Craigslist Scammers

[David2011]

Since we're moving almost 700 miles I decided to sell my lathe and mill and buy new-to-me replacements once we get the shop built at the house in Texas rather than move them. I've moved them by myself before. We posted ads on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for both. In very short order texts (I specified no texts but did provide my phone number) came in for both ads from a "daughter" that asked me to e-mail her "mother" with my best price. I responded that she needed to call. Another "woman" also responded as well. Both said they were (verbatim) "ok with the price" and asked me to take the "advert" down as they would send me additional funds for taking the ad down on good faith. Both offered certified checks so their delivery people could pick up the items.

OK, nobody is surprised with the scam details so far, or at least I hope not. Here's the kicker. The mill is an 8"x42" Hong Da which is the manufacturer of the same sized or 9x42 Jet, Summit, Enco and MSC of the late '70s-early '80s and since it didn't have a more recognizable rebrand on it I put a price of $1250 on it. The lathe is a heavy-for-size Jet 10x24 that weighs 50 pounds without any accessories or chuck installed. The phone number of respondent #1 is an Ohio area code where tons of machine shop equipment is for sale on Ebay every day. The other respondent had a Hawaii phone number. If that was a legit response why wouldn't they be looking for machinery in Torrance, CA where there is a lot of availability and it's right at the Port of Los Angeles?

Both respondents reeked of scam from the outset; never mind failing the smell test. Each hit 8-10 red flags of the Craigslist warning page. Just had to share.

I also got more local responses wanting to know about single or 3 phase, TIR on the lathe's 3 jaw, etc. Much more confidence in dealing with those guys.

[NyFirefighter357]

Yes offering certified checks, offering to pay more and having someone else pick it up is always a scam. Craigslist is full of them I find Market place is a better place to buy & sell.

[jimlj]

I once sold a car on line and had the same scammer contacting me. He would send extra money to pay his shipper blah blah...…
I told him to pay his "shipper" directly and send cash with the shipper when he came to pick up the car. For some reason I never heard back.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have seen some red flags recently. I've been boat shopping in the last two weeks, because in Minnesota, August means everyone is tired of mowing the lawn around their boat which isn't being used, so they think, let's sell it, at least that's my guess as there are many boats listed for great prices.

I find a '56 crestliner runabout with all the controls & steering (which is fairly rare), it catches my eye, as it's nearly identical to my grandpa's boat (which is long gone) and I have many pleasant memories fishing in it. $450 and it comes with a Evinrude motor, trailer is optional for $100 more.

I call the guy, he tells me to call another number, as he listed it for a friend who doesn't have internet access. I call the other number and get through, my first question is where is the boat, he said at his home on Lake Minnetonka (this area one of the richest areas in MN, and he has no internet?). I ask if he has the title/registration, because from the photos posted, the registration sticker on the boat is the old style and hasn't been used for about two decades. He says no title, but that's no problem. I ask if the boat is registered in his name (because to transfer it without a title in MN, I would need the previous owner to sign a affidavit). He says no, but that's no problem. I ask about the motor, he says it doesn't work, it's been sitting outside for a couple years and just needs a tuneup. Then he says he buys stuff at garage sales and flips them. Then I ask if he has had the boat in the water, he says no. I ask if he ever used the motor, he says no. Then I ask about the trailer...is the title in his name and does he even have the title? He says nope...and it's not a problem...got it at a garage sale.

I hang up the phone. I'm kind of bummed out, because it would have been a neat project for a great price, loaded with nostalgia for me. But, I surely don't want to be on that end of a "receiving stolen goods" thingy.

[6bg6ga]

I like the craigs list instant messages I got 5 minutes after listing some audio gear. Do you still have it? I'll take it and transfer funds into your checking account and have a trucking company pick it up. I texted back the items were for pickup only in person. Payment WILL be in cash only. No checks, no bank transfers. That generally stops them cold.

[lightman]

When I retired I listed several things on Craigslist and got a lot of text offering over payment if I would pay the shipper when they came to pick it up, or other variations of this. I just replied that this sounds like a scam and don't call back. This was despite saying cash only and local pick up. I did meet a few buyers in near by towns and I did take a buddy along and I was armed. We also met in public places. Walmart parking lots, Lowes parking lots, ect. I had one caller that sounded suspicious and I suggested meeting at the local police station parking lot! :-o

[double8]

This happened on Armslist. It was going pretty well until this email.
I've attached his email address as a warning to others.

steveneric125@gmail.com [his email address]

i got confirmation that payment has been made to you, It will be delivered to your address any day from now.... But to my greatest surprise, My banker mistakingly made out the check for $2100.50 ........ instead of the actual amount of the purchase and the funds as already been deduct from my account because it an official cashiers check from my bank. I instructed her to send your actual amount for the item I bought from you and write another one to my cousin..... Upon the clearance kindly deduct the agreed price + shipping and extra $35 for securing the gun for me after which i will make arrangement on how you will get the extra funds send to my cousin.. i will need your immediate response assuring me that i can trust you to handle this with care and have the remaining funds returned appropriately thanks.

