Scam

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Ross

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
70
Location
Topeka, KS
I am trying to sell my Jet 1236 lathe and listed it on Craigslist. Today I received a text asking if it was still available. I responded that it was and after a few minutes the texter responded that he wanted the lathe and would pay the full asked price of $450 (that should have been my first clue). When I tried to call him there was no answer. Shortly I received a text that he is deaf and so had to communicate by text. He requested my address so he could send me a "bank check". This evening I received a text that he has mailed a $2,000 check from which I should deduct my $450 and then forward the $1,550 to the shipper. Since I live in the state capital, when I receive the check I will take it to the state Attorney General and report the scam. Be careful out there folks, it's a nasty world out there!
 
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stonepecker

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
4,382
Location
central Minnesota
Ross, You would think by now that the scammers would know that we understand what they are up to. I do hope that whomever "they" are, that with your help, they get caught.
My Father and step-mother were taken by scammers. The tune was over $30,000.
The RCMP are still looking for them and with any luck, they will be caught. No matter what, they will have to face their maker.

Thanks for doing the right thing.
 

Woodkiller

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
292
Location
Smyrna, Tn. 37167
I get that one a lot from Craigslist. You probably won't get the check, but if you do I would definitely get it to the authorities. :) that along with the correspondence could possibly slow them down.
 

brownsfn2

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2011
Messages
1,574
Location
Plain City, OH
I am selling a car right now and I have gotten 4 texts so far. Luckily I am familiar with the scam. ;) It sucks because it makes you feel like someone is interested and they really aren't.
 

lorbay

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2009
Messages
3,378
Location
BC. Canada
I have had the same issues but all the people that texted me want to pay by Paypal and have a broker come and pick up the product. Not
Lin
 

scjohnson243

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
139
Location
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Yup, I just sold a motorcycle on CL, I cant tell you the number of text messages I got of people ready to pay the "FULL PRICE" and either I need to give them my paypal, or the "Checks in the mail..."

I assume it must work sometimes, because they are still doing it, but at this point I would be shocked if anyone fell for it.
 

joefrog

Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Messages
409
Location
Birmingham, AL area (Alabaster)
On and on, the scams go. If you use paypal, make darn sure you have one hell of a password. Not only will they try to get your paypal addy, they'll try to break the password on your email and your paypal, and go to town.
 

kovalcik

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
891
Location
Barrington, NH
Just so I learn, why is giving your Paypal email a bad idea? Isn't that how Paypal is supposed to work? How do they run the scam with paypal as the payment vehicle?
 

lorbay

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2009
Messages
3,378
Location
BC. Canada
Just so I learn, why is giving your Paypal email a bad idea? Isn't that how Paypal is supposed to work? How do they run the scam with paypal as the payment vehicle?
From what I have heard and others may chime in, they send you more than you asked for and ask for the balance back. Your deposit has not cleared the bank yet (nor will it ), you refund the difference and it leaves your bank immediatley.
Gone.

Lin.
 

sbell111

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
3,465
Location
Franklin, TN
Just so I learn, why is giving your Paypal email a bad idea? Isn't that how Paypal is supposed to work? How do they run the scam with paypal as the payment vehicle?

I don't understand that, either. The thing about paypal is that your email address is the door, but it is locked by a password. If someone cracks into your account, the weekness isn't that your email address is too easily obtained. It's that your passowrd was too weak.
 

sbell111

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
3,465
Location
Franklin, TN
Just so I learn, why is giving your Paypal email a bad idea? Isn't that how Paypal is supposed to work? How do they run the scam with paypal as the payment vehicle?
From what I have heard and others may chime in, they send you more than you asked for and ask for the balance back. Your deposit has not cleared the bank yet (nor will it ), you refund the difference and it leaves your bank immediatley.
Gone.

Lin.
If you refund an amount of a paypal balance, the refund comes from the payment amount. Paypal shouldn't, therefore, allow the refund to process if the payment hasn't been completely processed, just like you wouldn't be able to access the payment funds until it has cleared.

Even if they didn't have that check in place, all you would need to do is refuse any payment greater than what is owed.
 

mredburn

IAP Activities Manager
Staff member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
8,752
Location
Fort Myers FL
They can pay with a fraudulent credit card or stolen one, Paypal may not find out or know until after you have gave them the stuff. Paypal will cancel the amount they gave you and want it back. If you spent it then you have to repay it. THey can claim it wasnt what you said and have the credit card company revoke payment as well.
 

scjohnson243

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
139
Location
Fort Smith, Arkansas
They can pay with a fraudulent credit card or stolen one, Paypal may not find out or know until after you have gave them the stuff. Paypal will cancel the amount they gave you and want it back. If you spent it then you have to repay it. THey can claim it wasnt what you said and have the credit card company revoke payment as well.

This - has been my experience... They will send the payment to Paypal, then after a day or two cancel the payment somehow (I dont use paypal, my wife sold puppies for years and had this done to her one time a few years ago)

They will dispute the charges, and paypal will refund them the cash.. If you have already spent it (Like transfered it to your checking account) you will have to put money "Back"...

This has been years ago since this has happened to us, They may have come out with better rules against this sort of thing, I just assumed it was still there because everyone that called on my motorcycle wanted my paypal address so they could deposit the "Full amount" into it...

I would never give my paypal address because I did not want them trying to brute force my password, or anything like that - The way we do it now is when she takes paypal she has a specific set amount of days before she will move ahead (like a check) so the time to get a dispute has passed...

