What to do next: inadvertently baiting someone as myself

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 60

I am selling something on Craigslist and got an email from someone who sounded a bit sketchy. However, things improved and I got to the point where I thought it could be legit, so I left my address and phone #. Well, then I get the kicker "oh, we accidentally sent the wrong money order, can you cash it and send us the difference via Western Union" -- yeah, sure buddy. In your dreams.

Anyway, now I am in this position but the scammer has my real address, phone and email.

What would you recommend as a next step? I was thinking of playing it straight, and possibly emailing them that "oh, you know what? The bank says this money order is counterfeit. Now what would you like me to do?"

I would normally be tempted, if I was working under an alias, to tell them I cashed it and they are getting nothing, I'm keeping it all suck'a!!

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:15 pm

I'd say just stop responding, and block them from your e-mail address.

EDIT: And tear up that money order once it arrives...

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:22 pm

Finish it

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:51 pm

Tell the scammer you already sold the item, and not to send a cheque, then ignore everything else he says, and destroy the cheques if they arrive.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Hi Renovator and welcome. Very Happy

Good for you for spotting the overpayment scam so quickly.

What the other members are advising is to drop the scammer since he has your real life information. It's not a good idea to make them angry when they do. Despite the fact that any real danger is minimal, they do do things like mail bomb your email account, call you relentlessly, etc. It's better to keep baiting completely away from real life. Remember, they're criminals and may have associates closer to you than you think.

So, either make a new fake account and write to him out of the blue as if you received a query regarding Craigslist (don't mention anything that ties it back to you) or find plenty of other scammers to start baiting from a fake account. (Look in the surplus letters forum). Either way, welcome aboard.

PS. You can register at our sister site, http://www.ScamWarners.com and post the scammer's information, including early emails so that they show up in searches. It will likely prevent someone else from being scammed by him.

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