Craigslist, Ebay and other online buying/selling scams.
#47767 by slrosenbaum Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:47 am
I've gotten emails from a Bobby Harris <[email protected]> and Paul Martins ([email protected]). Bobby claims that his secretary cut a check too large and wants me to send him the difference once we cash the money order. Paul claims he is speech disabled and wants me to email him back - fine. But the thing that tipped me off? The email was signed "Robert."
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#47830 by Bubbles Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:43 am
Welcome to ScamWarners slrosenbaum. It is great that you recognized a couple of the tell tail signs of a scam. Thank you for posting the email addresses, that helps others find the information too.

I am sure you know not to deposit or cash the check. It will be forged and you will get stuck with the consequences of trying to pass a forged check. You can tell the scammer that you have sold the item and stop communicating with them.

We are glad you are here!

Bubbles, former Scamwarners moderator.

Rest in Peace 24 June 2015.

Gone, but never forgotten.
#47832 by Jillian Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:49 am
Welcome, slrosenbaum. Good for you for being alert. Can you please post the actual scam emails you received? It helps to have the text here as scammers often use the same emails over and over again. We also prefer to have evidence of the scam posted along with email addresses.

Please let us know if you have any questions. :D

Edit: I see you have already posted the scam email from one of the scammers here: viewtopic.php?f=6&p=47768 Thank you!

Have you sent a payment to a scammer with Western Union and now realize it's a scam? If the payment has not been picked up, you can cancel it immediately! 1-800-448-1492

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#48866 by snowbear Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:56 pm
Here's another one

first msg:

From:
Robert Smith <[email protected]>
Hello, I will like to know if the posted advert is still available and up for sale? get back to me asap.
Have a lovely Day

second msg:
Robert Smith <[email protected]>
Hello, I will love to make an instant purchase,I have seen the picture
and am okay with the price , please do withdraw the advert from
the siteso that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item ,
I really appreciate it, i am an oceanographer and,i am on sea at the moment, i am buying the item for my dad ,
i want to make it a surprise for him,he wont know anything about it until its
delivered to him, i can only pay through PayPal or i can ask my friend
to send you a cashier check as i don't have access to my bank account
online as i don't have internet banking,but i have my bank account
attached to my PayPal account and this is why i insisted on paying you
through PayPal or cashier check also PayPal is the best way to do
business online if you don't have one you can check online
www.paypal.com to set up account. Kindly get back to me with your
PayPal details and your last asking price so, we can proceed with
the payment and after the payment has been credited to your account.i
will get a mover to come down and pick... I will be looking forward
hearing back from you.. Greetings
#48878 by Bubbles Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:04 am
Thank you for posting these up snowbear This information will help someone!

Bubbles, former Scamwarners moderator.

Rest in Peace 24 June 2015.

Gone, but never forgotten.
#52296 by sirthomasx Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:09 pm
I'm glad that sites like this exist, so I'll do my part to continue it's good work... I found you after searching for what I presumed to be a craigslist scam...

I had an expensive mattress & frame for sale and have for some time, so I was excited to receive this email:

__________________________________________
From Thomas Hunt <[email protected]>

Hi,
i wanted to know if this item is it available for sale

______________________________________________


I eagerly replied that it was and got the following email 14 hours later:

_____________________________________________________________

From Peter James <[email protected]>

Hi,

Thanks for your reply concerning my inquiry and I am quite comfortable with the condition of the item ,I would mine adding extra $50 to your asking price for keeping it in my favor. I am paying you by Check and it will take 2 to 3 days for payment to get to you. I would have loved to come take a look at it but I am presently out of town for a business trip but i will have my Secretary handle the payment on my behalf. As per pick-up,You don't need to worry about that I will make arrange for the pick-up myself after payment has been received and cashed by you. Kindly reply with your details on where the Payment should be send to. I will let you know how i intend to pick it up immediately you receive the payment.

Here is the information needed to issued out the payment below:

Full Name:
Home mailing Address not P.O.BOX PLEASE:
City :
States :
Zip/Postal Code :
Phone number : (Home or Office and Cell)

NOTE:
I would appreciate it if you can take the posting off CRAIGSLIST today and consider it sold to me.

Thank you and Have a Nice Day.

______________________________________________________


I work and practically live on the Internet, so I think I can recognize the difference between lazy English and intentionally bad English... either way, my internal scam alert went off and I headed to Google... I'm happy these crooks are not as smart as they think they are... thanks for providing this forum so that myself and others who do their due diligence can save themselves the time, trouble and embarassment that comes with these scams. -TM


*
#55382 by DRB Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:01 pm
Just to let everyone know that the scammer is still at it. We received an email just like the others with the exact same type of wording. We listed a 56kw generator on craigslist. The first email we got was asking if it was still for sale. When we emailed back yes, we got the next email from "britney jones" <[email protected]> (at least they finally were smart enough to change their name!):

Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buy it now for my son
and i am not in town at the moment as i am a Military been in camp in
for some time and due to the nature of my work, It hard to make a
phone calls and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out
time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. insisted
on PayPal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i
don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my PayPal account, as
i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your
PayPal email address and the price so i can make the payments asap for
it and please if you don't have PayPal account yet, it is very easy to
set up, go to www.paypal.com and get it set up, after you have set
it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration
with PayPal so as to put the money through. I have a pickup agent that
will come and pick it after i have made the payments..

