The Chainlink

Craigslist Fraud

Alright so a few days ago my brother put a bike up for sale on craigslist. He got an offer from a guy that was on a "business trip" and had to pay with a money order. The guy offered him 50 bucks more than what he was selling it for. Which to me sounds very odd. My dumb brother agreed to it. Then he gets another email from the guy saying that his "assistant" sent him a check that was way more than the price of the bike, and that he wanted the difference sent back to him to pay off a shipping company for the bike's shipment. A few days later my brother got two checks for $985 each. He went on and deposited them to his account. When I found out about this whole transaction I told him not to send the guy any money. I'm pretty sure in a few days the bank will find out that they were fake money order checks and remove the money from his account. I thought this was a pretty interesting transaction. Has this ever happened to any of you? 

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 19, 2012 at 8:50pm

Please tell your brother that I have some prime oceanfront property in Florida. I'll make a special price for him...


But yeah, these frauds are pretty common on CL. Once I tried to sell a pair of brake levers on CL. I got an email saying that he wanted to buy my bike and was willing to pay more than I asked.

Never deal with money orders, cashier checks or the like on CL.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on July 19, 2012 at 8:50pm

Yes. Craigslist is absolutely horrible to use sometimes because of the scammers. This is why all transactions need to be face to face. Though, I don't know many people who actually fall for the scam. 

It's a good thing you intervened on time.

Permalink Reply by Joe Willis on July 19, 2012 at 10:32pm
I get these offers often from CL. Rule number 1 if it sounds to good to be true it probably it.
Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on July 19, 2012 at 10:37pm

He is going to be out 2 bounced check fees, about 2 weeks after being deposited.

 

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on July 19, 2012 at 10:59pm
Seriously??
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on July 19, 2012 at 11:38pm

This may be a no-brainer to us, but there are still plenty of people out there who are not able to spot the most generic Nigerian Scammer methods.  Many, but not all are members of cutures/sub-cultures that have only recently spanned the digital divide. I worry for them, but how to educate them?  The explicit warnings on every damn page of the Craigslist classifieds are clearly not cutting it.



in it to win it said:

Seriously??
Permalink Reply by Samuel Diaz on July 20, 2012 at 12:13am

Yeah I don't understand why my brother would fall for such a scam. I told him to go tell his bank about it so he doesn't get in any trouble or anything like that. Besides the bounce fee does anyone know if he would get in any trouble for that?

in it to win it said:

Seriously??
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on July 20, 2012 at 1:01am

Wow, are people really this stupid?

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on July 20, 2012 at 1:30am

No, no trouble.  Probable returned check fees depending on the bank.  Please god don't let him send them any money.

Samuel Diaz said:

Yeah I don't understand why my brother would fall for such a scam. I told him to go tell his bank about it so he doesn't get in any trouble or anything like that. Besides the bounce fee does anyone know if he would get in any trouble for that?

in it to win it said:

Seriously??
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 20, 2012 at 5:59am

+1

If you deal with PMO's then take them to the PO. As far as I know they don't charge  you when they are bad.  There are still a lot of folks who legitimately deal with PMO's because they refuse to deal with PayPay.  

But when someone "overpays" and wants a return/refund that is always a scam.  

h' said:

This may be a no-brainer to us, but there are still plenty of people out there who are not able to spot the most generic Nigerian Scammer methods.  Many, but not all are members of cutures/sub-cultures that have only recently spanned the digital divide. I worry for them, but how to educate them?  The explicit warnings on every damn page of the Craigslist classifieds are clearly not cutting it.



in it to win it said:

Seriously??
Permalink Reply by dan brown on July 20, 2012 at 9:26am


dug - I agree with you ; but as most of us know very well : there is no limit to the depths of human stupidity. almost all animals are smarter than a person who would fall for that scam (no offense to the OP's brother).

 

for some reason; some folks still have this notion that if something originates on the world wide web; it MUST be legit.

 

oh well....

 

sigh

 

DB


notoriousDUG said:

Wow, are people really this stupid?

Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on July 20, 2012 at 10:42am

LOL @ Duppie getting the joke wrong.  It's prime oceanfront property..in a landlocked state ;)

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