is done out of Nigeria, they get up in the morning and go to work "internet cafes", the rent a "stall" and list **** on the internet, and look for deposits, its how they make a living, just like fishing. No one gets their money back. There have been a couple documentaries on this on TV actually showing the "boiler rooms" or "cafes" at work.

 

[54FordPanel]

After reading the initial post several times I'm not sure his intent was to share with humility, the intent was more asking for help with any "buyer protection".

I know several of us haven't been nice and kind in our responses but the point is folks need to wise up. There have been people that will screw you selling items for YEARS, it's nothing new. I have my perspective on dealing with folks because I was screwed at one point many years ago. What I learned from that is that it is ALWAYS Buyer Beware. Just because we now have the internet and CL and other means to buy it doesn't change the basic principle. But so often I hear folks on many forums whining, crying, and bitching that they were screwed. I also learned that if your gut tells you something isn't right you listen to it, get past the thrill of the good deal and figure out what is really going on.....

Sure, maybe posted asking if anybody knew of any recourse.

I see it from a personal experience standpoint. My nephew got taken 7-8 years ago, and when it happened, you say to yourself "Oh no, how could he have been so stupid?". But my nephew is a bright honest kid. He just didn't know and he trusted.
So I can see how it can happen. Like I said in my first post, it's not something I ever bring up with my nephew, because even though it's been some years, it still kills him that he fell for it. He was just getting out on his own, and he lost alot of money for a kid.
BTW, he was scammed as the seller by the one where they send too much money (to cover shipping costs) and tell the seller something went wrong, and keep the extra but return the principal...blah, blah, blah. My nephew was fooled because he received a cashiers check/bank draft, which turned out to be phony. Had he ever heard of the scam, he would have known. He was only 19 years old at the time.

Most LEOs will tell you that it's hard to track scammers (I'm talking door to door type scammers) because most people don't want to admit that they were taken. I know I would be embarrassed about it.

 

[StingRay]

Those scammers ran rampant on Kijiji here a couple years ago. I'd report as many as 20 a day. One day my BIL tells me he's working on a killer deal on a skid steer for 5 grand on Kijiji. I looked at him horrified and asked if he'd sent any money and he hadn't. I explained the mistake he almost made and he almost didn't believe me. I reminded him of if it sounds too good to be true.............

 

[Zick]

I think he means anyone who uses msn.com e-mail is a crook.

I sure hope that's not what he's trying to say. My main and primary email is a msn.com account.
I've had it for over 10 years and it's been the best email account I've ever had.
Hardly any spam and almost no issues but I guess I'm a crook cause I have a free email address....

 

[SuperSocket]

Oh and when dealing face to face, DO NOT bring cash and come alone and DO NOT meet in a private place where you can not be protected.

A buyer should always deal in an open area like a gas station parking lot or property on a main road and have a wingman who can wait in the car, when the deal appears to be good an the reliability is established, then your wingman can come and bring the cash to the table.... better yet, meet at the bank.

 

[ptschram]

Craigslist-my wife has forbidden me to have anything to do with Craigslist. I responded to an ad for a pile of Land Rover parts-make offer.

Sight unseen, I made an offer. The seller got upset at my low-ball offer and proceeded to threaten me with among other things, lawsuits. A cursory search revealed this individual had been enjoined from filing any legal action for 48 months. Some of the opinions written by judges who'd been involved were hilarious. It took three visits by his local Sheriff's Dept to get him to leave me alone.

I sell Land Rover parts all over the world and my best friend is South African. I have two checks supposedly from a missionary in Uganda (they have beautiful stamps). Both checks are obviously bogus!

Most recently, I had a request from another vendor for some parts. He collected, paid me, I ordered them in from the UK and awaited the other vendor's shipping instructions. FedEx showed up and due to the snow storms, they didn't have the ability to print shipping labels... That was Thursday. Friday, I received e-mailed labels, printed them, affixed them to the packages and left them outside the shop door for FedEx to pick up. Came home from dinner, they were still there and I moved them inside.

Saturday morning, I got a frantic call from my colleague asking if they'd been picked up yet as his credit card company had contacted him to inform him the credit card had been reported stolen!

While I was covered and paid, FedEx's error was the only thing keeping him from being scammed for about $3K.

Even as careful as we had been, it was close!

In the meantime, we have four front struts for a Range Rover Sport!

 

[nate379]

When I buy or sell on C List I meet in public location and am packing heat... just in case....

Live and learn- it could have been worse for you. (like the guy who got shot/robbed when he showed up with $5,000 cash to buy something off CL)

and ptschram 4 struts cost $3000... Holy ****!

 

[Cheapskate]

If you wired someone money for something listed on cl, you deserve this. Sheesh. I hope you are joking.

