Craigs List Caveat

[tsk]

You will cash it at your bank, wait a bit, think all is fine. They pick up, along with the $30. A few days later the bank tells you the cashiers check was fake. It generally takes the bank a bit to figure out it's fake. You could quite easily get someone to send you one of the fake cashiers check and see how long it takes for the bank to tell you its fake (assuming you don't have a problem giving one of these scammers your address). I've always been tempted to see what one of these brilliant forgeries look like except I don't want to give my address to those people.

I offered some wooden ware on craigslist and got essentially the same reply. They were going to send a cashier's check, add $30. extra, and have assistant pick up items after I cashed the check. They also were headed to London for vacation. It was obviously not right, but I still am not sure how the scam worked if I cashed the check before he picked up the stuff. He even said that he would wait until the check was cleared before he picked up the stuff.

[EastSideBuzz]

Give your work address. The one from your day job.

[Duck1968]

I've always been tempted to see what one of these brilliant forgeries look like except I don't want to give my address to those people.

A few years ago my wife was selling a litter of puppys and gave one of these scamers our address. I am glad I was home when the ups truck came with the cashier check in it and I insisted that she visit the police station before going to the bank. The detective their quickly verified the the bank routing numbers on the check were bogus. The letter with the check said for her to keep $100 of the extra $500 and western union the remaining $400 to the agent that was going to pick the dog up then she was to call the agent with a conformation number. The detective had fun repeatedly calling the number and harrasing scamer after 2 days the number was disconnected. The check sure looked real even had water marks and holograms.

Brian

[Rick 1456]

The capabilities of in expensive image scanners, photo editing software and printers is amazing. It would only take the desire to do something like that to accomplish it. IMO

[Michael B]

This thread has made me change my ad on Craigslist. I have woodenware for sale. I have had a few people respond. I specify phone calls only. I have had people ask about PayPal and until now I had not thought of the fraud risk. I have changed to cash only.

A few day back I had a call about the ad. He said he was interested in the hives. I asked him what specifically he was interested in......deeps, mediums, inner covers........ He knew absolutely nothing about bee keeping. After reading this thread I am thinking this guy was up to no good.

[tsk]

I have heard of people getting phone calls also. I wouldn't worry about the emails. I would use an online email (gmail/hotmail/etc) to avoid issues on your regular email. Honestly, it's pretty easy to smell scams on craiglist:

1) Anytime they are traveling (especially out of the country), just ignore it. If you want to have some fun, you can say "Wow, what a stroke of luck. I'll be in London too! I can hand deliver you that nuc of bees."
2) If they offer you more than you asked, ignore.
3) If they didn't read your ad, ignore it (they ask a one line question about something that's in the ad, or have no clue about what you're selling).
4) If the English is obviously bad, ignore.
5) If it's too good to be true, forget about it.

The likelihood of scam goes up with the price and desirability of your item... Laptops, digital cameras, etc.

You can also communicate with these guys (from your fake email) and have some mild fun like I mentioned above about the traveling. It should be remembered that you're dealing with a criminal sort and you should be careful. There are people who spend lots of time having fun with these guys. I forget the name of the scammers but if you google "Nigerian scammer" I'm sure you can find the websites.

[timgoodin]

I usually specify paypal or cash upon pickup. I work at a bank and see those fake cashier's checks frequently. Treat all checks with doubt unless you can personally call the bank to verify them and verify who is giving them to you and your still not safe with fraudelent id's. Of course if it's your next door neighbor thats lived there 30 years your probably ok.

Tim

[Rick 1456]

As a former Law Enforcement Officer, I ask for ID,,,well except for cash

[NorthALABeeKeep]

I got a similar email from a post I had on craigslist 4 years ago. I posted honey for sell in quart jars. Some idiot sent a email requesting 40 gallons of honey for a upcoming wedding. I replied that I would require payment in gold bullion 30 days in advance. Never heard from them again.

[soupcan]

I had the same contact for 40 galllons of honey.
I had fun for a few days with the goof ball on the other end.
Did not hear much more after the last e-mail contact that explained how I traced his machine!!!!

[Nabber86]

You can have a lot of fun scamming the scammers. It has become an artform for some people.

Here are some ideas: http://oddorama.com/2008/02/11/scamm...reverse-scams/


Google scamming the scammers for moreinfo.

Be Careful!