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My friend just got scammed on craiglist

T

tomi156

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2012
15
0
My friend found a guy selling iPhone 4s on craigslist for $350 and they agreed to meet up and made a transaction
He asked me to go with him and we met the seller yesterday. He gave my friend the iPhone, in box and with all accessories. The phone was indeed new and just had few scratches on the sides.
My friend bought it but then today he called me, saying that the phone is actually an iPhone 4, and it is not worth the price. He looked like a zombie this morning when I met him to talked about this situation

What he got from the buyer is the name (probably fake), phone number, email, address (not sure if fake..)
Also the fingerprints on the box, the phone, and the pen to write down that seller's address

He called the police but they said they cannot help w the situation like this.
Do you guys have any suggestion?

Thanks alot
 
Last edited:
It's pretty easy to tell the differences between a 4 and 4S.

There's nothing he can do now. You live and you learn.
 
Damn. he should have looked at the difference in the band, or saw if it had Siri or not
 
Gotta be careful on Craigslist. I'm not sure there is any action u can take against the seller.
 
tomi156 said:
My friend found a guy selling iPhone 4s on craiglist for $370 and they agreed to meet up and make a transaction
He asked me to go with him and we met the seller yesterday and he gave my friend the iPhone, in box and with all accessories. The phone was indeed new and just has few scratches on the sides.
My friend bought it but then today he called me, saying that the phone is actually an iPhone 4, and it is not worth the price. He looked like zombie this morning when I met him and talked about this situation

What he got from the buyer is the name (probably fake), phone number, email, address (not sure if fake..)
Also the fingerprints on the box, the phone, and the pen to write down that seller's address

He called the police but they said they cannot help w the situation like this.
Do you guys have any suggestion?

Thanks alot
Click to expand...
Try and research the law where this happened. It's likely that the police can't do anything. You'll have to take this person to civil court. Otherwise, you're friend is pretty much SOL unfortunately. Can you find the craigslist link and either pm it to me, or just post it in the thread?
 
Search for the sellers phone # in "all for sale" in Craigslist. Find an ad of him selling something else, meet up to "buy" it and settle things there.
Yes, I have experience with Craigslist scams, and got revenge lol.
Odds are he's selling other items.
 
From what you said, it doesn't sound like the phone was actually new (still sealed) in the box.

Your friend could try small claims court, provided that the seller actually gave your friend valid information, and the ad on Craigslist stated that the item was in fact a new (in the box) 4s phone.

Was your friend able to activate the phone to his account?

Edited to add: I just now read the ad. I see it wasn't new. :-( Why didn't your friend (or you) check it out first?
 
355922 said:
Search for the sellers phone # in "all for sale" in Craigslist. Find an ad of him selling something else, meet up to "buy" it and settle things there.
Yes, I have experience with Craigslist scams, and got revenge lol.
Odds are he's selling other items.
Click to expand...

he doesnt put his phone # on craiglist, thats the problem :(
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
From what you said, it doesn't sound like the phone was actually new (still sealed) in the box.

Your friend could try small claims court, provided that the seller actually gave your friend valid information, and the ad on Craigslist stated that the item was in fact a new (in the box) 4s phone.

Was your friend able to activate the phone to his account?

Edited to add: I just now read the ad. I see it wasn't new. :-( Why didn't your friend (or you) check it out first?
Click to expand...

yes it's not new, that's why it has that price
the phone was reset so he couldnt activate it without the micro simcard. But then he checked the display and it was fine
 
He can be found, unless he specifically uses proxy, and other misinformation to hide who he is.

If it's worth the time and money, you can find this person. Talk with a "private detective", and they'll give you a good idea of what can be done. If this were me, I'd already have an idea in the office of a clerk of court to get a subpoena done to get the ip address that was used to create the listing; and then go from there.
 
tomi156 said:
My friend found a guy selling iPhone 4s on craiglist for $350 and they agreed to meet up and make a transaction
He asked me to go with him and we met the seller yesterday and he gave my friend the iPhone, in box and with all accessories. The phone was indeed new and just has few scratches on the sides.
My friend bought it but then today he called me, saying that the phone is actually an iPhone 4, and it is not worth the price. He looked like zombie this morning when I met him to talked about this situation

What he got from the buyer is the name (probably fake), phone number, email, address (not sure if fake..)
Also the fingerprints on the box, the phone, and the pen to write down that seller's address

He called the police but they said they cannot help w the situation like this.
Do you guys have any suggestion?

Thanks alot
Click to expand...
Not trying to sound like a jerk or anything, but knowing that there are two models looking very similar (4, 4S), your friend really should've done some research as to how to distinguish between the two.
 
F34RTEHR34PER said:
He can be found, unless he specifically uses proxy, and other misinformation to hide who he is.

If it's worth the time and money, you can find this person. Talk with a "private detective", and they'll give you a good idea of what can be done. If this were me, I'd already have an idea in the office of a clerk of court to get a subpoena done to get the ip address that was used to create the listing; and then go from there.
Click to expand...

from what i heard from my friend, he called the police and said that he has the name, phone #, fingerprints of that guy, and asked them if they can do anything like tracking from the email like you said. But they said NO (as expected)
 
tomi156 said:
but there's nothing much to identify i think. I'll ask my friend to try, thanks
Click to expand...

You and your friend met him, so you can provide a physical description. The smart play would be to search for another posting of his on the site, arrange to meet again. But this time have someone else around who might be able to track him back to a vehicle or something that could be used to identify him further.
 
dmccloud said:
You and your friend met him, so you can provide a physical description. The smart play would be to search for another posting of his on the site, arrange to meet again. But this time have someone else around who might be able to track him back to a vehicle or something that could be used to identify him further.
Click to expand...

the post doesnt have much info. Not even the phone #. I really dont know why my friend could agreed to settle a transaction. But I feel sorry for him. Do you have any specific idea how to track other posts from this seller just by this post? Thanks
 
Most people are selling the iPhone 4S on my local Craigslist for $350. An iPhone 4 for around $250. So basically he got scammed out of $100 is what I'm gathering? Have him pick up an extra shift or two at work, sell the phone for whatever he can get out of it, and buy the right phone he was searching for with new found information about a "real" 4S.
 
I'm a 4s owner and I don't even know the difference of 4 and 4s besides Siri and I owned all the iPhone except the 5 what is the diff
 
Nothing that can be done sadly. Kinda wish ur friend would have checked it, but then again, it's not entirely his fault. The guy on Craigslist just scammed $200 from him. You live and you learn sadly
 
Given the dollar amounts involved, it most likely is a live and learn situation. However, if you are able to track down the person's identify small claims court may be an option (though I'm sure very few of us posting have any idea what the law is in British Columbia). That's one significant disadvantage of Craiglist vs. an eBay auction or a straight transaction through PayPal.

The only outwardly visible difference between the 4 and 4S is that the 4 has the little band in the antenna bar along the top (next to the headphone jack), while on the 4S it is on the left hand side. It's the result of the redesign to address the "death grip" issue that caused some people to drop calls.
 
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