Thursday, October 02, 2008

Craigslist Spam Scam - Take Down Your Post

I recently sold a bike on Boston Craigslist and I received a number of interesting scammer spams.

The signs that its a scam were: they wanted to mail me a check, instead of pay cash in person. They wanted me to take down my post because they "liked the bike so much" they didn't want anyone else to buy it from me. They were not located in Boston like any normal Boston Craigslister.

Note: the title of their emails to me was the title of my craigslist posting, they must have some automatic way of doing that.

Names used: VEMORA BANTASHI, Terry Patrick
Emails to spam: equalright001@yahoo.com, drterry012@yahoo.com

Pictures from the post:



His initial email:
Hi seller,
How you doing today?,am ok with the description you made on your property you wanna sell here and am also ok with the price.Will you kindly get back to me with your name and contact address with which i will issue and despatch a check payment to you as i dont want to miss this.
Besides,i would love you withdraw the AD from craigslist so as to avoid further contacts from other buyers,this means you should considered it sold to me.Am expecting you very soon.
Regards.


My response:
Hello buyer,
You probably want to pick this bike up in person- cash too rather than check.
Can you meet me at 4:00 tomorrow at the top of Kenmore station and you can buy the bike.
I will take the ad down when the bike is sold- so you better be there tomorrow if you want the bike!
Let me know if that time is good,
His Response:
Oh thats a nice advice from you being a good fellow but it is quite unfortunate that am not in the state presently and i must tell you it was my dear wife that saw the advert and called my attention to it.....anyway,am highly impressed with the description you made in the advert....do get back to me with the requested info so as for me to go ahead with the purchase.
Regards.

The email from Terry:
hello
I will like to know if the above item is still available for sale,
i will like to buy this item so pls i do want you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist i dont mind giving you an extra $20 to add to it cos i dont want to lose this this item. I will also like you to know that i will be paying via check due to the distance as i am located in Florida.I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of
the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phonenumber.
**I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check**
Have a nice day
My response to him:
Dear Terry,
I'm so glad that you want to buy my bike, in fact I have had many requests from potential buyers but yours stood out from the crowd and so I have taken down the add and I will sell it to you!
There is no need to waste a check though, in fact, I'll take your offer of the increased $20 and ship the bike to your Florida location free of charge!
Just reply with your
1. Full name
2. Bank account number (with routing number)
Then I will deduct the money from your account and ship it right away!
Pleasure to do business with you,
-James
I have yet to see if this will work! I could get rich over this maybe . . . scamming spammers- my favorite activity!

11 Comments:

Blogger Eli Lansey said...

What I want to know is: Where'd you get that bike?

7:01 PM  
Blogger Lansey said...

Craigslist of course!!

7:07 PM  
Blogger Jeff Rader said...

I just got the same message, same wording.

6:40 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I've been trying to sell a set of wheels on craigslist out here in CA and got pretty much the same respons to my ads. My guy was going to pay me $100 for my trouble. The wheels were $950 but he was going to have his mover come by with a check for $3,700. I was supposed to cash it, take my $950 + $100 and give the rest to the mover. I told him all i wanted was to sell the damn wheels! He was was doing all of this because he was in a rush to get to his honeymoon in Dubai. I reposted the ad last night and my first response is the same email content with a different name...i love the wheels, take them off Craigslist....I will send over the move with a check etc.

10:34 AM  
Anonymous Email Spam Protection said...

Its unbelievable.

10:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am new to putting "Wanted" postings on craigslist. Is this someone trying to add my e-mail to a spam list? No mention is made of the item I am selling. In its entirety:

"This pos.t still live?"

1:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

fukc u am...Erica

10:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i want spams: ramsh79@hotmail.com

3:56 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for helping us keep spam off.

Anti Spam Protection

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