Author Topic: Craigslist scam (Read 5010 times)

BTDretire · « **on:** March 17, 2018, 06:14:38 AM »

I listed a car For Sale on Craigslist.
Within 2 hours I received a reply asking if I still had the car.
I said "yes", the next response was "Can I have your name and
address so I can mail a cashier check to you and pickup the car
when the check clears."
I thought about sending the sheriff's name and the sheriff departments address.
Would I create any problem for myself if I did this?

ketchup · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2018, 07:10:51 AM »

You should respond with 1060 West Addison. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsHjW8rBRk0

SC93 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2018, 08:27:09 AM »

100% of the time when I post ads on Craigslist I get responses from scammers.

Please email my husband/wife/secretary (________@ yahoo)

If I spent my time worrying about them I'd never make any money.

I don't think you would be causing yourself a problem because the sheriff won't do anything about it. The only thing that will happen is that it is minutes of your life you can not get back.

solon · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2018, 08:36:55 AM »

This always happens with all posts on craigslist. The correct response is to do nothing. Just keep waiting and a legitimate response will eventually come in.

BTDretire · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2018, 08:51:40 AM »

Quote from: SC93 on March 17, 2018, 08:27:09 AM

100% of the time when I post ads on Craigslist I get responses from scammers.

Please email my husband/wife/secretary (________@ yahoo)

If I spent my time worrying about them I'd never make any money.

I don't think you would be causing yourself a problem because the sheriff won't do anything about it. The only thing that will happen is that it is minutes of your life you can not get back.

I think you're right about them not doing anything about it. I had a friend put a boat up for sale, He received a Certified or cashiers check (I don't recall which) for $50,000, of course it was a fraud. He still has the boat and the returned check, but the authorites had no interest in persuing the case.
So far, two responses one area code 10 hours away the other 19 hours away.
They want to but a car with 217,400 miles sight unseen, sure.
So far, not so good :-)

Spendy Stache · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2018, 09:03:14 AM »

This is why selling cars on craigslist is tough. If you have a CarMax around, that might be worth checking out. I took my old beater there and got a decent price. Tried to sell it on craigslist first and just got too many weird replies.

BTDretire · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2018, 09:09:35 AM »

Quote from: Spendy Stache on March 17, 2018, 09:03:14 AM

This is why selling cars on craigslist is tough. If you have a CarMax around, that might be worth checking out. I took my old beater there and got a decent price. Tried to sell it on craigslist first and just got too many weird replies.

I live on a busy street, I'll park it where it can be seen today.
That will probably be enough, but the add didn't cost any money so I did it.

SC93 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2018, 09:14:11 AM »

Oh, I didn't think of giving you the way to actually selling something on Craigslist.

Go to Google and get yourself a Voice phone number. Set it up so it never rings. It's under the privacy thing once you get the number. Give the Google Voice number. Only respond to texts. This really cuts down on the fake people. You might still get a scammer or 2, but people know YOU are actually serious and it will help sell faster.

DreamFIRE · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2018, 10:30:24 AM »

A lot of the stuff for sale on Craigslist is a scam also. I was looking at RVs on there a while back, and there were many obviously fakes. I noticed a pattern to so many of them. I would want to speak to a human with no accent before driving to see anything for sale.

In 2009, I sold a motorcycle on Craigslist. I don't recall have any scammers contact me, but it's been a while, so maybe I didn't think much about it and ignored any that I may have gotten.

Sayonara925 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 17, 2018, 11:09:20 AM »

Quote from: SC93 on March 17, 2018, 09:14:11 AM

Oh, I didn't think of giving you the way to actually selling something on Craigslist.

Go to Google and get yourself a Voice phone number. Set it up so it never rings. It's under the privacy thing once you get the number. Give the Google Voice number. Only respond to texts. This really cuts down on the fake people. You might still get a scammer or 2, but people know YOU are actually serious and it will help sell faster.

Can you explain this a bit more and why this is more effective?

Cassie · « **Reply #10 on:** March 17, 2018, 11:33:15 AM »

We have sold a few cars on CL and sold them quickly. The scammers I just ignore.

ghsebldr · « **Reply #11 on:** March 17, 2018, 08:56:07 PM »

We have been using CList almost exclusively for over 15 years now with around a dozen ads running full time in 3 markets. 90+ % of our sales are from there. Our product runs in price from 450 to $4750. We get maybe one scammer a month out of a couple hundred calls a month. We learned early to only use our phone number for contact and no email address. Now the scammer has to text us their proposal which I delete.

SC93 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 17, 2018, 10:15:07 PM »

Just like ^^that^^ person said. Because once you make it so the scammer has to give you a phone number it cuts down on the amount of CL scammers that want to mess with you. CL scammers are after the easy pickings which use email addresses. And.... make the TEXT you.... that really cuts down on the spammers. Pay no attention to anything except a text. That's what I do.

Adam Zapple · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2018, 05:27:42 AM »

Craigslist is still the best way to sell a vehicle, IMO. You can generally ignore the scammers, who will usually contact you within 24-48 hours of you posting your vehicle. There is no point in reporting them because just about every single item that is listed on craigslist is fished by scammers. My favorites are the ones where they ask if your "item" is still for sale and how interested they are in your "item." You are also sure to get some car flippers who lowball you without seeing the vehicle.

