We bought a used dining-room table last night, from a craigslist ad, and posted our old table on craigslist this morning. Here it is:
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/fur/305926217.html
I soon got an email from an interested party, and replied with our address. Here is what I got back:
Hello,
Thank you for the prompt response to my mail enquiry am quite satisfied with the condition of the item and price. Am very much interested in buying the item from you and i would like to make an outright purchase immediately, so i will advice that you withdraw the advert from the web.
I will be paying with a certified check. Furthermore my mover will be coming over for the pick up as i might not be available for the pick up myself. I would have loved to come and look it up but presently am not chanced to do that but am OK with the information from the ad. I will need the following information to make payment arrangement
1,Your full name to be on the check.
2,Your postal address.
3,Your phone number both land and mobile.
4,Your postal code.
Please do send me the following information as soon as possible. Regards.
My Scam-O-Meter is flashing red lights, but I can't figure out how the fraud will occur. Maybe they really do operate a fleet of trucks, that pick up stuff, drop off a bogus certified check, and then resell it, but that seems like a lot of trouble.
Maybe this is only step 1 , and step 2 asks for more confidential personal data, so they can do an identity theft. Seems much more plausible.
I wrote back that those terms are not acceptible, and we would be happy to accept cash from someone who comes to the house and haul the stuff away. Will I ever hear back? I doubt it.
Oh yeah, here's the sender's email address: dr.derickhanes242@gmail.com
I think the 'dr.' is a nice touch. On the Internet, nobody knows if you're an idiot or not.
I currently have an ad for a dining room table in Tacoma on Craigslist and I got the EXACT same email, word for word from the same address. I "googled" the email address on a hunch and ended up here. Some people are pathetic. Did you ever hear back from the good Dr? I was going to email you but I couldn't figure out how.
ReplyDeleteNo, I never heard another word from the sender. Pretty darn weird!
ReplyDeletehello i got the same thing and i sent a email stoping the transaction back to the good Dr. thanks for posting this info. your friend ken
ReplyDeleteI'm in Seattle and got exactly the same message this morning for a couch I'm selling. I'm with you--it's hard to see the scam, but is really fishy.
ReplyDeleteIt's a scam. They send you a forged check or similar instrument for some amount over and above the purchase price and then want you to cash it and send the excess via Western Union to their "shipper" which is, of course, them. The shipper will allegedly pick up the item at some future date. In reality they will never pick up your item since they are in Nigeria. You cash the check at your bank, keep your share, and send the rest to the "shipper" per their instructions. Once the bank discovers the check is bad they recover the funds from your account. Nice huh? Perhaps you spend so much time Bush bashing that you fail to see what is really taking place in the world around you?
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