Craigslist scam on my truck

[SeabeeMan]

We are selling my 1998 Dodge Ram and the first e-mail to roll in after we posted it on several different sites, craigslist among them, was somebody asking to pay immediately via paypal with some extra for me to Western Union to their shipping agent who will pick the truck up in the future. A quick Google search of the name "Walcott Schneider" leads straight to other paypal scams. I traced the senders IP back to Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, CA and already contacted local police and base security. I'm kind of hoping this guy wasn't smart enough to spoof his IP and gets caught red handed, but I doubt it will happen.

[waksupi]

Have him send you the money, and just sit on it! I had an attempt like this to scam me on a boat. The perpetrator was local, and after I called a deputy, he was busted in short order.

[SeabeeMan]

It sounds like the next step of the scam is for them to get my paypal username. The money won't show and when I follow up, they will send me a link with a "tracking number." That link will take me to an official looking paypal website where I'll try to login and they will capture my paypal account info. I'm still stringing him along and already called the Mountain View, CA police.

[runfiverun]

must be a really nice truck for someone all the way across the country to want it.

[ph4570]

I had a similar thing happen on CL when selling a 1989 truck a couple of years ago. The perp was in NY and had a nefarious scheme including having me ship the 23 year old truck to NY. The creature got nasty on the phone when I refused to do the deal.

[gtgeorge]

Never seen the scam with a PP account but likely they have stolen another users credentials or CC and will do the payment to you. Then you send them money Western Union that the scammer in Africa can pickup and then PP bounces the $ later and pulls it back from you when the hacked user reports it. Likely the ip leads to a compromised computer as well. Good luck but best to just avoid all these scammers.

[SeabeeMan]

runfiverun...it really is. Remote start is nice in the WI winters and the rockers panels are almost 85% intact!

[marvelshooter]

The more I hear about CL the less I ever want to sell anything on it. A friend was selling a hunting trip she had won and the "buyer" sent her a check for $1000 more than the agreed amount along with an address to send the extra back to along with the trip certificate. The check he sent was of course worthless.

[SeabeeMan]

I've generally had good luck, both buying and selling everything from vehicles to tools. I guess the biggest thing is to expect a scam and just keep head on a swivel. Meet at a public place (never your house), cash only, etc.

[wallenba]

Once listed my classic Plymouth on Craigslist. I kept getting calls from automotive resale magazine 'publishers' wanting me to place an ad in their photo magazine. They were always west of the Mississippi, and nothing ever showed on internet searches for them. No way to prove they even existed. Sure... I'm gonna fall for that. Of course, all they needed was $100 that I could pay via credit card. Yeah stranger, I'll do that.

I hate selling cars like that anyway. Never know who your talking to. On one sale, fella could not connect with me for a test drive. He wanted me to get a ride to work and leave the car keys under the floor mat so he could come by and test drive it. He got real surly when I said, no way is that happening.


Another car ad with a black and white photo of a blue car I owned. Caller asked what color it was. I told him it was blue. He said, 'I don't know it looks red to me. I hate red." Reassured him it was blue. He said he'd be real p.o.'d if he drove all the way there and it was red. Nothing I could do would convince him it was blue. Finally I said, "you're right it's red". He called me a bunch of colorful things and hung up.

People are nuts.

[MaryB]

Been CL scammed many times, always say sure send the check, they send it, I shred it. They call and ask if I got it. "Sure check arrived a week ago, my bank opened an investigation on it with the secret service for counterfeiting" Click.... lol Or string them along, even had a guy meet me at a McDonalds on some silver I was selling. He was supposed to bring cash and pulled out this western union money order that was so badly faked the ink was running from his sweat. I quietly pointed my CC gun at him under the table and said we will wait for the police to get here. Turns out they had been after him for months for scamming locals with fake money orders from western union and the post office. Last I heard he was serving 20 years for mail fraud, Postal Service nailed him to the wall for the fake money orders. Western Union never even showed up for court, they don't care.

[SeabeeMan]

Well done, Mary! That's how these situations play out in my head, but it never quite happens that way.