So, let me see if I have this right, mrholeshot is a flaming ****** for possibly embellishing some of his stories and needs to be ripped on a daily basis but you are one of the good guys even though you make what most would agree are douche-bag remarks towards an old man who was obviously raised in a different time when honesty and integrity where more commonplace?

 

[ptschram]

and ptschram 4 struts cost $3000... Holy ****!

Air suspension struts with shipping to Ghana. And, I'm a lower priced supplier.

 

[Groovy]

Try Geeking it to find em:

Open the header of the email message and look for lines that say “Received: from” followed by an IP address in square brackets. If there are multiple entries, use the IP address mentioned in the last entry.

Now paste the IP address in this trace route tool http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/visual-tracert/ and you should get a fairly good idea about the location of the email sender.

Some social networking sites like facebook let you do an email address lookup and you may get lucky and hit the f#cks page there are some pay sites that let you lookup info on an email address as well but if it’s just a bogus made up thing won't help much.

http://knowem.com/ this site will let you know if an email addy is in use on a particular social networking site so ifs "Available" they aren't using it on that site

Abuse or fraud report to msn.com at the minimum will kill the email account.


Most places theft over 500.00 bucks is a felony so if you do some detective work and find the place the maggot lives and give all the correspondence to the local cops in the area the POS lives maybe…..

Myself I would go pretty far to get satisfaction on this one. Some of this may work or it may not it won't take long and you may get lucky. Once you know location it aint a thing but a chicken wing if you know what I mean

 

[Cheapskate]

A guy that lives down the street wanted me to list some Landscaping equipment he was looking to sell on craigslist so I did it for him since he's never owned a computer. I told him there would most probably be a few scammers looking to buy it that we would have to weed through.

He stops over the next day and there are already a few replies. One was from someone in Miami Florida wanting to purchase the SNOWBLOWER he was selling. They offered to send him a cashiers check for the full amount plus whatever the shipping charges were for packing up and shipping his SNOWBLOWER from PA to Miami Florida. The guy was so happy that his SNOWBLOWER had sold in under 24 hours.

I just laughed and even after showing him and having him read aloud all the warnings on craigslist and asking him why someone in Miami Florida would want a SNOWBLOWER he still couldn't understand why I thought the person replying was a scammer. After all he was going to get and cash a cashiers check before he shipped it out so it must be legit no matter how crazy it seemed.

 

[mad57]

If i could ad just one more story its from ebay..they have since changed it so that you can not see who is bidding on a sellers item but i heard there is a hack out to get around this...my buddy was bidding on alot of lap tops on ebay and missed the buy...... shortly after he was contacted by a guy who said the buyer bailed and offered it to him for the next lowest price well he bit and sent the money never to see the lap tops and was scammed off ebay. so any kind of wire transfer like he did was a bad idea at least paypal as much as i dislike them guarantee safety.

 

[sneezer41]

2 years ago in the midst of selling my house, am cutting the grass and a guy drives up asking if this is the house for rent.

No

Well, it's on craigslist.

Sure enough, pics and all

Apparently the 'owner' was vacationing in...... wait for it now...........


Nigeria

I looked at the guy [like the idjit he was] Nigeria, Really I said.......

 

[swharris]

I'm ashamed of all you posting "you deserve it" ****** replys. Why don't all of you offer to help??

On other forums I've been on we've been able to nail a scammer. First, have you let him know you know he's scamming you?? This is very important, because if you have not we might still be able to get him. But, we all have to be willing to go the extra mile. We must find out his ACTUAL location. If we can do that we can find out who here might be able to physically go to that location to be our eyes and ears. Go check out http://www.419eater.com/ and read. You will see that it is possible to really back track and F-over these pricks.


Come back to us if/when you locate him and we can see who here is physically close to him. That's what this community should be doing...helping it's members.

 

[formek]

If you wired someone money for something listed on cl, you deserve this. Sheesh. I hope you are joking.

No one deserves this! I hope you are joking..............

 

[logical]

Craigslist is no more responsible for this issue than the local grocery store would be if you saw the ad posted on their bullitin board by the shopping carts.

Craigslist is a free, largely unfiltered online want ad site....and they do their best to warn you in big bold letters about this type of scam.

 

[formek]

Overall good thread with mostly positive stuff.

My friend and I have an agreement that we do only face to face on CL and we are in TX so we always go carrying. Down here no to long ago there were scamers selling stuff they did not have and when you showed up with cash they would roll you. I try to be careful.

my buddy was looking a tractors. we sent emails on a tractor to good to be true. got one responce, in the reply to them he told them he wanted to look at it before making a decision could he come look at it. never heard from them again. within a few days the add was gone and emails bounced back.

 

[OSAO]

"How can people do business with Craigslist and not be scammed?" - (1) you werent doing business with Craigslist. You were doing business with someone who was using CL as a tool to commit fraud. (2) CL clearly has links to "avoid scams & fraud" and "personal safety tips" posted on their main page.

