How good is this deal?

[Sdashiki]

hang on ... the email from 'possible scammer' said that they would send the machine FIRST ,
before any money is sent ...so you can check it out

...what's so bad about that ? , if the machine is ok ...wire the money ...if not ..well, you've lost nothing, have you ?? as no money was sent ! .....maybe I'm being a little naive here ,

They will send you a "ticket" showing the laptop has been shipped (when there never was a laptop). And ask you to send the check now as your lappy is on its way.

They push, poke, prod and get you so worked up that you send the $ to shut them up. And you feel ok because you have a tracking #, which turns out to be fake.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

Don't do it...scam city!

 

[wesrk]

this is a scam, do not fall victim to their games, they have all angles covered and even when they send you this tracking number from this other shipping service, it will be fake. you will track the "laptop" and it will all look legit but it will turn out to be a fake.

stop emailing them and forget about that, because if you keep going and allow them to trick you, you will loose money, for sure.

 

[lol]

What I don't understand is.. why would this person go through all the trouble of posting this if he's not going to reply to my email? I've always imagined that craigslist would be meeting up with the person in a public location. I would never trust them otherwise.

Anyways, thanks everyone for the replies! You guys are great.

 

[jjahshik32]

hang on ... the email from 'possible scammer' said that they would send the machine FIRST ,
before any money is sent ...so you can check it out

...what's so bad about that ? , if the machine is ok ...wire the money ...if not ..well, you've lost nothing, have you ?? as no money was sent ! .....maybe I'm being a little naive here ,

Hmmm... unless he sends you an empty box and claim to have sent you something.. and pull a bs like that?? Anyways.. the only way I'd ever buy/sell something on craigslist is if we each get each others phone number and meet at a local starbucks in the day time to do the deal in public.

Which I've done and sold a 17" mbp at a starbucks for $2200 cash.. the guy paid me in 20's.. then used the 20's to buy the mac pro at my local apple store (the first gen mac pros)... everyone stared at me like I was some sort of drug dealer...

 

[mac jones]

hang on ... the email from 'possible scammer' said that they would send the machine FIRST ,
before any money is sent ...so you can check it out

...what's so bad about that ? , if the machine is ok ...wire the money ...if not ..well, you've lost nothing, have you ?? as no money was sent ! .....maybe I'm being a little naive here ,

I think this part is the 'confidence' scam.

They become your friend and their goal is to just keep the dialoge up.

The idea that at each step of the scam if your still interested they ratchet up their efforts as the probability of success increases so they invest more time.

they use your own greed (the desire for great deal) against you. The rationalize that you it's your fault for being so 'greedy'

I've seen these guys in action quite often. Strangely, they sometimes invest quite a bit of time an effort for relatively small gains as the can be very competitive and hate to lose.

Glengarry Glen Ross, comes to mind.....great flick : )

 

[raremage]

I think this part is the 'confidence' scam.

They become your friend and their goal is to just keep the dialoge up.

The idea that at each step of the scam if your still interested they ratchet up their efforts as the probability of success increases so they invest more time.

they use your own greed (the desire for great deal) against you. The rationalize that you it's your fault for being so 'greedy'

I've seen these guys in action quite often. Strangely, they sometimes invest quite a bit of time an effort for relatively small gains as the can be very competitive and hate to lose.

Glengarry Glen Ross, comes to mind.....great flick : )

The actual scam here is the fact that they want to use some out of mainstream shipper that will also handle the money transaction. You don't send any money until after you receive the laptop, but they need your payment information - and often, a checking account number - to verify you are ready to pay.

Once they have that the game is over of course. You wait patiently for the laptop, they start clearing out the account, and quickly.

It's basically the same scam as the gent who needs your account information to get the money he just inherited out of Africa. You know, the "Send me your wiring information so I can send you the money to help me get it out of the country,a nd in return you get 10%" one. Once the account info is available, you're toast.

 

[wesrk]

do not use craigslist unless you're meeting in a public place and selling or buying first hand, no shipping... that's the whole point of craigslist, to buy or sell in town.
I sold a dell laptop inside my university's student union, the guy saw it, inspected it, then went to the atm and took out money (all 20's), payed me and that was it. I took the money and waited for like half an hour for another guy who sold me the bike I have right now.
That's the only time I've used craigslist and that was 2 years ago.

 

[audionaut]

I'm pretty sure that this same a$$-hat posted a bunch of Craigslist ads that specifically asked for "Local buyers & Cash only" - probably to make it seem like they were local themselves (and henceforth trustworthy?) and to insure that any responses were from people that actually had the money in their hands/account. ...Then I got hit with the "student currently in the UK" routine.

If you were in the UK, couldn't you get at least $2000 (US dollarst) for a 2.2ghz Macbook pro? Wouldn't you prefer to be paid in Pounds rather than dollars anyway... Oh that's right, The computer is HERE in the states, but I need to wire you money, right? Wait, why don't we just do this in person?

I actually was on the hook for a minute with a guy that was selling Digidesign Pro Tools hardware on craigslist. He followed up with a phony middleman company that tried to look like "I Sold It"- and ebay selling assistant.
In the earlier days of the internet, there really were deals like this out there and you sometimes could find people that didn't really know the value of what they had... I think anyone can do a Google search nowadays and get a ballpark idea of what a used laptop is going for. If it looks too good to be true, It really is.

 

[alphaod]

The actual scam here is the fact that they want to use some out of mainstream shipper that will also handle the money transaction. You don't send any money until after you receive the laptop, but they need your payment information - and often, a checking account number - to verify you are ready to pay.

Once they have that the game is over of course. You wait patiently for the laptop, they start clearing out the account, and quickly.

It's basically the same scam as the gent who needs your account information to get the money he just inherited out of Africa. You know, the "Send me your wiring information so I can send you the money to help me get it out of the country,a nd in return you get 10%" one. Once the account info is available, you're toast.

So you go to your local bank and open up a new account and give them that account number. If they can tell you have no money, well that would say a lot won't it?

 

[lol]

And.. you guys were right:

Hello,

The laptop is still available and I hope you are still interested. My name is Amy and I am now in Manchester, U.K.
This machine has been used for professional needs over the past 10 Months, it is in great condition and runs perfectly, and beyond evidence of normal use the laptop is in perfect shape. The warranty is good until June 2010 and it is fully transferable. One more thing, it works on US voltage so you do not need a converter.
I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the laptop.
Please get back to me and let me know if you like the laptop if you're really interested in buying it.

Thanks,
Amy

She/he did attach some pictures that was probably founds lying around the net.

 

[marbles]

Hmmm... unless he sends you an empty box and claim to have sent you something.. and pull a bs like that??

yep , true ,

but me being me I wouldn't let the delivery guy go till I had opened the box and inspected the machine right in front of him/her ...I always do that , the delivery guys know me too well now and usually stay for a cuppa while I inspect whatever is delivered by recorded mail .

 

[marbles]

I think this part is the 'confidence' scam.

They become your friend and their goal is to just keep the dialoge up.

The idea that at each step of the scam if your still interested they ratchet up their efforts as the probability of success increases so they invest more time.

they use your own greed (the desire for great deal) against you. The rationalize that you it's your fault for being so 'greedy'

I've seen these guys in action quite often. Strangely, they sometimes invest quite a bit of time an effort for relatively small gains as the can be very competitive and hate to lose.

Glengarry Glen Ross, comes to mind.....great flick : )

suppose so but I'd just tell em to &^%$* off till I had the merchandise in my hand , they could mail me till blue in the face ....