| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
Last night, I put my Buell up for sale on Craigslist. When I got up this morning, I had the following e-mail waiting for me: Is it still available and in good condition? So I replied with: Yes. those pictures were taken this past weekend. If you want to see more pictures, please let me know. This afternoon, I got this: Great. am glad to read from you ,will appreciate more pictures... i am a marine engineer, i am at sea right now.I am buying this for my son as a surprise promise Gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay and also get back to me with your best price on this. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted. l will be waiting for your reply asap I wonder if the "Pick up agent" will give me a free can of worms when he comes to get the bike?  | ||
| Ronmold |
For scams like this to yet be going on, people must still be falling for them! Scammers in the old days would get the "tar & feather" treatment,  too bad they're so hard to find in cyberspace. | ||
| 7873jake |
We sold several pieces of furniture on Craig's list that were left behind in a rental we had and every day, I had 2-3 of these a$$hats wanting to do everything from what you describe to wanting to know if I would prep the items for international shipping and ship it to myself or a pick up agent in Chicago by way of Panama in order to facilitate faster export. (I live in Florida. Don't apply logic to what I just described above. It does no good.) Then there was the time a lady showed up to buy the last item, a desk, and asked if I would load a 200+ pound desk on the roof of her newer Honda Accord... We are famous for things like hanging chads and Casey Anthony down here so I guess nothing should surprise me... (Message edited by 7873jake on July 20, 2011) | ||
| Froggy |
The scammers aren't even creative anymore. | ||
| Andymnelson |
That's why I put in my CL ads: "If this ad is up, the item is still available! I do not reply to emails asking if it is still available, so don't email simply asking that. If you are a real and serious buyer, email me ask for a time to see it/buy it!" ...and then I don't even reply to emails like that. | ||
| Swampy |
The shop that the Big Kid works at got a call for a Busa Big Wheel Kit for about $6800, thankfully the Dragon lady took the call and made the arrangements. The buyer wanted the part delivered....no problem, Dragon Ladys was happy to accomodate even though the delivery was over 2 hours one way. The person asked if they took cash, and the Dragon Lady being who she is said no she didn't want her delivery person handling that much cash bring a cashiers check. The exchange was to take place in a parking lot. 4 hours later when the delivery driver got back with the cashiers check....it was a fake. Dragon lady 0, Scammer 1. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The last creative scam e-mail I got was about 4 years ago, from someone claiming to be from the government of Nigeria who was issuing checks as restitution for people who'd been scammed by Nigerian scammers. THAT was creative. | ||
| Hooper |
At least this scammer has good taste in bikes... | ||
| Metaldude |
I had almost the exact same experience helping a friend sell his bike on craigslist. (he's 75 years old) We had corresponded with the buyer for a couple days until he pulled the "pickup agent" crap. I totally thought he was legit until then. Luckily, we didn't fall for his scam, but obviously enough people do fall for it or it wouldn't be out there. | ||
| Uly_dude |
OK, I'll ask. What's the pickup agent scam? If they transfer real money into your paypal account before picking it up, how is that a scam? | ||
| Towpro |
I always say "in God we trust, all others must pay cash when picking it up". | ||
| Swampy |
Pick up agent scam goes something like this. They send you a check for an amount more than the price you are asking for the item and ask you to cash the check and send them the difference. They usually don't even come look at what you are selling, they buy it full price and sight unseen. The check usually ends up being bogus and by the time the bank contacts you, you have already sent the check for the difference. The alternative is like the one I described above, or they send a pick-up agent for the bike and you sign the title over without the check clearing. | ||
| Ejiii |
I'm selling my camper on CL and got the identical rip off email! | ||
| Discochris |
I've sold a few things on CL (a couple cars, a motorcycle and a trailer), and my postings are all borderline rude. I basically say that I won't barter, I won't accept anything other than cash, and you better show up in person. Granted, nothing I've sold has been more than $2000, but it's worked so far. I'm currently trying to sell our 1978 VW convertible (although not trying very hard) and I haven't put it on CL yet because I'm nervous about selling something there for that much money ($7000). I know a couple people who have been scammed by fake cashiers checks too, so that makes me more nervous. |
