Power Sellers Unite

guitarbuddies · Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 40

I have had such a head ache recently with people trying to scam me.

I keep getting these idiots sending requests for the purchase of my product then asking to pay via western union but state they will have the item picked up by a private currier so shipping not needed?? it's a small item that can go in the post. Oh by the way ( this is them ) they will send more than I actually asked for because of some cock and bull story and just to deduct my fee and forward the rest of the cash with the currier.

This is obviously a scam and once they realize that I will only ship through my own source and all I will accept is the asking price plus shipping I don't hear from them again.

It got so bad that I have put a note on my add telling scammers to keep away, and am considering not dealing with anyone who wants to use Western Union.

I have not sold one item through Craig's list but had tones of scammers. Whats actually happening with this blatant scam?

I assume the postal cheque is bogus and once detected I have to pay the cash back but in the mean time the scammers got cash that was supposedly overpaid....

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 17229 Location: Texas

Consider this post a public service. Two people who I know well were getting close to caught up in a real estate scam on Craigslist, and in the extended entries I'm including the correspondence. Coincidentally, both people who were targeted knew each other and shared the emails with each other and noticed that some of the same wording was in each one, even though they were supposedly sent by different people. Here's how the scam works:

Someone posts a classified ad for a housing rental on Craigslist (the poster is the honest one here, the patsy). Both people I know who got sucked up posted in New York. It's safe to say this can happen to someone posting in any city, on or off Craigslist, but based on the volume of posts, ease of posting, and diversity of people posting (from those who are struggling financially to the well-heeled who are using all channels available), it's possible Craigslist is the target for the scam.

more.. link to news article

sycore · Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 28

I like to mess with them, giving them the address of the attorney general office as my address, so at least the are out the money to fedex you the fake cashier check.