Why are there SO many obvious scams on craigslist.

[booste]

=/ I found this $500 brand new MBP offer on craigslist and after instantly realizing it was a scam I sent the guy an email... Anyways this is the whole thing:

Hello
Thanks for your reply, and also your interest in my Brand new Apple Mac Pro Laptop for $500, i am Pastor David Wend the owner of the laptop,
i am current in West Africa on a mssionary work, and i have the Brand new Apple Mac Pro Laptop with me here and i will be shipping it down to your doorstep, it only takes 1- 2 days to get to you by DHL delivery service, and the means of payment is by western union money transfer, so if still interested in this laptop, email me back with your

full shipping details such as :
Your full name:
Your full address and zipcode:
phone number:

so email me back, so i can start to package the laptop for delivery as soon as possible, so you can make payment
and i can ship the laptop to you as soon as possible and email you the tracking number and delivery details
have a nice day and hope to read from you soon
Regards
Pastor David Wend

--- On Sun, 4/19/09, ################# wrote:


From: ###############
Subject:
To: davidwend@yahoo.com
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2009, 12:42 AM

Hi, I am interested in your new $500 Macbook Pro on craigslist.

I am wondering why it is so cheap.... Is there anything wrong with it? If not, why is it so cheap?

I sent him a reply asking how i know he's legit... Let's see if he replies...

But also, is there any way to report these people to the police or something.. maybe they can trace the ip...

 

[imaketouchtheme]

=/ I found this $500 brand new MBP offer on craigslist and after instantly realizing it was a scam I sent the guy an email... Anyways this is the whole thing:



I sent him a reply asking how i know he's legit... Let's see if he replies...

But also, is there any way to report these people to the police or something.. maybe they can trace the ip...

And what are you going to tell the police? Exactly... Unless you've been scammed, that person won't get in trouble.

 

[Ryan1524]

Sadly, because they work and people Are that dumb.

 

[Frisco]

"Why are there SO many obvious scams on craigslist"

1) Because craigslist is free to post

and

2) Their scams work because there are a lot of suckers out there.

 

[0098386]

You can't report it to the police, you can report it to the site owner however.

 

[MacDawg]

Have you ever noticed how many people post here saying "Is this a scam?"
For every one that posts here... there are many, many more that don't bother to ask

How many suckers do you think it takes to make it worthwhile to scam?

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[ravenvii]

Have you ever noticed how many people post here saying "Is this a scam?"
For every one that posts here... there are many, many more that don't bother to ask

How many suckers do you think it takes to make it worthwhile to scam?

Woof, Woof - Dawg

Just one. It's free to post, so one loses nothing, yet gets gets $500. Win-win (for the scammer that is, not the scammed, obviously).

 

[TK B$K]

Why are there SO many obvious scams on craigslist?

Because there are SO many dumb people on the internet.

 

[maestro55]

Yes, posting a personal is a sure way to get tons and tons of spam messages. All kind of generic responses, if you respond you get an instant email back with a link to some pay site. Craigslist is an amazing site, but yes there is tons of spam out there. Best thing to do for posts that are obvious scams, just report them.

 

[Mr. lax]

Sadly, because they work and people Are that dumb.

+1 That would definitely be my guess

 

[iPhoneNYC]

ditto for Ebay

 

[0098386]

ditto for Ebay

Even I've fallen for a couple on eBay nothing major and I got my money back each time. Some folk even set up a multitude of fake accounts and give each other quite convincing looking feedback. This was back in 2006 though I imagine eBay are much more on the ball about this kind of douchery.