[skrapyard628]

My sister had a good run around for the scammers that wanted to try the old money order/truck to pick up the goods. She would give them a fake name and the address of the local FBI field office in Chicago and tell them that is where they needed to send the money order, and go for pickup.

I wonder why she never heard back from any of them after that? lol...

[FLINTNFIRE]

Got to like those I sent to much and just keep a little extra as you send me the rest , ads for sale are as bad as the ones who try to scam the seller , I suppose a good rope and a strong branch would deter some of them or at least weed a few out of the gene pool.
On the other hand I saw a 2 day old ad for rcbs rockchucker , uniflow powder measure 2 sets of dies a chamfer deburr and some brass and it had a primer flipper and the auto primer feed looked to be all there some other misc stuff all for $100 .
Kids are going to have quite the assortment of presses and such .

[Dieselhorses]

I have officially "scammed" 9 scammers over the course of the last 5 years! It's so was so easy! Scammers use old school methods and some newer methods but to no avail, they never get anything over me.

[Conditor22]

I've had better luck with Offer-up,

Like craigslist but maybe classier?

[thraxx]

I have officially "scammed" 9 scammers over the course of the last 5 years! It's so was so easy! Scammers use old school methods and some newer methods but to no avail, they never get anything over me.

do tell, I like a good karma story.

[MT Gianni]

I sold a truck a few years back and got constant calls from a call center in Florida that had a buyer for my truck. Always with a warning that this could be recorded. I started telling them to do it like we did last time, they send me a buyer and if it sells I send them a MO directly and by pass their boss. They soon quit calling.

[Char-Gar]

The Internet in general is the playground of flim-flam people, grifters and scammers.

[David2011]

I just quit communicating with those that were scams and haven't heard back from them. Interestingly, I set the ads up for e-mail or phone calls only and the ONLY people that sent a text anyway were the scammers. All of the buyers that seem legit used the proper CL communication channels. My favorite potential buyer is the guy that had a pic of the back of his Jeep full of ingots on his Facebook page and plenty of gun friendly postings throughout his Facebook posts.

BTW- looks like someone is coming Monday to pick up the lathe and mill, full asking prices, cash.

[bob208]

only 200 miles. I would save the hassle and keep them and take them with me. after all tx. is not in the rust belt like here in pa. plus you already know the machines.

[beechbum444]

I’ve been dealing with this looking for a used 8 x 16 cargo trailer

[Adam20]

A friend of mine listed a old Coca Cola truck from the 50s that need restoring on craiglist, a guy called from west coast and sent check, it cleared ($4500) the guy called six months later and was sending someone to pick it up. That was 4 years ago. His lawyer told him at this point its abandoned property. Sold again and gone now.

[David2011]

only 200 miles. I would save the hassle and keep them and take them with me. after all tx. is not in the rust belt like here in pa. plus you already know the machines.

The house in New Mexico is 5 miles from the Texas state line but new house is another 670 miles. We’re not moving to the West Texas desert. We’re moving to the Gulf Coast. Steel rusts over night there. The new house is 6 miles from Galveston Bay which is salt water. I’ve already moved this equipment twice and want to replace the lathe with a different style anyway.

[Handloader109]

Got to watch for them, but I've bought a car from a man in Tyler, (350 miles away) and then sold her old car locally. Only one scammer for it.....

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[higgins]

I too have been boat shopping the last month or so for a smallish jon boat, restricting myself to the somewhat local area that I would be willing to drive to for a look. Maybe its because small, cheap boats are more likely to be involved in cash deals with friends and relatives, but I have contacted two Craigslist advertisers whose photos showed expired registration stickers to ask if the boat was registered to them, and neither replied. I didn't even tell them a bill of sale would be required; I can imagine what the response to that would have been. I've watched enough Judge Judy to know that I don't want to go near a registered item that is not registered to the seller. Not worth the potential hassle even for a $400 boat-there's too many of them out there.

