Scam, or deal of the year?

[Anonymous Freak]

Saw a Craigslist post for a "2.7 GHz 15" Retina MacBook Pro" for $1000. The catch? "It doesn't work, I have some flashing folder icon when I turn it on and I don't have the time to fix it."

Yeah.... Either this is a very rich person too lazy to fix things, or a scam. And an out-of-state area code (of course, that doesn't mean much nowadays when people keep their phone numbers when they move.)

So I figure either I'll get a deal, or I'll string along a scammer for a while. A little texting back and forth (from an anonymous VOIP-based number I have,) and I say I can meet tonight. He says he is about to meet another person, but if that falls through, he'll let me know.

A while later, I text "my bank is going to close in 30 minutes, did the other person buy it or should I go get cash?" The reply was "I can't tonight, gotta be with the girlfriend at the hospital." Didn't even address if someone else bought it.

So I'm now sure this is a scam, and he's going to text tomorrow something along the lines of "we had to leave town to see an emergency specialist - but I still want to sell it, and now I need the money quicker! I'll drop it to $800, you wire the money via Western Union, and I'll mail it from where we are."

I'll see how long I can string along the scammer (everybody needs hobbies.)

(Or I'll get a deal, if it really is real. Even if the SSD is completely toast, $1000 plus a new SSD is still an amazing deal on a RetinaBook.)

 

[Starfyre]

Play along. Be nice. Or you'll end up on one or multiple of his spam/scamlists.

 

[KeegM480]

Saw a Craigslist post for a "2.7 GHz 15" Retina MacBook Pro" for $1000. The catch? "It doesn't work, I have some flashing folder icon when I turn it on and I don't have the time to fix it."

Yeah.... Either this is a very rich person too lazy to fix things, or a scam. And an out-of-state area code (of course, that doesn't mean much nowadays when people keep their phone numbers when they move.)

So I figure either I'll get a deal, or I'll string along a scammer for a while. A little texting back and forth (from an anonymous VOIP-based number I have,) and I say I can meet tonight. He says he is about to meet another person, but if that falls through, he'll let me know.

A while later, I text "my bank is going to close in 30 minutes, did the other person buy it or should I go get cash?" The reply was "I can't tonight, gotta be with the girlfriend at the hospital." Didn't even address if someone else bought it.

So I'm now sure this is a scam, and he's going to text tomorrow something along the lines of "we had to leave town to see an emergency specialist - but I still want to sell it, and now I need the money quicker! I'll drop it to $800, you wire the money via Western Union, and I'll mail it from where we are."

I'll see how long I can string along the scammer (everybody needs hobbies.)

(Or I'll get a deal, if it really is real. Even if the SSD is completely toast, $1000 plus a new SSD is still an amazing deal on a RetinaBook.)

That girlfriend thing makes it seem like a scam, I had tried meeting someone like three times, first time it was that his girlfriend was in the hospital, then he slept in and then he got stuck in an accident that didn't exist. Western Union is almost guaranteed to be a scam. (Craigslist strongly reccomends not using it.)

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Interesting that the "girlfriend in the hospital" is a repeat excuse.

As for "being on a list" - I'm not worried, I haven't used my name, and the number I'm texting from is an anonymous number from a VOIP service. And if I ever *DO* need to give a name, I'll give a fake one. (If it turns out to be real, I'd be paying with cash anyway, so it wouldn't matter what name I give.)

Yeah, when I first replied, I was at "90% scam, 10% real", after a couple messages I had dropped down to "80% scam, 20% real," then after the girlfriend thing, I'm at "99% scam, 1% real". It's unlikely he's even in the same city, so I don't have to worry about my physical well being. And there is no way in hell I would even consider Western Union or similar.

 

[johnnnw]

No doubt it my mind it's a scam.

The Western Union thing sealed the deal. Scam.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

No doubt it my mind it's a scam.

The Western Union thing sealed the deal. Scam.

No, I haven't gotten any Western Union request yet - that was my "what I expect to happen" scenario.