"If anyone out there has any experiences or info that would help me or other potential fools I would appreciate hearing from you." - I don't have any experiance getting scammed like this. I don't know anybody who has been scammed like this, and I probably don't know anybody who knows anybody who has been scammed like this. This elements of this (and similar) scams are pretty much common knowledge, along the lines of giving your SSN and bank account number to a telemarketer, everone knows not to do that. There isn't much that could be said on this subject that couldnt be found by doing a search for "western union scam".

I find the idea of someone buying a Bobcat (something that sells for around $10k used) for $5600 sight unseen, from an unknown seller, sending them half the payment in advance, difficult to believe. Throw in a dash of (what could easily be considered) anti-semite, and this post just doesnt seem quite right..

 

[MalibuLX3]

I need help from adminitrator. I can't submit reply. I'll get back later.

I'm not an administrator, but maybe I can help you. PM me if you want

 

[srmofo]

Im local to you if you need any help with anything. Just pm me.

Also if you need help hunting them down, im sure several of us here would be more than willing to help track a dirtbag. Once LEOs know of the crime and the location of the perp they can and will act on it.

EDIT- heres a list of the moderators that I know of
http://garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?tab=friends&u=4656&pp=10&page=4#friends
http://garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?tab=friends&u=14940&pp=10#friends
http://garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?tab=friends&u=11404&pp=10&page=2#friends
http://garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?tab=friends&u=2294&pp=10&page=2#friends
http://garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=5554
http://garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=27112

They all appear to be offline right now though

 

[g.corey74]

WOW. Excuse my late answer to all you guys. I am totally overwhelmed by your many posts.

I never expected such feedback to our problem. First let me thank all of you for understanding

my reason for the thread. Allow me the chance to catch up with answers and comments to

each of you. I'm so grateful for your combined input to the true purpose of my thread.

For me, to have read your advice a week ago, Friday would not have happened.



One thing before I close this rambling. The flag on Anthony Goldstein was as a joke.

Anthony Goldstein is a Harry Potter character.(Please Google it)

 

[Ohio Auto]

First thing I do is ask to come see it in person if I think it's a scam. If it is a scam they come back with " well you can't look at it because it's at a shipping company or something".

I love playing with the scammers. I was back and forth with one for a couple weeks on a JD tractor.
I wasted a lot of his time and the **** he would come up with was hilarious.


First thing is if something looks too good to be true.... it is.
Second... if they don't want you to come look at the thing they're selling it is definately a scam.
If they ask you for a down payment online it's probably a scam. Especially if you're willing to go look at it the next day or something.

Not only do we share the same political views..what we will do for entertainment is the same. If I'm bored...I'll play a scammer for a couple of days. I'll play with him in my spare time. Get them all excited to the point of pulling the trigger and wiring them money...and then bam...hit them with a reallity check email. Pretty funny corrrespondence sometimes.

 

[need more tools]

yes I got the pm but it wont let me pm you says you dont accept them

 

[drmarkr]

WOW. Excuse my late answer to all you guys. I am totally overwhelmed by your many posts.

I never expected such feedback to our problem. First let me thank all of you for understanding

my reason for the thread. Allow me the chance to catch up with answers and comments to

each of you. I'm so grateful for your combined input to the true purpose of my thread.

For me, to have read your advice a week ago, Friday would not have happened.



One thing before I close this rambling. The flag on Anthony Goldstein was as a joke.

Anthony Goldstein is a Harry Potter character.(Please Google it)

Har.....now who's the bigot?

 

[need more tools]

we are neighbors

 

[MalibuLX3]

Malibu and Need More Tools,
Did my pm get through?

I also got your PM but it won't let me reply. Let me figure this out

Edit: Try this

Click on "User C.P." at the top of the screen (right under the Garage Journal logo in the black band)

On the right side, scroll down "Edit Options" under Settings and Options

Look for "Private Messaging" under "Messaging and Notification"

Set your settings the same as mine

Let me know if you see any differences and I'll re-send my message.

 

[Hollowellreid]

I was scammed on Craigslist but in a odd way. Here is the story, it's fairly long...

About a year ago I found a Case skidsteer loader for sale on Craigslist. It was fairly local, about 30 minute drive away. I emailed the seller and also talked to him on the phone. I was left with a bit of an "odd" feeling and asked a friend to go with me to look it over.

We go look at the machine, drive it, etc. It is in a small warehouse. I am getting a weird vibe about the whole situation, but my friend seemed to think all was alright. So, I gave the guy a $500 (cash) deposit. He gave me a printed reciept on business stationary with his business card.

Still feeling weird I called the local dealer with the Serial Number and it wasn't valid. Called the buyer a couple times and it was always some weird excuse or something. Just doesn't feel right.

