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Funny Craigslist Encounter

S

Shaan

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 9, 2009
96
0
I have my iPhone 3G posted on eBay and just wanted to share this story for other people who are listing theirs and just for general entertainment. It's kind of longing because I was playing along to see what he would say, feel free to read as much as you want (bold are my responses):

Dear seller, my name is chris,i saw this iphone which you listed on craigslist.org and i would like to make a purchase offer for the item also i'll like to pay you via paypal account.a son called me yesterday that he lost his phone,there in africa and i want the iphone ship out to him where he is in africa and i'll be very happy if you can help me to ship the iphone because am not presently in the state so please mail back your paypal email address and condition of the iphone and am ready to pay an addition of $100 to the cost of the ipone and the shipping.hope to read from you soon......thanks alot........Chris.

I asked him which country in Africa :)

the shipping will be to Nigeria that why my son is and also i too will want to have you paypal address to verify it mine is chrisander115[@]gmail[.]com pls i want you to go find out the shipping cost to Nigeria and also i want the phone shipped down to africa by USPS.pls get back to me as soon as possible.chris

I asked him to please stop scamming me

what do you mean by that,i dont scam people,i pay for any item i
purchase,so why the hell are you calling me a scam???

I told him he was a joke

shaan am not like that,honestly i like the iphone and i want my son to
have it,because he has recently lost his phone and i want to get him a
new phone,i will pay your money as soon as we conclude and seal the
deal.i can't scam anyone and will never do because i will never want
to be a victim of a scam,try and understand that.i am really
interested in helping to purchase the iphone from you.so pls get to me
your paypal address,i'll do the payment tomorrow
morning,ok......thanks chris

I asked him what the exact address was so I could Google it for fun

Address:No 20 lagere road,
City: Ile ife.
State: Osun state.
Zip Code: 234036.
Country: Nigeria

I found a a threads about the same scammer:
Thread
I then told him the only reason he was asking me to ship to Nigeria was because PayPal doesn't insure their and neither does USPS, I asked him for a different address

here is my address below
54 Stirling Road,
Talbot Woods,
Bournemouth,
DorsetEngland,
BH3 7JH.
am not at home now because away on official business and the package will not be received by anyone,that
why i want to pls ship the phone directly to my son in Africa,i'll pay
the cost of the shipping along with the cost of the phone.ok,pls get
back to me as soon as possible,chris

I told him he was a well-known scammer across the web

what do you mean by that,my son school in a university there called
OAU (OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY) so would you call me a scammer,if you
knew that you weren't selling from the start,i thought you were a
serious but it seem you are not.so pls stop this act of yours and get
serious...chris

I decided to stop emailing him there because I had had enough fun for one day

Just thought I would share the story, and warn anyone who does not know already: do not ship to Africa!
 
Haha sounds like fun messing with them. I was trying to buy a macbook one time of their and the person wanted me to send the money to the UK or something like that, and then I knew it was a scam. I did still mess with the person thought, it is fun.
 
this is why i dont like people from africa....

JUST KIDDING! .. or am i?

yeha this happens alot when you post something on craigslist :p my mom almost fell for it till i yeller at her because she was saying they were going to ship her puppie from africa... WTF?!?

lol

komio
 
Same here

I had the same thing except I told the dude I had shipped it and even provided a bogus tracking #

he still emails me and asks me where it is. after sending me a bogus paypal email saying I have to submit the tracking number to paypal.
 
everytime I get these scams, I always respond "Your email has been forwarded to the FBI, and blah blah."
 
Oh yea man, I get this every time I post on ebay. The real aholes are the ones who bid on and win your item, then pull this BS.
 
TurboSC said:
the funny thing is they have no idea how to convey themselves and it makes it even more entertaining
Click to expand...

The broken English is hilarious, they must be using some sort of online translator or something :D

Maclver said:
you would think by now they would think of a different country and use that!
Click to expand...

