Craigslist Scam....

I've done business on CL for many years now and have never run into any problems with sales or purchases that I got a "red" flag for, meaning I've never felt anything being off, or a weird feeling.
This afternoon I rec'd a response email for an item I listed yesterday (my stove) and this guy was willing to pay my asking price and give me $20 to hold the stove until he could get movers there to pick it up. Sight unseen, claims he is away on business. Of course red flag craziness is going off in my head.
He said when his cashiers check clears he would make arrangements for the pickup.

When you spend 1k on something that is used, you go look at it and talk price face to face. Or at least I do.
So, my wife puts on her lawyer face and writes a response. I have yet to hear back from him.
And lastly, after looking up CL scams, it seems to be popular right now to receive cashiers checks that are fake and after they cash and follow you back, you own it.

Has anyone been involved with anything like this, and if so what did you do? How did you handle It?

 

I don't take check from anyone I don't know. He can send money via paypal even without an account. Tell him to forget the extra $20 because paypal will probably eat that in fees and to paypal to your email address and to pay all fees associated with the transfer. In this day and age, never trust strange checks.

 

SCAM,SCAM,....SCAM. Run,Run,Run.

 

Ignore them. They will go away. I sold a stove several years ago and got the " My mens will be over with truck and will give a check" story. I did not respond back. Never had a follow up response.

Cash is king. Good advice from Griz on Paypal.

 

Take a check from someone you have never met or heard of? Nope.

 

Cash only for me. And yes, on larger ticket items, I almost feel like something is wrong if I DONT get a bs offer like that.

If you want to know how serious he is, ask for his phone number. Tire kickers and scam guys won't reply ever again.

 

Be sure to check the cash for counterfeits as well.

 

Thanks for the responses fellas. I think it's a wash, after my wife wrote a legally based email back to him with specific conditions we never heard back. That was a scam for sure.

 

And then the cashiers check arrives and it is for $10,000. His reply will be 'Oops, my assistant sent $10,000 instead of $1000. Would you mind depositing the check and sending me back the $9,000 overpayment via Western union?'

 

Craigslist's own page on common scams.

I don't sell much on CL, but when I do such scam replies are pretty common. I think the first time, several years ago, I knew their proposal was ridiculous but didn't realize it was a common scam, so I just replied with a curt 'no thank you.' Once the pattern became obvious I got a little sarcastic in a couple of answers, e.g. "You have got to be kidding." Now I just ignore them. I have seen one theory, and it seems plausible, that the scammers intentionally don't put a lot of effort into concealing the scam because they only want the most gullible targets to respond.

 

Your 100% correct, and a lot of what you said happened here. But now that I think of it, in order to make big on a scam you would also have to go towards bigger $ items. On this particular posting of mine, this is the most I've asked for any one item, so I'm sure this would attract a potential scammer.

 

I wish you were closer. I've been looking for an olso. I even have real money...

 

Any idea what it cost to ship a stove 800 miles?

 

Road trip.

 

It would have to go freight.

 

A pickup truck, 2 drivers with 2 days off from work and 6 tanks of gas.

 

In God we trust. Everyone else pays cash (on CL anyway).

 

I will sends my mens over with a truck and pick for you up the item and ship it. They will have check...