[TK THE TRUCKER]

I think I've managed to get wrapped up in some fraud on Craigslist. My friend who is computer illiterate has a wood stove he wanted to sell. So I've been posting it the past couple weeks with not much luck so I've been lowering the price slowly. This weekend I decided to post it outside my normal area. I get a response within a couple hours, here is what transpired....

The scammer:
Hello,

Is this item still for sale?
Reply asap.

Reply ASAP.
Daniel.

Me:Yes, you were the first one to message me today. Let me know if you have any questions or want to come out to look at it. Thanks, T.K.

The scammer:
Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by a money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pickup after payment have been received by you.I don't mind adding an extra $30 so you can keep it in my favor.I would have loved to come take a look at it but i am presently out of town,send me some pictures.Reply with your name,phone # and mailing address where payment will be sent.I will let you know how i intend to pick it up.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me.

Expecting to hear from you soon.
Warm Regards.

Me:Any way you want to handle it is ok with me. Sending a money order ahead or I can hang on to the stove and you can bring cash when you come back from out of town, however is most convenient for you is good for me. I'm actually selling this for a friend. He doesn't use a computer at all so I'm helping him and handling all the details. All the pictures I have right now are the ones I posted on craigslist. I can email those to you or if you want a specific picture let me know, I'll see what I can do. It's inside a garage right now so the pictures might not be that good. We try not to move it so much because it's so heavy, I'd have to guess about 350 lbs or so. Here is my info, Thanks, T.K.

Thomas ******
**** ******* Dr
******,NY 1****
***-***-****

The scammer:Hi,


I have given my partner the go ahead to mail payment to the address you gave me.You should receive payment within the week.Once payment is received we can proceed with the pickup.Thanks for your understanding and patience.I would like you to take the posting off CL today.


Warm Regards

Me: Ok sounds good. I'll keep an eye out for it. I took the posting down this morning but it must have taken a while for it to get removed. Thanks, T.K.

The scammer: Hello,


How are you doing,i hope you are fine and alright.I have been busy myself but doing great.There is something i think i must bring to your notice.After a reconciliation of my account,i discovered that somehow my partner must have over paid you.The payment that was meant for another transaction was sent to you and the one meant for you was sent to another,however i want to believe i wont have a problem with you.


Please once you receive your payment,i will like you to deduct your money and send the remaining via western union to the manager of the shipping company that will help me with the pickup.I will provide the info you need to complete the western union transfer once you receive payment.Thanks once again for your understanding.


Warm regards.


The last email was received this morning. The money order thing at first didn't seem too out of line although it did send up a red flag. Of course I've had trouble handling business while on the road so I can understand if someone is out of town and trying to do something back at home. The "partner" thing sent up a flag as well as them making sure I took the posting down. I haven't responded to the last email yet because obviously something is going on. I was going to write back a deal off email but I think I may contact my local police department and see what the Chief says. Maybe we'll play it out and they can catch them. What sucks is this person now has my address. I'm not really worried about someone showing up at my doorstep because if this is a scam , which it probably is, it's probably a through the mail deal. We'll see what happens. What do you guys think?

[RostyC]

It's a scam, I've received the same offer before when I posted filters for a 2006 F-350. They offered 20 or 30 dollars more.

I might be interested in the woodstove. where is it located? what are the dimensions?

[freebirdrfd]

I would contact the local P.D. like you said and let them figure it out????? OR I'll just buy it from you if you give me all your bank info, I'll just wire the money straight into your account.. Why don't you give me your name, address, D.O.B., and S.S.# just to make sure it goes into the correct account.. :smokin:

[Twilight Flyer]

Yes, it is a scam. The way it works it that they will send a check or money order for X amount of dollars and then claim that they overpaid you, requesting that you send the difference back via western union. Western Union is pretty much immediate…your bank will find out the check is worthless or the money order is fake, a couple days later and most of the times, after you have already sent the difference back. That will leave you on the hook for the bad check or money order AND the difference which you sent via Western Union, which is pretty much untraceable.

The scam is pretty common and Craigslist is a big target. The scammers are headquartered out-of-country with in-country couriers and generally considered to be pretty hardcore. Don’t mess with them at all…take the stuff right to the PD and give it to them. Let them deal with it if they want.

[geeshock]

holy batcrap, yes it's a scam. (pun intended TF). most of these scams are usualy out of nigeria or ghana where it's near imposable to trace and even if it is traced, most the law is paid off. this is one of the MANY scams I've done research on

[TK THE TRUCKER]

I called the local police and left a message with the secretary for them to call me but I doubt they'll care. I wonder if I should just tell them to screw off, make up some story to get out of it or just screw with them and waste their time. I'm a bit annoyed they have my phone number though. I hope I don't start getting phone calls. I definitely wouldn't want to have to change it. I know it's a scam. I shouldn't have use the word probably in my first post. It's too bad the money order seemed plausible at first. Like I said, having been on the road and trying to handle stuff at home when they mentioned being out of town and sending a money order it seemed possible. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

[repete]

It will be interesting to see what the MO looks like, bet it's a cheap imitation of a 7-11 mo. If they get in contact with you just tell them you will mail the MO back to them at the return address on the envelope and that will be the end of that. How about putting up a pic of the stove? I want a small to medium one for my cabin and I'm only a few miles away. And pay cash!

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Originally Posted by repete

It will be interesting to see what the MO looks like, bet it's a cheap imitation of a 7-11 mo. If they get in contact with you just tell them you will mail the MO back to them at the return address on the envelope and that will be the end of that. How about putting up a pic of the stove? I want a small to medium one for my cabin and I'm only a few miles away. And pay cash!

I can't wait to see it too. It will probably be for like $2000 dollars and he'll tell me to keep my $250 and send the "shipping" company the other $1750.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Here's the latest emails. I'm playing along for now. I'm devising a story to feed to feed to him, or maybe I'll just cut off communication. The email address I used is just an extra one I have for this type of bs.

The scammer:
Hello,


Did you receive my last email which i mentioned that the payment has been mailed...Get back to me and keep me posted.


Thx.

Me: Yes I got it. I'll let you know when the payment shows up and we can figure out when it would be a good time to pick up the wood stove. Thanks T.K.

[geeshock]

my sugestion is to just be quiet. those slipery devels can mess your puter up as well. if you want to talk to someone I think you need to talk to the fbi