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Example of a typical Craigslist Scam

K

kbjeff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 7, 2009
16
0
A) Too good to be true
B) Seller emails back to say "I'm currently out of the country"
C) Seller wants to use escrow company

The listing:
http://hartford.craigslist.org/sys/1447202732.htm

Here's the email back from the seller (jp3inbox@gmail.com). From what I'm seeing, almost all the scammers doing this use almost the same verbiage:

**************
Hi
The item is brand new in box with all accessories.
I am now outside USA so i can only ship the item to you.The shipping is free and i will also ship with insurance
So we can be both protected i want to use an escrow company if you want to continue with the deal.In this way the transaction is safe.I ship the item ,the shipping company will inform you that the shipping was made and will instruct you how to make the payment.The payment will be sent to the shipping company not to me and will be release to me only after you will get the item and inspect it.You have 3 days to inspect it and only after if you decide to keep my item you will give your approve so i can get the money from the shipping company
I think this is the best way
I have 5 available.I can offer a disccount if you buy more
If you agree let me know as soon as possible
Have a nice day
 
Ha! Well I guess this is old news. Yes, I'm new to Craigslist... but figured my finding might offer something useful to the discussion here. (Since I'm totally new to the Mac and am just imbibing all your great information here with nothing to offer in exchange :))

Probably should amend the title to say (for total newbies)!
 
kbjeff said:
Ha! Well I guess this is old news. Yes, I'm new to Craigslist... but figured my finding might offer something useful to the discussion here. (Since I'm totally new to the Mac and am just imbibing all your great information here with nothing to offer in exchange :))

Probably should amend the title to say (for total newbies)!
Click to expand...

You should amend it 'for total newbies who don't search before they post' :rolleyes:

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=18529423
 
D. The item

These scams almost always mention "the item" rather than the camera or the computer or whatever. So that's a red flag in my eyes.

Greg
 
tbayrgs said:
Give him a break--he was only trying to help.

Also ironic that your link produced nothing useful.
Click to expand...

Trying to help, how? By wasting bandwidth?
First of all this is Macrumors Forum not Craigslist Forum. You can go to Craigslist and easily find out the info about scam's. It's usually front and center.
Second, obviously Macrumors only allows a search result to last for a certain period, my link did provide something useful when I posted it, I just did a new one: https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=18568041
All I did was enter 'craiglist scam' and got several hits.

How hard is that to do, even for a newbie, before posting something that has been explained ad nauseum before?

Btw, please don't insult horses, they have more intelligence than you :p
 
Thanks for posting this I was about to ship off my iPhone to nigeria.... He said he would pay double and use an escrow service but now it seems a bit suspicious thanks for posting
btw I'm joking ;)
 
Enough already. I'm sure there are newbie questions that deserve more of your attention. Is it possible for me to delete a post here. Geesh.
 
Don't mind MacrumorsMaster. Clearly, he's a master, and we all pale in comparison to him. He's such a "master" that he put it in his forum name, along with the name of the site, just in case we forget what he is the master of.

Seriously, I wouldn't be bothered by his comment. At least you were trying to help. Not another "when do the new MBP's come out" thread. If you're new to forums in general, you'll usually get ragged on for posting something redundant, and so it's usually a good idea to do a quick search before you start a new thread.
 
Ugh, never mind the pretentious Almighty Defenders of the Forum's Neatness, you have been very considerate and should be thanked, not scorned. I mean really, bandwidth, come on.
 
macrumorsMaster said:
Trying to help, how? By wasting bandwidth?
First of all this is Macrumors Forum not Craigslist Forum. You can go to Craigslist and easily find out the info about scam's. It's usually front and center.
Second, obviously Macrumors only allows a search result to last for a certain period, my link did provide something useful when I posted it, I just did a new one: https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=18568041
All I did was enter 'craiglist scam' and got several hits.

How hard is that to do, even for a newbie, before posting something that has been explained ad nauseum before?

Btw, please don't insult horses, they have more intelligence than you :p
Click to expand...

Who's actually wasting bandwidth here?