About a week or 10 days later I see the machine has sold on ebay. Seller has 1 feedback or something along those lines. I realize that things are quickly going south. I go back to the warehouse to look at the machine. It's gone.

Seller is unreachable at this point.

I look at his Ebay profile and there are beginning to be a bunch of bad feedbacks. Apparently he has sold this machine to multiple people who have sent amounts anywhere from $500 to $4,000 or so. I get in touch with them and start putting it all together.

It was this guy, as seen here from other scams:

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS/709250321

He even gave a fake name.

I was local, so I went to the police station and filed a report on behalf of about 6 people who had been scammed online. The police had me come in at one point and I picked him out of a line up of people! apparently he had just been let out a few days earlier for some other offense.

Still havn't gotten my $500 back and doubt I ever will.

Basically, it's a good lesson in going with your gut feeling. Something felt a little off the whole time but I went with it. Glad it wasn't more than $500. There are really some scummy, low people out there. It's amazing that it happens even in face to face transactions.

 

[54FordPanel]

These are responses to g.corey saying that the name "Anthony Goldstein" should have been a black flag:

Uhhh, does that mean what I think it means?

What, exactly, do you mean by this?

Throw in a dash of (what could easily be considered) anti-semite, and this post just doesnt seem quite right..

Now, me, in response to these posts...

Oh, jeez. I hope you aren't trying to go where I think you are.

Here's your answer:

WOW. Excuse my late answer to all you guys. I am totally overwhelmed by your many posts.

I never expected such feedback to our problem. First let me thank all of you for understanding

my reason for the thread. Allow me the chance to catch up with answers and comments to

each of you. I'm so grateful for your combined input to the true purpose of my thread.

For me, to have read your advice a week ago, Friday would not have happened.



One thing before I close this rambling. The flag on Anthony Goldstein was as a joke.

Anthony Goldstein is a Harry Potter character.(Please Google it)

I also notice that most of these posts alluding to this as being anti-semitic and most of the posts saying "Gee what an dipshit" come from new members with few posts.
This is a great board with good members. This man was taken advantage of, and he posted this (humbly) asking for help, and wanting to know if there was any recourse.
You can see the difference in the posts from people who recognize his honesty, and want to help, and the posts from people who seem to think they are somehow elevated if they can find somebody to mock.

Some of you ought to be feeling pretty small.

 

[ptschram]

Some of you ought to be feeling pretty small.

LOL-with a name like Schram, I'll be the last to make an anti-Semitic statement! People are often surprised to find I'm not a jew-even moreso to find I'm a Buddhist.

The only reason I haven't been scammed is a healthy dose of suspicion.

I am confident that the only reason feel comfortable giving me their credit card info is the fact that I put myself "out there" to such an extent.

If a person won't publish their phone number, their address, etc. don't trust them.

Reputations have always been difficult to maintain, the internetz has made it doubly so.

 

[jhelrey]

I never down payment. Cash in person, it comes with me.

I meet in public if anytime possible. If I go to meet someone, I always have someone with. I never pay with anything but cash and I don't take anything but cash.

I was scammed online. Never again!

 

[6530]

[snip]

Some of you ought to be feeling pretty small.

Nope. You must not have noted the presence of questions and the absence of accusations.

 

[OSAO]

Perhaps: "Throw in a dash of (what could easily be considered) anti-semite, and this post just doesnt seem quite right " detracted from my observation regarding the situation (which I still stand by). I didn't think that the remark about the email name was meant to come off that way, but it is worded in a way that could easily come off that way to anyone who doesnt know about Harry Potter.

"Some of you ought to be feeling pretty small." - Not really, I feel bad for the guy.

Ten years ago I had about $20K in some high end musical instruments stolen. Several high profile instruments, very recognizable stuff that would red flag if it were to hit the open market. I persued every avenue with my international search for the missing items, with no luck at all. I know how frustrating it can be for items of high value (guitars, or dollars) to be gone without a trace. Honestly, I wish that I would have never looked for my items. The massive search probably killed any chance of the items surfacing.

Ok, my experience is very different, but the sting is the same.

Hopefully someone here has some valuable technique for chasing down this kind of fraud. Unfortunatley, due to the nature of what happened, this is unlikely. As someone who has spent too much time looking for something that he isnt going to find (my stolen items), I would say to give it the curtosey search (such as asking for advise on a forum like this), then move on with lesson learned.

 

[e-tek]

You can't advertise a car now without getting 10 scam responses to every legit one. Often it's the guy who's away on a boat but wants to wire you the money using paypal. It's tough to figure the scam, becuase THEY want to pay YOU....but they also want to give you enough to pay their "shipper"....such a waste of friggin time.

I feel bad for you, but we always wonder who are the people who get scammed....