When I sold my vehicle I listed the address where it could be seen and only responded to anyone who actually looked at the vehicle and were interested. I also include a line stating that if the ad is still up on craigslist, then the vehicle is still for sale. Doing these two things cuts down on a lot of nonsense.

When you agree to sell the vehicle, agree to either all cash, or a cashier's check and meet the purchaser at their bank, where you can watch them get the check and where there will be cameras.

Trifle · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2018, 06:01:03 AM »

Quote from: Cassie on March 17, 2018, 11:33:15 AM

We have sold a few cars on CL and sold them quickly. The scammers I just ignore.

+1. We've sold several cars on CL. Every time we get a few scammers texting/emailing and we just ignore them. We've sold the cars very quickly -- it's never taken more than a few days.

obstinate · « **Reply #15 on:** March 18, 2018, 08:59:02 AM »

Quote from: Spendy Stache on March 17, 2018, 09:03:14 AM

This is why selling cars on craigslist is tough

Selling cars on Craigslist is the easiest thing in the world. Blocking a scammer takes less than ten seconds. You don't have to reply to them. In my experience, you get one or two scam attempts per listing. So overall, scamming adds about twenty seconds to the overall effort it takes to sell a car on CL. Needless to say, this is negligible.

BudgetSlasher · « **Reply #16 on:** March 18, 2018, 09:08:07 AM »

Quote from: BTDretire on March 17, 2018, 08:51:40 AM

Quote from: SC93 on March 17, 2018, 08:27:09 AM
100% of the time when I post ads on Craigslist I get responses from scammers.

Please email my husband/wife/secretary (________@ yahoo)

If I spent my time worrying about them I'd never make any money.

I don't think you would be causing yourself a problem because the sheriff won't do anything about it. The only thing that will happen is that it is minutes of your life you can not get back.
I think you're right about them not doing anything about it. I had a friend put a boat up for sale, He received a Certified or cashiers check (I don't recall which) for $50,000, of course it was a fraud. He still has the boat and the returned check, but the authorites had no interest in persuing the case.
So far, two responses one area code 10 hours away the other 19 hours away.
They want to but a car with 217,400 miles sight unseen, sure.
So far, not so good :-)

Area codes don't mean as much as they used to with cell phones. I cannot think of a single person who has moved and has also changed the area code of their cellphone, myself (1,400 miles ~24 hours). Of those people most (myself included) do not have a landline connection at home and rely of the cell as our primary phone.

As a full disclosure, I do have a google voice account that has a local area code for deal with CL purchases and sales because of this impression as well as to keep my real number concealed.

Sibley · « **Reply #17 on:** March 20, 2018, 09:32:00 AM »

Quote from: DreamFIRE on March 17, 2018, 10:30:24 AM

A lot of the stuff for sale on Craigslist is a scam also. I was looking at RVs on there a while back, and there were many obviously fakes. I noticed a pattern to so many of them. I would want to speak to a human with no accent before driving to see anything for sale.

In 2009, I sold a motorcycle on Craigslist. I don't recall have any scammers contact me, but it's been a while, so maybe I didn't think much about it and ignored any that I may have gotten.

Plenty of innocent people have accents. Plenty of scam artists don't. Not a good way to weed them out. As well as being discriminatory.

-----------------
I like to work via text on Craigslist. It works out pretty well for me.

Fishindude · « **Reply #18 on:** March 20, 2018, 10:04:54 AM »

Nearly every time I've sold a big ticket item on Craigslist I've been contacted by one of these scammers.
Sold a $20,000 tractor a while back and got contacted by some dude claiming he was a merchant marine currently at sea and wanted the tractor. If I would just give him my banking info, he would wire the money, then pick up the tractor when he got back from his tour.

CL Is still a great way to buy and sell, just need to be aware of this stuff.

eljefe-speaks · « **Reply #19 on:** March 20, 2018, 11:17:02 AM »

Quote from: Mr. JL on March 18, 2018, 05:27:42 AM

When I sold my vehicle I listed the address where it could be seen and only responded to anyone who actually looked at the vehicle and were interested. I also include a line stating that if the ad is still up on craigslist, then the vehicle is still for sale. Doing these two things cuts down on a lot of nonsense.

Don't forget to specify "no trades." It baffles me, the things people are offering for trade. I put up an old Xbox for sale. A dude called and offered to trade some pocket knives and baseball hats.

swampwiz · « **Reply #20 on:** March 20, 2018, 11:42:19 AM »

When was looking to find a roommate (i.e., someone who had an extra room that I could simply move into), I had one guy that sounded like a teenager, and he wanted me to take a urine test. WT ...?

Adam Zapple · « **Reply #21 on:** March 21, 2018, 07:09:00 AM »

Quote from: swampwiz on March 20, 2018, 11:42:19 AM

When was looking to find a roommate (i.e., someone who had an extra room that I could simply move into), I had one guy that sounded like a teenager, and he wanted me to take a urine test. WT ...?

I like it when my roommates take interest in my kidney health. You missed out on a good one there :j

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Author Topic: Craigslist scam (Read 5010 times)