Help me with these Craigslist scammers

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Dec 2009 Posts: 2

I sell a lot of computers on craigslist and every time I make a post, I usually get around 10 scam emails within 24 hours. They are the typical email like, "Is the item still available" which is a dead giveaway since my ads typically have 3 or 4 different computers listed there. I always run a trace on the header of the emails and see that 95% of these are from Nigeria.

It appears about half of them want to pay via Paypal (using a phony paypal email, no doubt) and the other half want to send me a money order or something in the mail.

I've been trying to figure out a way to waste their time. So far, what I've done is setup a fake email account and everytime I get a scammer, I forward it to my fake email account, then I go to reply to the email but I change all of the details. I change the title of the craigslist ad to something totally different. So instead of a computer, it will be a Rolex Watch or a Flatscreen TV, etc. As well as make it appear they sent the email to my fake address to begin with. This way it will be impossible for them to know who I really am.

Then I reply and tell them it is still available and usually within a few hours they send me the typical scam offer and I will give them a fake name, address, etc. Then they always tell me they are sending the check. Now, I've only been doing this for a week and so far that is usually the end of the conversation. So I guess at some point they sent these checks and they will be returned to sender because the address does not exist.

But I'd really like to take this a step further. I want to waste a whole lot more of their time. I'd also like to get one of these checks to keep as a trophy piece, but I don't want to give them my real address.

Any ideas how to best accomplish this?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:06 pm

Hi, adric22, and welcome to Eater! Very Happy

You're doing well to spot the scammers, and good on you for creating the fake details to bait from. Steps 1 and 2 accomplished.

The next step toward actually getting a check would be to become a premium member (your name turns gold when you do that). It's a donation of $25 each year, but well worth it. Among the Premium baiting tools available are drop boxes, maintained by Eater members. You give the drop box address as your own, and if you want what the scammer sends you, contact the box owner to have the checks forwarded to you.

Now that you've begun, you'll find this hobby strangely addictive. Wink

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Dec 2009 Posts: 2

Well, I've been hard at work and so far I've gotten several fake paypal notices saying I've been sent money. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to do now, since the scammer is expecting me to send merchandise at this point. I tell you what, it would almost be worth it to pay shipping to Nigeria to send him a box of poop or something.

Now, the guy who wanted to send me the check and have me refund the rest to him via Western Union, is a different story. For one thing, the guy seems very cautious. I keep telling him to send the check, but he keeps writing back more emails explaining what he wants to do and making sure that it is okay. I keep telling him it is okay, but he seems very concerned that I will sense something wrong. I actually told him yesterday "Hurry up and send the check or I will sell to somebody else"

So I am definitely having fun with this guy because I know and he knows that it is a lot of work for him to send out those fake checks.

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:04 pm

It isn't actually work for HIM. The check will come from a check mule - another victim - who prints and distributes the checks for him. He just sends the mule a list of people to send checks to. The mule thinks he/she is doing a work-at-home job or doing something special for their "love" - your scammer as romance scammer.

Sending anything to the scammer is not a good idea - and in case you didn't know, sending poop or similar noxious stuff is illegal. Wink

(A really stinky cheese wouldn't be illegal, but still not a good idea.) The idea behind baiting is to keep him thinking you're a regular victim until either he twigs and drops you or you get tired of him and simply don't respond to his mails anymore. At that point you leave him scratching his head, wondering what the heck went wrong.

As for the PayPal scammers - they are actually after the goods. You could get into a slanging match with their "PayPal" about how much money is there, etc. They may be trying for the goods and extra money by "accidentally" sending you too much by PayPal.

Whatever you do, don't let the lad know that you know PayPal doesn't operate the way they're trying to tell you it does. Wink

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:21 pm

Hi adric22! Welcome to eater!
I learned recently, through a posting here, that paypal is very interested in being forwarded any paypal scams. Whenever you get one forward it to: [email protected].
Good job with those Craigslist scammers!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 22 Dec 2009 Posts: 24

These are my favorite scams. I've got at least 3 lads from Africa that want the laptops I'm selling. Among other things, I forward them a bunch of customs paperwork. Make them jump through hoops, string them along, see how much info I can get out of them. Listen to them rant and rave. Pretend to be scared when they threaten me. It's great fun. I love the spoofed PayPal messages they send. The lad I'm messing with at the moment sent me a spoofed PayPal message saying if I didn't provide proof in 4 hours that I had shipped the item, the FBI would come get me. The e-mail looked very official... even had an FBI ID card with Captain America's picture on it! Laughing

The problem I have is that most of them will bail the minute they start hitting any serious resistance. So it's hard to tie them up for too long (but that's part of why I'm here... to learn how to better string them along).

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:11 pm

Paypal craigscammers can be fun but generally speaking the notice you get from 'PayPal' will tell you that they won't release your money until they receive a Tracking Number indicating that your goods have been despatched.

Premium Membership gives you access to realistic courier websites that not only gives you a tracking number, but gives you total control of what happens to your consignment once it has been despatched.

CountZero wrote:

The problem I have is that most of them will bail the minute they start hitting any serious resistance. So it's hard to tie them up for too long (but that's part of why I'm here... to learn how to better string them along).

They won't bail out so quickly if you make your craigslisting sound extremely valuable. .... Try making it sound like six brand new top range cell phones that you no longer need for whatever reason.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 22 Dec 2009 Posts: 24

Yep, I just became a premium member and just handed out my first tracking receipt. So we'll see how bad the CL scammer wants his stuff. I also told him that there are actually two computers in the box because someone nearby bought one too. So I asked him if he would do me a favor and meet up with the other guy and save me some shipping costs. If he goes for it (which it sounds like he is) this should open up a whole bunch of possibilities from safaris to security pix.