I think you have 24 or 48 hours on paypal or somesuch... Again, it could have all changed by this point, and I hope it has!
 

sbwertz

Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,649
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I recently was in the market to buy a small motorhome. I found one on an RV listing site, and emailed the owner. I twigged almost immediately that it was a scam, but kept emailing back and forth until I had quite a bit of information, then bundled it all up and sent it to the AG.
 

Andybear

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
12
It's a global trend, scammers try all kinds of ways to get your money. Even some where the money can be seen in you bank account and the a day later it's gone. We just need to be super crareful when selling or buying anything online or anywhere else.
Death to the scammers:)
 

Kendallqn

Member
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
114
Location
Phoenix, Az 85044
My son is a Fraud Dept Director with Paypal. Do not think you are safe using paypal. They will protect you in most cases if you follow the letter of the law on there rules for transactions. But read the fine print and follow those rules. He told me they have literally thousands of fraud cases going on any givin day.
 

SDB777

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
6,620
Location
Cabot, Arkansas USA
Been four days....you received anything yet?

Updates please. Scammers have sent me thousands of messages via my 'contact us', it sure is a PITA to have them do it and I would love for some of them to get the due diligence!!!




Scott (bad English typing is the first clue) B
 

Kennelmaster

Member
Joined
May 18, 2014
Messages
14
Location
Douglas County, Ouisconsin
Funny Story... Selling an old work van and got contacted by the same type of scammer. Agreed to their deal. Next day, told them (via e-mail) that the van had been totaled in a horrible accident with a herd of goats. Only thing left was a front fender. Surprise! That was really what they were interested in, how much for the fender? Explained that someone had beat them to it and I had some goat-burger for sale. That ended the contacts...
 

Wood Butcher

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
970
Location
Westfield, IN, USA.
Yup, if it's on Craig's or ebay and is over $100 you will receive these great offers to pay even more than you ask. Look carefully and you will see that they can't quite write English they way we usually speak it, first clue it's bogus. I was selling some stuff a year ago and started receiving these and decided to waste some of their time, they are easy to "scam" too. I was selling a large firearm safe and they were hot to own it. I told them it was bolted to the floor and ask if their "shipper" who was to pick it up could bring tools. Next I told them they could send the money but they couldn't take possession for 3 months because there was a family of elves living in it and they have a contract. I told them there were a few scratches so I wanted to refund some of their payment, when they send it, so I will need their PayPal account, home address, soc. sec number and zip code. Use the old infomercial wording, "But wait, if you send the check electronically within the next 2 minutes we will double the offer and send you 2 (whatever), just pay separate shipping and handling. This went on for a couple of weeks till they gave up. These fine folks are off shore so they are not going to be pursued or caught. They usually have a phone number that is from the East coast area but it is fictitious too. Be alert, and play their game without divulging any truthful info and you can have some fun with it. Give them bogus passwords like, Imana#@wipe, or something really creative but nothing close to the real thing. If we can keep them busy chasing their tails they aren't bothering someone else. Just the way I deal with it. Oh, I never have more than $20 in the PayPal account, they tried to get in that too.
WB
 

Rick_G

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
1,994
Location
Bothwell, Ontario, Canada.
Then there's the one's that call you on the phone supposedly from microsoft support about a problem on your computer. My neighbour fell for that one and they talked her through setting it up to give them remote access and while they were working on her computer she had second thoughts and phoned me. I sort of screamed at her to pull the plug which she did. I then spent the next couple days cleaning the junk off her computer and then she had to change all her passwords for everything.

my paypal account seldom has any more thant $50 in it and the bank account it's linked to seldom has more than $20 unless I am purchasing something and then I transfer the funds to it from another bank. I also no longer have a credit card connected to my paypal.
 

Ross

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
70
Location
Topeka, KS
UPDATE: I received the check in the mail. Friday my wife and I went to the state fair and the Kansas Attorney General had a booth there so I took the opportunity to chat with them. They said that since I caught on to the scam before I lost any money they would not take any action because they have too many cases where people have lost money. I have received two texts from the scammer since I received the check but I have not replied. Just for kicks, I was on the internet last night while watching TV so I took the opportunity to sign the scammer up for about 30 e-mail newsletters.
 

Timbo

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
1,188
Location
Kill Devil Hills, NC USA.
UPDATE: I received the check in the mail. Friday my wife and I went to the state fair and the Kansas Attorney General had a booth there so I took the opportunity to chat with them. They said that since I caught on to the scam before I lost any money they would not take any action because they have too many cases where people have lost money. I have received two texts from the scammer since I received the check but I have not replied. Just for kicks, I was on the internet last night while watching TV so I took the opportunity to sign the scammer up for about 30 e-mail newsletters.

LIKE!
 

Cmiles1985

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
Messages
1,611
Location
Aransas Pass, TX
The big (non CL related) scam in these parts is that they call saying their with the county sheriff's department. They say that you have a warrant out, but you can pay over the phone to avoid having officers show up at your door for the arrest. This happened to a coworker's wife, and she was very distraught by the ordeal. Her husband called the authorities to find out that THEY WILL NOT CALL about a warrant.

As for CL, I recently sold a Jacuzzi tub, and had an offer for FULL PRICE!! Her transportation group would be here Monday...I didn't answer, but sold it to a local guy for asking price, and his wife is now a pen customer :)
 
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