Craig's list scam?

[James Baker SD]

I posted a Delta shaper on the classifieds here on the Creek and also on my local woodworking club's newsletter. I got zero interest from both, not even a question let alone an offer to negotiate price. This morning I posted it on Craig's list and literally within a couple of minutes I had a contact expressing interest, no name, no contact info. I replied to the email (maybe I now regret that) and got a quick reply back saying he was at work on a ranch unable to pick it up personally, but would pay by check ($50 extra if I would take it off Craig's list immediately) and arrange a shipping company to come get it.

Given the warnings on Craig's list about scammers, given the grammatical errors in the contact, given still no name or contact info about him, and given the extreme interest in an item that garnered no interest here, I am going to ignore him and consider him a scam.

Anybody here that would do otherwise?

James

[Bruce Page]

I would be very leery any time there is an agent involved.

[Todd Burch]

I would ignore his email and report him, if that is an option.

[harry hood]

Yeah, this is a textbook Craigslist scam. See http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

[Myk Rian]

but would pay by check ($50 extra if I would take it off Craig's list immediately) and arrange a shipping company to come get it.
That wasn't enough to make you KNOW it's a scam?

[James Baker SD]

That wasn't enough to make you KNOW it's a scam?

Guess I just want to get rid of the dumb shaper too badly :D

[Larry Browning]

Send him and email saying to send you all the money including all shipping charges and an extra $50 for packing it up right now and after it clears the bank you will ship it to where ever he likes. Those are your terms and if that doesn't fit into his plans, he can go find another sucker.
I find it kind of entertaining to pull these guy's chains. They can get real mad and frustrated. It keeps them engaged so they don't bother other people. I did this to one guy, keeping him going for a week or 2. He said he was in the military overseas and couldn't pick it up himself bla bla bla! He threatened to call the police when I asked him to send me his military ID and social security number so I could check him out. I told him, please do, I'd like to talk to them too! He never contacted me again! Too bad, I thought we were getting along quite well.

[Larry Fox]

I have a love/hate relationship with CL for this very reason. I typically do what Larry said although I don't invest as much time. Simply telling them I am happy to as long as things clear and the dust settles typically is enough to make them go away. If I am bored I sometimes do something I find very amusing with telemarketers. I act very interested in the beginning and feign some type of distraction requiring that I put them on hold - sometimes for 5-10 minutes at a time - during which time I simply set the phone down and go about my business. I can typically get them to go through at least one and sometimes two of these cycles before they hang up. I hate being marketed to in my own home so it pleases me very much to waste their time and possibly annoy them.

[Todd Burch]

I have resorted to always hiding my email, and always adding my phone to the content of a picture. When I used to put my phone # in as text, I noticed my unsolicited phone offers increased dramatically.

[Larry Browning]

I have thought about sending the guy another email letting him know I had some more stuff for sale to see what he would do. But I never have.... yet:o

[John Fabre]

I'm glad to see you did not get taken, if I don't get a call from a CL ad I posted, I don't respond.

[Todd Burch]

... if I don't get a call from a CL ad I posted, I don't respond.

That makes no sense! I never respond to calls I don't get too! LOL

Must be a typo.

[Bill Cunningham]

Tell him to send you the money via Western Union.. You'll never hear from him again

[Rich Aldrich]

I had one where the guy was going to send a moving company to get the piece of equipment. I just needed to give him my address. I think they may have been interested in more that just the piece of equipment I was selling. I ignored the "offer".

[Greg Peterson]

Number one rule for CL: CASH ONLY!

No cash, no sale.

[James Baker SD]

OK, we all agree this guy was a scammer. But what was his angle? How did he hope to rip me off? Any ideas?

[John Fabre]

That makes no sense! I never respond to calls I don't get too! LOL

Must be a typo.
Yea, I meant to add "don't respond to the emails".

[John Fabre]

OK, we all agree this guy was a scammer. But what was his angle? How did he hope to rip me off? Any ideas?
He wanted to send you a bad check and back out of the deal before the check cleared. Then wanting you to send a refund and tell you to keep the $50.00 extra for your trouble.

[Dick Strauss]

Another option of how the scam works:

You get a bad check for the tool price + $50 that you deposit to your account. The shipper picks up the item before the bank notifies you several weeks later that the check is bad. You end up with a worthless check and your tool is gone!

[Steve Meliza]

I've heard that simply having the check clear at your bank isn't enough and they can still come back later and yank the money. It's cash only and the first person to hand me the cash in person gets it. Everyone else is just white noise, ignore them and move on. I prefer to communicate initially by email as it doesn't interrupt me like a cell phone call and it is real easy to delete those offers of 50% of your asking price. Once a person has committed to coming out to see it we can switch to phone calls if needed.

[Larry Browning]

I've heard that simply having the check clear at your bank isn't enough and they can still come back later and yank the money. It's cash only and the first person to hand me the cash in person gets it. Everyone else is just white noise, ignore them and move on. I prefer to communicate initially by email as it doesn't interrupt me like a cell phone call and it is real easy to delete those offers of 50% of your asking price. Once a person has committed to coming out to see it we can switch to phone calls if needed.

My experience has been that once a check has actually cleared, that's it, can't be yanked later. Most banks will show the check as deposited, but that does not mean the check has cleared. It will sometimes show as a pending deposit. Your bank can inform you when the check actually clears. It can take a few days, up to a week or so. I would not ship an item until the bank verifies the check had actually cleared. I don't do much of this, but isn't that what paypal is supposed to be in business to do?

[Steve Meliza]

I've had a $300 PayPal payment reversed after I shipped because it was funded using a stolen credit card.

[harry hood]

You should have given them an enemy's address in the interest of science.

[Larry Browning]

I've had a $300 PayPal payment reversed after I shipped because it was funded using a stolen credit card.

I know this is a bit off topic. I have not used paypal very much, so I am pretty ignorant of the concept. I have always assumed that the main reason to use paypal was to establish a 3rd party link between buyer and seller. So that the buyer could send money to paypal knowing that if the seller didn't send the merchandise or there was some sort of problem he would have a way of proving he actually sent the money in good faith. And the seller could also have some protection knowing that the buyer had actually paid for the merchandise.
Is this not how it works? If not, then what exactly is the service paypal offers?

[glenn bradley]

Seriously? Its 2012. Do these scams still work?