I think they use Nigeria because, as I said in the original post, you can't get USPS Registered Mail to Nigeria, and PayPal does not endorse Nigeria at all. You can not have a Nigerian PayPal account and they will not let you make a shipping label to Nigeria.
 
Shaan said:
The broken English is hilarious, they must be using some sort of online translator or something :D



I think they use Nigeria because, as I said in the original post, you can't get USPS Registered Mail to Nigeria, and PayPal does not endorse Nigeria at all. You can not have a Nigerian PayPal account and they will not let you make a shipploing label to Nigeria.
Click to expand...

lol all the poor legitimate people in Nigeria
 
i something similar happen to me when i tried to sell my psp on there. i even put in big, bold, underlined letters that i would only sell it locally so i could to lower the possibilities of scams and to avoid all the shipping hassles and the guy still wanted me to ship it across seas.
 
bndoarn said:
i something similar happen to me when i tried to sell my psp on there. i even put in big, bold, underlined letters that i would only sell it locally so i could to lower the possibilities of scams and to avoid all the shipping hassles and the guy still wanted me to ship it across seas.
Click to expand...

they just don't learn!
 
Haha we recieved this fax at work a few weeks back, it was a scam saying in broken English (also from nigeria) that they wanted us to give them our company finance info and they would put a couple million dollars in it for us. He said he was a university doctor about 14 times and the funniest part: we recieved the letter on may 30th, 2009. The date on the fax they sent us: may 30th, 2002!
 
conman16 said:
Haha we recieved this fax at work a few weeks back, it was a scam saying in broken English (also from nigeria) that they wanted us to give them our company finance info and they would put a couple million dollars in it for us. He said he was a university doctor about 14 times and the funniest part: we recieved the letter on may 30th, 2009. The date on the fax they sent us: may 30th, 2002!
Click to expand...

You do know that Nigeria is the LOST island and there are major time discrepancies, correct? The fax was simply sent following the wrong bearings and experienced the corresponding side-effects.
 
If I were advising the scammers, I would suggest they quit offering more than the agreed-upon price. In this case (Craigslist today), I responded back that the price was $375 firm. In their infinite wisdom they replied with an offer to bump that to $500.

I do appreciate "lucy mark" looking out for me with the concern that both parties be secured in the transaction.

lucy mark to me
show details 1:51 PM (1 hour ago)

Reply

I think the price is okay for me but i will like to make everything $500 both the item price and the shipment fee.But i will like you to ship it to my son in West Africa for his birthday presentation gift and also i will like to pay you through paypal OR money Order.It secures two parties in transaction. please i need this item immeditely to be shipped if you can provide your paypal request orinvoice for the payment.
Hoping to hear from you soon.

Thanks

Lucy.
 
Ok. I get that this is a scam.

1. Why is he so wanting your paypal address? (so he can hack into it?)

2. If he sends the money FIRST, and you wait for it to CLEAR, then what is the problem?
 
Meh. This has happened to me loads of times.
I haven't tried just taking the money and leaving though. I should try that once. Buy a $20 Visa card at SafeWay, make a bogus PayPal account. Take the money, and leave. :).
Can't be that hard now, can it? :p
 
mikey28 said:
Ok. I get that this is a scam.

1. Why is he so wanting your paypal address? (so he can hack into it?)

2. If he sends the money FIRST, and you wait for it to CLEAR, then what is the problem?
Click to expand...

He is never actually going to send the money. I was reading that these scammers just send you an email that looks like it's from PayPal saying the money has been sent and to send the item immediately. The scammer has no intention of ever dealing with PayPal and doesn't have an account if he is in Nigeria because PayPal doesn't service Nigeria.
 
Shaan said:
He is never actually going to send the money. I was reading that these scammers just send you an email that looks like it's from PayPal saying the money has been sent and to send the item immediately. The scammer has no intention of ever dealing with PayPal and doesn't have an account if he is in Nigeria because PayPal doesn't service Nigeria.
Click to expand...

yep.....absolutely right
 
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