[bedbugbilly]

A few years before we moved from our house in to town, I decide to get rid of a few things - a couple of heavy duty fiberglass extension ladders and IIRC, a snow blower, trailer mounted sprayer, etc. I'd never used Craig's List before so sogned up and decided to try it - MISTAKE! Like you - phone calls only and it wasn't but an hour after posting and the text messages starting coming in - offers of buying sight unseen and sending certified checks - as well as a few phone calls wanting to know the address where the items were at while not confirming an appt. to come see them which I could obviously tell were inquiries to "let me know where they are so I can come steal them". My whole experience with CL was not a good one and I closed my ad in just a couple of days due to the "scamming texts / phone calls".

I know a lot of folks have had good luck so I guess it's a case of "your mileage may vary". There's a lot of good folks out there but a lot of worthless scammers who are looking to prey on the unsuspecting. Moral of the story - BEWARE!

[Jeff Michel]

Craigslist and the like are worth exactly what you pay for it. Run an ad in the local paper, pay the money and if you have something that someone else wants or needs and it's gone in short order. Were me, I'd place a for sale write up and hang it in your local gun shop. I think four out of five people that go into a gun shop, secretly wants a lathe or mill or better yet both. I've actually sold a number that way over the years, and you will likely be dealing with someone you know. Good luck

[lightman]

While I have used Craigslist I have had better luck on some of the local swap shops. Face Book has one, and there is a mens swap shop locally and a county swap shop. But, there are scammers everywhere! Beware!

[David2011]

We really had much more response from Facebook than Craigslist. I probably will use Facebook and the local garage sale websites if we decide to sell anything else.

Our local paper is pitiful and I really don't have any relationship with the local gun shops. The one where I knew the owner closed because he retired. I've bought some reloading supplies at one but that has been infrequent. The other wanted $5.50/100 primers for years and $35-$45/lb for powder so I have bought very little from them and probably haven't been inside either for 2 years.

[David2011]

The buyer came this morning with a 40' trailer, a fork lift and fist full of cash. Everybody is happy.

[1911sw45]

Same buyer that sent the certified bank check? If it was I sure would check the bill for being counterfeit.

[Kent Fowler]

The Internet in general is the playground of flim-flam people, grifters and scammers.

Have you ever read The Gentle Grifter by O. Henry? Some devious scams going on in the book.

[dbosman]

Craig's list scammers are after your confirmed phone number. If they collect enough of them they peddle them to the next tier in their game.

[David2011]

Same buyer that sent the certified bank check? If it was I sure would check the bill for being counterfeit.

Not at all. Nobody sent any certified checks; they only offered to at which time I ended communication. He wasn't even even a Craigslist respondent. A local guy. Both of the CL scam responses I got claimed to be women. One said she was out of town at the moment. After checking the area code I was tempted to ask, "Out of Honolulu or Hilo?"

[TheDoctor]

Stuff rusts in Baytown fast. I'm 40ish miles from the water, and with our humidity, I have a hard time even without the salt!

[Tatume]

Have you ever read The Gentle Grifter by O. Henry? Some devious scams going on in the book.

Thanks Kent. I just ordered a copy of The Gentle Grafter from Abe Books.

[David2011]

Stuff rusts in Baytown fast. I'm 40ish miles from the water, and with our humidity, I have a hard time even without the salt!

My Rock Chucker came from a friend's garage in League City so the handle had a nice layer of soft rust. About 8 years ago, in New Mexico, I polished it on the lathe. It's just now starting to show a hint of rust again and I didn't even put car wax on it. In Baytown it would have developed a patina in weeks. I expect to run the air conditioner in the shop full time just to control rust.

[double8]

See post #7

Well, the $2,100.50 check did in fact show up in the mail. Very official looking.
Came from the
"Estate Of John Anthony Hubly. Alphonse Cincione, Esq Executor"
2200 W 5th Ave, Columbus, OH 43215
First Merchants Bank Check

He hasn't sent an email wondering what happened to his check. If he does, I'll tell him the FBI has it, along with his IP address.

[Smoke4320]

See post #7

Well, the $2,100.50 check did in fact show up in the mail. Very official looking.
Came from the
"Estate Of John Anthony Hubly. Alphonse Cincione, Esq Executor"
2200 W 5th Ave, Columbus, OH 43215
First Merchants Bank Check

He hasn't sent an email wondering what happened to his check. If he does, I'll tell him the FBI has it, along with his IP address.

He's probably using a VPN so the IP address would be no good