Is this a scam email?

jakescape53

jakescape53

CAGiversary!
Feedback
1 (100%)
I just got this email from Craig's List and seems too good to be true and seems to follow most of the signs of a scam. Not only in the subject did they offer $70 more than what i was asking but the email talked like it was an auction. Heres a copy of the email.

Hi, I will like to know the present condition of your item, And if its been available for sale, because am interested in purchasing the item and i intend to end the bid on this item, so am offering you the above price for the item. Hope to read from you soon...
Jide Badmos

Has scam written all over it. Your thoughts?
 
Definitely a scam. A big sign is when they don't refer to what you're selling, they just call it "item"
You could either forget about them or play along and mess with them if you're bored. Ask them if you can ship with their FedEx account and ship bricks and dogshit and what not.
 
[quote name='jakescape53']haha i didnt even bother replying. I wont even waste money on postage to ship out a brick or a bag of rocks or anything.[/quote]
No, a lot of scammers have a Fedex account and will pay postage for you to ship to them. After all, what's $20 for a $1000 Laptop? Shipping something heavy to them will make them take a hit to their wallet
 
[quote name='soccerstud652']lol so devious...

What is the scam here though? If you get the $$ first why does it matter?[/QUOTE]
He won't get any money :roll:
 
Ive had three of these from craigslist in the past two weeks. All of them offer more than the requested amount for my item, they all want to pay with an international money order sent by alertpay, and use their fedex account for shipping. I usually reply with a simple, yet straight to the point "fuck off"
 
[quote name='soccerstud652']Yeh exactly. Except I have found doing these deals in public places is alot more safe than your house. Rember, safety first. lol[/QUOTE]

That's good advice. In the past I have made tranactions in local hotel lobbies where I know there are tables/chairs and power outlets if necessary.
 
Yeh, if you have one or can get one cheap, a portable DVD player will let you test out anything you need to make sure you are not scammed. All you need is an outlet for the video game. I have found even a place like McDonald's or Starbucks to work great. If you invite people to your house and they trip fall and break thier arm, or stage it, you are responsible for the $$$. I know at CAG we are all usually for helping each other out, so a local deal with a CAG'er is probably ok, but as for the rest of the world, be careful and take precaution.
 
You could do like that one p-p-p-powerbook guy. That story was funny as hell, definately the route i'd choose to scam the scammer.
 
Actually, most of these guys will send you a money order. Your bank will cash it and the funds will show in your account. Then a week later your bank will tell you that the money order bounced (a lot of people don't seem to know money orders can be bad/bounce just like checks) and they're taking the money plus a penalty out of your checking account.

A popular variation on this scam is to send you $1,000 for a $500 item that you are supposed to ship somewhere. They are supposedly including the extra money for shipping, then you are supposed to wire them back the difference via Western Union (whatever part of the $500 you didn't spend on shipping). The address they give you is fake...they don't actually care about receiving the item you're selling. Their profit is from the wire you send them as a partial refund for their fake money order.

I know a few dumbasses personally who have fallen for this scam, one of which asked my advice, I told her it was a scam, and she still cashed the money order. Sigh.

----

As for doing deals in your home, there's no way I'd ever let strange people from the Internet visit my house. There's too many crazies out there and I don't want them getting a peek at the cool video game shit I have around here so they can come back and rob me later. The few in person deals I've done off Ebay and other sites have been in public places with lots of witnesses. Whenever anyone on Ebay aks if they can pick up my small item in person, I always say no. It's not worth the inconvenience and risk for a $5 game so some one can save $2 on shipping.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top