[white eagle]

not cl but e-bay my son has been burned a couple of times there
he gets the money the seller gets the product then the seller says its not at all they way it is described or not working order and wants a refund which e-bay give's via pp and never gets back the so called defective product
yep sure are some loosers out there

[Remiel]

With crsigs list and some other sites like that its always best to do "cash on the barrel", i tried selling my old stock car and had some one pull the sent a cashiers chk for more than the car, i called the issuing bank and the feds then told the guy, he made a threat while using a TTY operator who was recording, i politely advised of my connection to the local police and although he may have my address, finding it will be fun(still not in GPS) he hung up, i called grandpas buddy on the force and told my neighbor he can let his dogs have free run of my property for a while, since then i do cash only, or paypal to "trusted" people,

[Hardcast416taylor]

Neighbor`s daughter was listing an antique 1890`s baby buggy on CL. She got a response from someone in Detroit, they claimed, (about 90 miles away) to buy it. They would send her a postal MO that was $250 more than her asking price. She was to cash the MO and send them back a certified bank MO back. She called me about this deal. The person somehow got her phone number and began harassing her about not wishing to do the deal now. Finally got a second call traced by my calling in a favor that showed the call was coming from Canada. FBI dropped all interest then as it was from a "foreign" country.Robert

[oldred]

not cl but e-bay my son has been burned a couple of times there
he gets the money the seller gets the product then the seller says its not at all they way it is described or not working order and wants a refund which e-bay give's via pp and never gets back the so called defective product
yep sure are some loosers out there

This has been a popular scam on E-Bay for over two years now and getting worse, it's so bad I don't even try to sell on E-Bay anymore. What happens is that because the seller is OBLIGATED to take returns if the buyer calls foul the seller has little to no recourse when he/she encounters one of these creeps. The usual scenario is this,

Seller sells in good faith but buyer claims item was damaged, not as described, etc and requests a refund/return. Since seller has little choice a return is initiated and buyer/crook sends item with a tracking/return number, the problem is the return is not the item and is just a piece of junk of some sort of the approximate size and weight of the legitimate item. Seller just got burned and crook/buyer has "proof" via the tracking numbers that the item was returned and received by seller! Seller then screams fraud to E-Bay but it will fall on deaf ears as E-Bay will side with the buyer EVERY SINGLE TIME! As common as this practice has become one would think that by now E-Bay would have caught on but apparently not, I suppose until it hits their profits they will do nothing.

[GrantA]

I hate CL, never had it happen on eBay yet. I had a house for sale on CL and I got a call from a local lady asking questions about renting it, come to find out someone in Africa copied my pics & description, made a rental listing on a nearby CL and sent this lady a rental application asking for personal information and a deposit naturally.
I reported it, was told it happens all the time

[white eagle]

This has been a popular scam on E-Bay for over two years now and getting worse, it's so bad I don't even try to sell on E-Bay anymore. What happens is that because the seller is OBLIGATED to take returns if the buyer calls foul the seller has little to no recourse when he/she encounters one of these creeps. The usual scenario is this,

Seller sells in good faith but buyer claims item was damaged, not as described, etc and requests a refund/return. Since seller has little choice a return is initiated and buyer/crook sends item with a tracking/return number, the problem is the return is not the item and is just a piece of junk of some sort of the approximate size and weight of the legitimate item. Seller just got burned and crook/buyer has "proof" via the tracking numbers that the item was returned and received by seller! Seller then screams fraud to E-Bay but it will fall on deaf ears as E-Bay will side with the buyer EVERY SINGLE TIME! As common as this practice has become one would think that by now E-Bay would have caught on but apparently not, I suppose until it hits their profits they will do nothing.

The worst part is they have to use pp and they will withdraw the money to refund the buyer so the seller actually has no choice what so ever in the matter
e-scam

[MaryB]

On all ebay returns I have a friend watch as I open the package and record it with his cell phone. I was sent some rocks in place of silver, sent ebay the video and a signed sworn notarized statement from my friend. Got the money back. Been on ebay for many many years.

[BrassMagnet]

not cl but e-bay my son has been burned a couple of times there
he gets the money the seller gets the product then the seller says its not at all they way it is described or not working order and wants a refund which e-bay give's via pp and never gets back the so called defective product
yep sure are some loosers out there

One of my co-workers just got scammed this way on a bunch of Harley parts.

He can't even get the parts back.