--
do you still have it available for sale and io will like to know the present
condition..

So be forewarned and beware sellers!
#55792 by cmbtboots Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:07 pm
Thank goodness for Google!! Put in [email protected] and fraud in the search engine and here I am :o)

I'm selling a fridge on KSL.com and got an email from [email protected] to buy it sight unseen asking for my paypal account so she can send money and someone would pick up the fridge. Seemed a little too good to be true. So I see that some have said they "agents" are actually after the item you are selling. Since a fridge can't be mailed and an actual person has to pick up the item if the police were here to meet them that might actually slow one scammer down. thoughts?

Her/his email is the same as others received

"Thanks for the prompt response.. I am ready to buy it now for my son and i am not in town at the moment as i am a Military been in camp in for some time and due to the nature of my work, It hard to make a phone calls and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed out time to check this advert and send you an email regarding it. insisted on PayPal because i don't have access to my bank account online as i don't have internet banking, but i can pay from my PayPal account, as i have my bank a/c attached to it, i will need you to give me your PayPal email address and the price so i can make the payments asap for it and please if you don't have PayPal account yet, it is very easy to set up, go to www.paypal.com and get it set up, after you have set it up i will only need the e-mail address you use for registration with PayPal so as to put the money through. I have a pickup agent that will come and pick it after i have made the payments.."
#55793 by cmbtboots Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:22 pm
I checked the email headers and the the actual sender comes back as [email protected].

under Whois
The IP address 209.85.220.195 appears to have been assigned by the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). ARIN is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the United States, Canada, and several islands in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.

For details, see the additional information about IP address 209.85.220.195 at ARIN.

I guess I will wait for someone else to buy my fridge...
I wish there was a way to stop these scammers short of letting someone come to my home to pick up the fridge.
#55794 by cmbtboots Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:33 pm
Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

<[email protected]>:
Remote host said: 550 5.2.1 The email account that you tried to reach is disabled. y45si14251748eef.49 [RCPT_TO]


That was fast. I'm sure he/she/it will just get another email address to use for scams
#55814 by Arnold Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:51 am
Welcome to Scamwarners.I'm glad you weren't scammed.
Nobody will turn up to collect the fridge. The scammer wanted you to pay the "shipper" by Western Union from the fake Paypal payment. Gmail strips the sender's IP address from the email headers, so he could be anywhere.

#56646 by Jupitor Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:22 am
I also got an email from Janet Cole, but with a different email address: [email protected]

I pasted her response to my email, think is legit? Sounds sketchy just because she offer to pay more than what I asked for. Who would buy a wedding gown for their cousin, and without trying them on? However, she didn't ask for my info, and offer to deal with paypal. You think this is a new scam technique? Help.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, am so glad to hear from you, I want you know
that am really interested in buying this item, i'm buying this for
my cousin in Sacramento,California for her engagement$wedding
ceremony that will commence soon,so that they can use it on that day,
I will like to ask you more about this item,

1) Why are you selling it?
2) Let me know the condition,
3) Can you send me some pictures of the item?
4) i will be offering you $2,850 including the shipping cost to my
cousin via Usps international express mail service with insurance,

5)This is my first time buying online, I will be making the payment
via PayPal account, because it's safe,fast and secure online
transaction, kindly get back to me with your PayPal email address or
send me money request from PayPal so that i can proceed with the
payment as soon as possible, or you can set up an account at
www.paypal.com, so that i can send you the payment ...ASAP,
#56656 by Arnold Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:42 am
Welcome to Scamwarners.
It's definitely a scam, but a rather confusing one. The writing is West African in style and it refers to the "item", which is a common scammer device to avoid having to customise the email. Unusually, he has edit the script to mention the wedding dress.
Sometimes scammers do want what you are selling, but usually cellphones, laptops, etc, but I can't believe wedding dresses. I expect you'd be sent a fake check or fake email confirming an imaginary Paypal payment and asked to pay an imaginary courier by Western Union.

#59717 by radtherave Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:43 pm
This Bobby Harris character ended up victimizing me not too long ago.

I honestly had no idea I was being set up for a hoax, and in all honesty, I'm not happy or pleased.

My bank ended up closing all my accounts on me due to the fraudulent check this jerk sent me, and now all my money has been taken away from me, and I'm gonna remain broke for the next 2-3 weeks. I was very close to going back to school too, using that money to pay off my debt for the spring semester. So now... I'm stuck penniless, after working my butt off really hard to get the money, only to learn that I never got to touch a single cent of any of my earnings from the paycheck I received this week. I have to wait a couple of weeks now in being super ass broke now until another couple of weeks pass by.

Any means necessary to put this jackass behind bars, would be a great deal of good for the rest of society.
#59836 by Bubbles Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:36 am
Welcome to ScamWarners radtherave, we are happy you found us. I am sorry you were tricked by this scammer. Sadly, your story is all too common. I hope you will stay around and read about the various types of scammes that are floating around and how to avoid being taken in again.

I want to also caution you that there are Recovery Scams in which scammers claim to get your money back for you (or restory your credit, etc.). The catch is always you have to pay something up front to do it. Do not fall for this kind of scam either.

If you have questions about any "offer" you receive feel free to post your questions in the forum titled Is This a Scam? We try to always reply and give as much information as we have or can find.

Bubbles, former Scamwarners moderator.

Rest in Peace 24 June 2015.

Gone, but never forgotten.

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