My point was the wisea$$ 'holier than thou' snide remark on your part was completely unnecessary when a simple suggestion would have sufficed.

There must be a character limit on username length because I can't seem to read the 'Moderator' in macrumorsMasterModerator.
 
Lets try to dispel the bandwidth cost.
I think I pay about $30 per month including tax.
I think my upper limit is 200G per month, but I don't think they track it.
So $30/200,000,000,000 = $0.00000000015/byte.
Say a wordy post is 1000 bytes.
The cost of the post is $0.00000015 or 0.000015 cents or 15 millicents.
Anything less that 1 cent is pretty close to valuesless.

Hence this post is worthless!:D
 
macrumorsMaster said:
Trying to help, how? By wasting bandwidth?
F:p
Click to expand...

Oh stop it!! That's absolutely ridiculous..

To the OP- so many people are getting scammed on Craigslist that you bringing it up was worth the "bandwidth" (lol) if it brings attention to one person that might send money.. It's not completely far fetched for someone to fall for that.. Some people will say they're an idiot for it and blah, blah, blah- but it happens enough that I'm sure some good people have gotten taken..
 
Did they say they were Amy, Amanda, or Andrew currently living in the UK? It seems they always use a name starting with 'A'.

If you respond to the ad, you may as well fly to nearest large city and give your money to the first Nigerian you see.

Sometimes you can find incredible deals on CL by people hard up for cash or not fully realizing how good mac resale values are. These people are in your city. When that happens, you have to pony up the cash and meet them immediately before someone else snaps it up. And by immediately, I mean within an hour or two of them posting their ad.
 
uuaschbaer said:
Ugh, never mind the pretentious Almighty Defenders of the Forum's Neatness, you have been very considerate and should be thanked, not scorned. I mean really, bandwidth, come on.
Click to expand...

Thanked?:D

For not searching before posting?

Obviously that was not done.
That's why this forum gets flooded with duplicate or close to duplicate questions all the time. To all you who encourage it, I wonder how you'll feel in a year when there are hundreds more of these 'just wanted to warn everyone, who has never touched a computer and never heard of craigslist or visited craigslist.'

Right on the FRONT PAGE of the City of your choice on the side bar is a link to AVOID scams and fraud.

I was simply helping the OP by pointing out the useful search function :p

AppleTecFan:
Never mind my link, obviously search results link don't last long.
Just type 'craiglist scam' and click Search Forums and you'll get the plethora of results.
 
macrumorsMaster said:
Thanked?:D

For not searching before posting?

Obviously that was not done.
That's why this forum gets flooded with duplicate or close to duplicate questions all the time. To all you who encourage it, I wonder how you'll feel in a year when there are hundreds more of these 'just wanted to warn everyone, who has never touched a computer and never heard of craigslist or visited craigslist.'

Right on the FRONT PAGE of the City of your choice on the side bar is a link to AVOID scams and fraud.

I was simply helping the OP by pointing out the useful search function :p

AppleTecFan:
Never mind my link, obviously search results link don't last long.
Just type 'craiglist scam' and click Search Forums and you'll get the plethora of results.
Click to expand...

What we are trying to suggest is that while your reply post may (does) have substance, its 'bedside manner' is unattractive, especially to a beginner who is genuinely trying to contribute to the forum.

Please don't attack me, I'm a sensitive soul, but by all means reply to the point I'm trying to convey. :eek:
 
One disturbing trend I have seen is when a "recruiter", sometimes from a very well known company, gets an ad on Craigslist but then puts a salary/wage too good to be true. They get you to sign up and either sell your information, and if not that, don't always pay you on time. What the heck is with that?

I am not aware of all the rules on Craigslist but false advertising can't be legal and paying people late cannot build an atmosphere of good faith.

This scares me more than an individual common criminal who doesn't have the backing of a large well known company.
 
63dot said:
One disturbing trend I have seen is when a "recruiter", sometimes from a very well known company, gets an ad on Craigslist but then puts a salary/wage too good to be true. They get you to sign up and either sell your information, and if not that, don't always pay you on time. What the heck is with that?
Click to expand...

This is becoming more prevalent on CL, and I hate it!
 
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