craigslist possible scam? first time user help please

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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:10 pm

IS THIS STILL FOR SALE ? ----His reply to craigslist ad for china for sale in [email protected]--on 1/27/2010

yes it is martin call me at 214-695-38xx----My response--1/30/2010

[email protected]----His reply--on--Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 12:19 AM
Hi,
I'm glad that you still got it. I'm presently on vacation but I will ask my assistant to prepare and mail your payment. And I am sure you will receive it in the next 3 - 5 business days. I will add $50 extra for you to keep it in my favour and also for the delay. I will pay you with Cashier Cheque. If this is acceptable by you, Send me your info i.e your full NAME to cash Cashier Cheque and ADDRESS for the payment and also a contact NUMBER. Arrangement for pick-up will be after you must have received and cashed the Cashier Cheque
Awaiting your info
Thanks.

My reply ---on---Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 3:14 PM
Martin, Thank you for your interest and reply about the china, a U.S. Postal Money Order is more acceptable. Please feel free to call me at
214-695-38xx
my mailing address is Mark xxxxer, xx11 xxmxx Circle Dallas, TX xx228....I would be more comfortable delivering the china and receiving payment at that time please call immediately when you receive this e-mail as I am in the processes of the sale of my mothers house

his reply
Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 3:14 PM

subjectRe: 12 place setting-Royal Jackson China - $500 (Buckner &I-30)
mailed-bygooglemail.com
signed-bygmail.com

hide details 4:55 AM (11 hours ago)

I am on business vacation to London so i have asked my assistant to prepare and mail out your payment immediately,Let me know when it has been recieved and cashed by you so that pickup arrangement can commence.
Thanks.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

Yes, it's a classic over-payment scam. You may want to wander over to our sister site http://www.scamwarners.com and you'll see all kinds of helpful information regarding this and other scams.

EDIT: See here: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1925&p=20563&hilit=craigslist#p20563

Soon, he will send the check, which will be an overpayment (probably for more than just the $50 he mentioned) and ask you to cash the check (which your bank may do) and then wire some portion of it either to his business associate or possibly the shipping company (notice how he says that arrangement for pick-up will be made after you cash it). He gets the profit, you get hit by your bank for cashing a bad check.

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:39 pm

Possible a bad cheque. I'm not totally sure though.

Does it seem like the buyer knows what he is buying ?
What is the item he is buying ? (what price is it ?)
The email adress is extremly shoddy. What bussiness owner with an assistant uses a gmail adress with numbers in it ? If you can afford an assistant , you probably have a company email adress. Or at least a more imaginative gmail adress.
His english skills are also... pretty bad.

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:41 am

auguste wrote:

Possible a bad cheque. I'm not totally sure though

it will definitely be a bad cheque.

the scam relies on the fact that most people don't know how the banking system works.
the victim gives the cheque to the bank, and after 3 days the bank says that the cheque has cleared.
this does not mean the cheque is good, simply that no problem has been found so far.
however, the victim's account will be credited and the scammer will press for money to be sent by w.u.
- most victims will go along with that if they have got to this stage.

but eventually the bank will declare the cheque is bad, and they will deduct the amount from the victim's account.
the victim has then lost all money that was w.u.ed - he/she cannot recover it.

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

To add to what others have said, yes it is a scam. It's a classic Craigslist overpayment scam. A check will be sent, oops, the secreatary screwed up and wrote it for more than the amount, and would you please deposit the check and Western Union him the difference.

When you deposit a check, the bank must, by law, make the funds available to you anywhere from immediately to five days, depending on the amount of the check. This does NOT mean that the check has cleared. In many cases, especially with instruments written on foreign accounts, it can take weeks or even months for the check to be returned as bad. And make no mistake about it, the check is bad.

So let's say that you didn't visit our wonderful site, you don't know this is a scam, and you cash the check and send him the money. You will soon have two problems on your hands:

- The check will bounce, your account is probably in the red, and the bank will want you to make a deposit (which you probably don't have) to bring the account good.

- You could very well be facing legal issues for acting as a check mule.

These bastages are really nasty. It's good that something rang a bell with you and you caught it. Send the scammer an email telling him that you have sold the item, and stop all communication with him. He has your real life information.

edit to add - Anytime you are buying/selling something on Craigslist I would STRONGLY recommend that you only deal locally, and only deal in cash. Craigslist provides a nice service, but it is also scammer haven. I could go down to the dump, take a picture of the grubbiest, nastiest couch they have, put it for sale on Craigslist for $2,000, and I would have offers like you just described from scammers. I'm not a big fan of Craigslist, but if you do use them deal locally and in cash.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 15 Mar 2010 Posts: 1

I just joined because I wanted to say thank you - I am glad that I found this page! I received a response to an advert I recently posted on Craigslist regarding a grill I have for sale. Whilst my initial reaction was only that the grammar seemed a bit 'off', my husband was a lot more suspicious of the email. Anyway, I googled the senders email address and ended up here. I received virtually the same responses as the person above (from a Martin Wood):

-still for sale ?

then:

- Hi,
I'm glad that you still got it. I'm presently on vacation but I will ask my assistant to prepare and mail your payment. And I am sure you will receive it in the next 3 - 7 business days. I will add $30 extra for you to keep it in my favour and also for the delay. I will pay you with Money Order. If this is acceptable by you, Send me your info i.e your full NAME to cash money order and ADDRESS for the payment and also a contact NUMBER. Arrangement for pick-up will be after you must have received and cashed the Money Order.
Awaiting your info
Thanks.

I am glad now that I did not reply. Thanks again for alerting me to this. I hope it can help somebody else too!

Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:05 pm

Hi bunnyinthebox

Welcome to 419Eater Glad you found us. Take a look around and stay awhile.

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