craigslist scammer trolled

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... A647Fu&r=w

the email was from [email protected]

i'll keep this updated as best i can. here is what happened and what I've posted so far:

____________________________________________________

I posted a drum set on craigslist and got a response. After giving this person a few details on the condition and specs of the kit, I got the following email.

"I Hope the drum set is in good condition

I will be paying you with check since I am presently on business
equipping a music school.(This is why I am Buying your drum set).If
satisfied with the mode of payment, Send the following details..

1...Your name that will appear on the check.

2..Your address the check will be sent to(NO P.O BOX)

3...Your telephone number so that I will call you once the check is sent.

I also need to inform you that the check will include an excess funds
so Once you cash the check and get the money,forward the excess funds
to the shipping company,the shipping company will come to your address
to pick up the drum set.Send details requested above ONLY if you agree
with this and the Payment method


Will be expecting your reply if you have any questions."

This just doesn't seem right. At the same time, though, I don't see any real danger in giving this a shot. He isn't currently asking for any potentially damaging information. I'd like a concrete example of why this is a bad idea, what I can do to test if it's a scam, or what I should do to prevent getting scammed by this guy. I've picked out scam artists before and have never been hurt by them. They're usually simple to spot. This time I'm not sure.
34 minutes ago - 4 days left to answer.

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Additional Details
I just replied with this message:

"I would certainly be willing to allow the drum set to be shipped to you if you are willing to pay for the shipping. If you send a check, I will have to verify it with my bank before sending the drum set. Otherwise you can also pay me via Paypal, Electronic Funds Transfer, or money order. Either way, I will have to give you a forward address, as I cannot give you my own."
17 minutes ago

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I got a pretty quick reply:

"Unfortunately only means available to me are to send check. I would be happy to send a check with excess funds with which to pay the shipping company. I will be pleased to hear your reply."

So I'm convinced it's a scam now. I'm thinking of sending the following message:

"I think I may be able to make that work. However, in order to let my future customers on my website know that you were satisfied with my service, I would like you to send me an email with a picture of you holding a sign that says, "I love Banging Cox." Banging Cox is my drum resale company. Good customer satisfaction stories will be good for business.

Anyway, you can send that check to the following name/address:

Rusty Trombone of Bangin Cox and Sons
80085 Gullibility Ave.
Blowjay, UT
31337"
3 minutes ago

Unfortunately only means available to me are to send check. I would be happy to send a check with excess funds with which to pay the shipping company

Hi there slg, and welcome to Scamwarners!

The bolded, underlined part of the quote is what 100% proves this is a fake check scam. You'd wire the "excess" to him through WU, then your bank would come back informing you that the check was bad, you're out a drum set, the "excess" money and you're holding the bill on the bad check too. So glad you came here and posted instead of sending money!

So I'm convinced it's a scam now. I'm thinking of sending the following message:

"I think I may be able to make that work. However, in order to let my future customers on my website know that you were satisfied with my service, I would like you to send me an email with a picture of you holding a sign that says, "I love Banging Cox." Banging Cox is my drum resale company. Good customer satisfaction stories will be good for business.......

What you're talking about is scambaiting, which isn't really something we talk about here. You would want to head to our sister site 419eater.com, where you'll find a wealth of information about baiting. This particular scammer has your real-life details, so baiting him is a generally bad idea. There are, unfortunately, plenty of other scammers to choose from, so if baiting is your thing, you can find all you need over at Eater.

Again, thanks for posting these emails here for other people to find. Hopefully somebody else finds them and decides to cancel their CL sale!

Welcome shortlivedglory. Glad to see you made it here on the tip from John Delaney on Yahoo Answers.
Make sure to read up on how these scams work and spread the word!

As Jim said, what you're doing is considered scambaiting. Since this scammer has your real information, you should stop all contact with him. You seem to be a bit of a natural at baiting, though, please do visit 419Eater.com to learn how to bait safely using all fake information.

You seem to be a bit of a natural at baiting

Not a natural. Just lots of practice.
But yeah, I'm glad I found this site. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute some.

Well looks like the same thing happened to me TWICE!!

There is a scammer on craiglist going around trying to scam people.

Someone emailed me stating they wanted to give me an offer for my drum set and made one.

Then the 2nd email was pretty much identical to the one posted earlier here.

I Hope the Drum Set + Extras is in good condition

I will be paying you with cheque since I am presently on business
equipping a music school.(This is why I am Buying your Drum Set +
Extras).If satisfied with the mode of payment, Send the following
details..

1...Your name that will appear on the cheque.

2..Your address the cheque will be sent to(NO P.O BOX)

3...Your telephone number so that I will call you once the cheque is sent.

I also need to inform you that the cheque will include an excess funds
so Once you cash the cheque and get the money,forward the excess funds
to the shipping company,the shipping company will come to your address
to pick up the Drum Set + Extras.Send details requested above ONLY if
you agree with this and the Payment method


Will be expecting your reply if you have any questions.

I luckily searched on google and got to this post.

Something seemed fishy to me as they wanted to pay via check and then have me ship it.

And I remembered I had my drum sets on sale a few months back and someone with a totallly different email and name contacted me asking for the same methods. But they had written it differently.

I suppose that way people can't search it word for word on google.

All I can say is for high prices items DON'T take cheques. Ask them to Pay CASH only.

Even with Paypal they can scam you easily.