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Almost scammed on Craig's list 2012 MBP for $600

zipur

zipur

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
588
84
The great state of Texas
I found a great deal on Craigslist for a two month old MBP with 256 SSD mouse and exteran keayboard plus Ms office. I couldn't help myself so I emailed them and received this.

"Hi, I am getting back to you regarding the 15″ MacBook PRO from Craigslist My name is Emily and I am now in Vancouver, BC, Canada.*The MacBook is still available and I hope you are still interested.I am selling the MacBook for $600 USD. I have attached some pics with it to this email.*It’s 2.50 GHZ i7, has 8 GB of RAM, 1 GB of Video Memory and 256 GB SSD (works 5 times faster as a normal HD) of storage.*The MacBook was bought brand new from Apple a couple of months ago.*About the MacBook I can say it’s in perfect shape, as I used it only for a few weeks. Included in the $600 price is everything that came with the MacBook PRO and also the warranty papers. I tried to be as thorough as I could with the presentation so you can have all the info if you decide to go ahead and buy it. So what do you think? Do you want my MacBook?

I was checking for a way to make the exchange from here to you in the US and I came across this option, which is a very good way to make this exchange.
It's provide by a company called Interparcel and it will help us with this transaction.

They seem designed specifically for internet transactions, they handle both the payment and delivery part of this transaction. They seem pretty nice and trustworthy and they provide a service that we can use for our exchange.
The link below is from Interparcel website and it explains their procedure. Please check the link and the procedure and let me know if you agree to the terms.
Thanks, Emily

MacBookPro151.jpg

Once I said yes I received an invoice which was very professional looking.
The invoice asked me to send the $600.00 to InterParcel and then they would send the MBP to me, if accepted they would send the money to the seller.

Then searching google I found the exact same verbiage warning people about this scam.
http://www.jurinnov.com/craigslist-scams

Be warned, trust no one.
 
espiritujo

espiritujo

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2011
95
0
columbia, sc
You'd be surprised at how many misinformed buyers would fall for something like this. An acquaintance I know was looking to buy a gaming PC for her son and ended up getting scammed a good 500$ for a computer that looked too good to be true:eek: I couldn't remember the specs of the computer, but whenever she had showed me the advertisement, I knew that it was a scam. Unfortunately she presented it to me after she had gotten scammed.
 
zipur

zipur

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
588
84
The great state of Texas
applesith said:
The $600 price tag didn't scream scam to you?
Click to expand...

Yes I could be called retarded but aren't we all to some degree? yes I knew it was to good to be true and No I didn't send any money. But my greed did peak and I imagined some young rich kid, maybe just maybe. Naw, no way..
So I forwarded the email to the InterParel security department to alert them.


My goal is to alert my fellow MAC friends,
 
rockyroad55

rockyroad55

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2010
4,152
59
Phila, PA
zipur said:
Yes I could be called retarded but aren't we all to some degree? yes I knew it was to good to be true and No I didn't send any money. But my greed did peak and I imagined some young rich kid, maybe just maybe. Naw, no way..
So I forwarded the email to the InterParel security department to alert them.


My goal is to alert my fellow MAC friends,
Click to expand...

If you can't meet in person on Craigslist, it's definitely a scam.
 
R

richlee111

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2011
146
0
yusukeaoki said:
The best tip is dont buy it from ebay or craigslist...
Click to expand...

Not all CL or EBay sales are scams. I have sold a bunch of gadgets, electronics, and Apple stuff over the years through them. Just always remember that if something is too good to be true, it most likely is. As desperate as some sellers are to unload stuff for cash, most people aren't going to give their stuff away:)

If in doubt, always remember local only with cash, or EBay with PayPal.
 
W

WRP

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2011
511
4
Boston
How you read that email and thought it was kosher in anyway...

I always wonder why/how these scammers exist but wow man, I guess common sense doesn't grow on trees.
 
joepunk

joepunk

macrumors 68030
Aug 5, 2004
2,553
13
a profane existence
At that price it is a scam. Sometimes it's interesting to see how far you can go with the seller/scammer without losing any money.

What a person could do is to ask the seller to take a picture (and email it) of their computer with something like a black and red sharpie on the keyboard.
 
R

Rocky244

macrumors regular
Jun 14, 2012
162
1
My goal is to one day successfully scam a craigslist scammer, after being contacted by one.
 
M

minnus

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2011
347
0
zipur said:
Yes I could be called retarded but aren't we all to some degree? yes I knew it was to good to be true and No I didn't send any money. But my greed did peak and I imagined some young rich kid, maybe just maybe. Naw, no way..
So I forwarded the email to the InterParel security department to alert them.


My goal is to alert my fellow MAC friends,
Click to expand...

This serves as a good warning to the general community. These scams work because there is always someone desperate enough to ignore red flags.
 
A

AirThis

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2012
518
14
That female hand is meant to reassure the potential buyer... It's part of the lure. I wonder how many fish they catch with this type of scam.
 
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