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:36 pm

I had a great run with Craigslist scammers for a while, using the Allst4r shipping modality which is available to Premium members. It's amazing how much grief you can put them through, especially once the package is misdelivered and they need to file for insurance. Very Happy

I haven't been able to get anywhere with Craigslist lately because my ads keep getting flagged and pulled. Sad

I've been trying to make up ads that are ridiculous enough to put off any real buyers (I don't want to waste their time) but appeal to scammers. For example, TRS-80 Model 2 computer with 64K RAM, dual floppy disk drives, etc. etc. at a wildly inflated price. That worked for a while but the eagle-eyed people who police CL are quick to spot irregularities now.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 22 Dec 2009 Posts: 24

Just sell a Macbook Pro, the price on Apple stuff is already wildly inflated. Wink

You'll get a hit within 48 hours guaranteed. You can always tell legit buyers that you already have an interested party. Before you know it , you'll be getting lot's of these....

Quote:

Delivered-To: [email protected]
Received: by 10.223.114.144 with SMTP id e16cs550991faq;
Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:02:34 -0800 (PST)
Received: by 10.213.96.207 with SMTP id i15mr13940ebn.69.1261566153953;
Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:02:33 -0800 (PST)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from mail-ew0-f163.google.com (mail-ew0-f163.google.com [209.85.219.163])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id 23si21662846ewy.64.2009.12.23.03.02.32;
Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:02:32 -0800 (PST)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 209.85.219.163 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.219.163;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 209.85.219.163 as permitted sender) [email protected]; dkim=pass (test mode) [email protected]
Received: by ewy3 with SMTP id 3so3436706ewy.10
for <[email protected]>; Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:02:32 -0800 (PST)
<SNIP>
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 10.213.59.71 as permitted sender) client-ip=10.213.59.71;
Received: from mr.google.com ([10.213.59.71])
by 10.213.59.71 with SMTP id k7mr7698623ebh.77.1261566149735 <SNIP>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Sender: [email protected]
Received: by 10.213.59.71 with SMTP id k7mr7698623ebh.77.1261566149289; Wed,
23 Dec 2009 03:02:29 -0800 (PST)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:02:28 +0100
X-Google-Sender-Auth: 412f72e20c691f7a
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: ATTN-LEGAL ACTION ALERT FROM PAYPAL
From: "Service@paypal" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=00148531a397316906047b63428f

Hello Me,
It is important we know the status of the (2008 Macbook Pro 15.4" 2.5Ghz 250GB) bought from you otherwise, legal action may be taken against you since you have not replied to the confirmation of payment made to your Pay Pal account by our client ([email protected])account but will not be credited to your account until we receive the shipment reference number from you and for you to avoid legal action we give you 4hours to get the item ship out as soon as possible and get back to our customer care line with the shipment tracking number([email protected]) so that we can complete the transaction going between you and the buyer.

We believed you entered into bidding agreement by requesting money through Pay Pal,and by non response to the payment confirmation made to your account you have violate the Craigslist and Pay Pal agreement. However the buyer has already contacted us in other to make report about your non response.We are ensuring to make Pay Pal a safer place, therefore we need to set confidence on our users. Although, an error occurred while processing your payment as an error came upon our transaction machine in which we sent you two transaction payments but this has been taken care of and everything is now in place..We are ensuring to make Pay Pal a safer place and a secure way, therefore we need to set confidence on our users.

We request for the Scanned Receipt and the Tracking Number to prove postage of the item in less than 4hours and we will fund the money into your account or face the consequences of LEGAL ACTION or you be handover to the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (F. B. I).

We use proprietary technology and constantly innovate to help ensure your transactions are safe. In addition, Pay Pal has over 20,000 staffs worldwide dedicated to keeping Pay Pal accounts safe, and stopping online criminals. And we work with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) worldwide to shut off fraudulent websites as soon as possible.
Pay Pal's Fraud Investigation Team is highly experienced in fraud prevention. Several members of the team were former law enforcement officials with extensive experience in fighting online fraud. Pay Pal's fraud investigation team focuses on: Identifying and preventing fraud before it occurs, Detecting fraud in process Mitigating loss, if fraud does occur, Delivering information to law enforcement around the world to help stop those committing online fraud.

This is done in other to protect both the seller and buyer. .

------------------------------ ------------------------------
------------------------------ -------------------------

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------------
PayPal page.
PayPal Email ID: PP307

I dunno 'bout you guys, but Cap'n America's badge scared the hell out of me. Laughing

Scared me right into providing the GPS 3-Tr4ck reciept that I had been holding out on. If you want a lad to play with let me know. I have my hands full with 4 of them right now so if I get any more I can pass them off. They obviously can't know who the remailer is sending their email to.

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:22 am

Wait. Are you telling me that the captain America badge was created by a lad? Laughing

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 10:24 am

^^I strongly suspect that the Captain America ID was created by a carefully executed lad miseducation campaign. Wink

Not quite a Newb Joined: 22 Dec 2009 Posts: 24

Caligula wrote:

Wait. Are you telling me that the captain America badge was created by a lad? Laughing

No... I was merely commenting on its use by a lad for intimidation purposes... sarcasm you know. I laughed my butt off when I saw it in the PayPal eMail that's why I pulled it for my avatar. If you look at the link for it you can see where he pulled it from. No doubt he used Google Images to find it.

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