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Does This Sound Legit?

S

Shakenbake158

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 12, 2011
34
0
Hey guys, I am selling my old Macbook on Craigslist and I have a question to ask. I listed the item in the Spokane Washington area.

I am selling my Macbook on Craigslist and I got an email asking for more information, I then received the following.

"Hi! I am a single mom who works as a teacher's assistant in church at
Nevada City. I want to give your item to our pastor as a gift.Do you
have a PayPal account? Invoice me using the same e-mail.

If you do not have a PayPal account, Kindly provide me with your
Full name and Address to enable me send you a cash delivery money
order.

i will be adding an extra funds during payment for shipment cost
because you will be required to ship the item. I prefer USPS Shipping
Method.

Have a Bless Day."

I am thinking, what is there to lose on my end? Are there any risks I am taking?
 
Shakenbake158 said:
I know it sounds like a scam, but how could I get scammed. As long as the money is in my bank account?
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You are pretty much guaranteed to get a charge back from a stolen credit card, and if you choose the money order option it will be fake. You, in the end will be without your product and your $$$.

This is not a new trick, trust in that. Craigslist is 95% scam artists.

Also, it doesn't just sound like a scam, IT IS!
 
This type of scam usually works by you sending your paypal email.

They send you the amount plus any extra for "shipping". You send off item. Once they receive it, it could be one of two things.

1) The account they used was hacked and therefore soon enough you will have to refund the amount as paypal do a chargeback.

2) The buyer goes to their bank and requests a chargeback on the amount.

These are only two possibilities but its best to just not bother with this and either request to meet in person or use a different payment method such as BT.
 
No single mom working as a teacher's assistant could afford to give such an expensive gift to her pastor, and if she did, it would be highly improper for him to accept it.

Those were just buzz words to make her sound honest.
 
NewbieCanada said:
No single mom working as a teacher's assistant could afford to give such an expensive gift to her pastor, and if she did, it would be highly improper for him to accept it.

Those were just buzz words to make her sound honest.
Click to expand...

Not to mention "Have a Bless Day". Pretty standard scam poor grammar.
 
Shakenbake158 said:
Wow, and to think I was about to go through with it, thanks guys.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would also just delete the emails and walk away. Don't respond to them with "oh, no. this is a scam" or anything like that.

Another possibility that they could try is to give you more then the agreed upon amount and then ask for it back when you send the item. Then they cancel the entire transaction...

Say you agreed on $1,000... they "accidentally" send you $2,000 via PayPal. They said "Oh don't worry about it, but I'm not going to have access to PayPal for awhile. Could you just take the extra $1,000 out of your bank account and send it with the laptop". Once you do this and send them the shipping info, they cancel the entire transaction - You're now out $1,000 for the extra you gave them plus the laptop.

These are known scams... and some people fall for them.
 
greg555 said:
Not to mention "Have a Bless Day". Pretty standard scam poor grammar.
Click to expand...

I actually read a story awhile back that people are more likely to fall for email scams if it is written with poor grammar. No idea why... maybe it makes them sound more real? Strangest part is that any security expert will tell you that a poorly written email is a tell tail sign, yet those seem to be the one most often clicked on...

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Surfin10 said:
Yeah, I would also just delete the emails and walk away. Don't respond to them with "oh, no. this is a scam" or anything like that.
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Exactly, because if you respond then they know what your email is and you will be hit with every piece of spam mail going forward....
 
paulrbeers said:
I actually read a story awhile back that people are more likely to fall for email scams if it is written with poor grammar. No idea why... maybe it makes them sound more real?
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Frequently such scam emails are written in another language, then translated using a tool like Google Translate, which results in poor grammar.
 
paulrbeers said:
I actually read a story awhile back that people are more likely to fall for email scams if it is written with poor grammar. No idea why... maybe it makes them sound more real? Strangest part is that any security expert will tell you that a poorly written email is a tell tail sign, yet those seem to be the one most often clicked on...

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Exactly, because if you respond then they know what your email is and you will be hit with every piece of spam mail going forward....
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I think you mean about the Nigerian scam emails. They are written with poor grammar and make it look very suspicious as it then eliminates anyone who is even the slightest bit suspicious as they wont reply back. However the people who do reply back fit into the gullable category and therefore are the ideal victim for this type of scam.
 
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