Question:
is this a scam and how could it be? I have a esp guitar for sale on craigslist and i got this email.?
geardy23
2012-04-29 15:25:40 UTC
Im just wandering is this a scam and how could it be? I have a esp guitar for sale on craigslist and i got this email from this person. If i were to go through with it and give this person my name and address how could i get scammed? Here is the email i received...

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me, The price is okay by me , I won't be coming down to look on it, as I'm so busy for now and I'm presenting it to my Brother In-law.

I will appreciate if you can send me more closer picture but if not there no problem and My mode of payment is Cashier Bank check or Money Order check cos its more safer to me and i have been using that to buy items on Craigslist without any problem. Once you have the check i will wait until the check is clear in your bank before any procedure. In order to do this i need your full name and address and contact # in which you want the check to be mail to and what name.

My shipper will come for the pick up as soon as payment is certified. Also I will be adding an excess to the payment on the check that will be sent to you which you will assist me in sending the the balance to my shipper for their shipping cost. I'm asking you to do this for me cos my schedule for now is very tight. Once again am gonna wait until the check is clear by your bank before any procedure

Regards.


Any advice or what could they do if i have the money b4 i proceed to ship it to them?
Six answers:
Buffy Staffordshire
2012-04-29 18:17:54 UTC
100% scam.



There is no buyer.



Notice how the scammer doesn't call what you are selling by name? He uses the generic word "item", that is because he sends the same stock copy/paste email to anyone selling everything that he can find and he has no idea what you are selling and doesn't care.



There is only a scammer trying to steal your hard-earned money.



He is not interested in your identity or bank account, only your cash.



The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be the "secretary/assistant/accountant" and will demand you cash a large fake check sent on a stolen UPS/FedEx billing account number and send the money via Western Union or moneygram back to the scammer posing as the "shipping company". When your bank realizes the check is fake and it bounces, you get the real life job of paying back the bank for the bounced check fees and all the bank's money you sent to an overseas criminal.



Western Union and moneygram do not verify anything on the form the sender fills out, not the name, not the street address, not the country, not even the gender of the receiver, it all means absolutely nothing. The clerk will not bother to check ID and will simply hand off your cash to whomever walks in the door with the MTCN# and question/answer. Neither company will tell the sender who picked up the cash, at what store location or even in what country your money walked out the door. Neither company has any kind of refund policy, money sent is money gone forever.



When you refuse to send him your cash he will send increasingly nasty and rude emails trying to convince you to go through with his scam. The scammer could also create another fake name and email address like "FBI@ gmail.com", "police_person @hotmail.com" or "investigator @yahoo.com" and send emails telling you the job is legit and you must cash the fake check and send your money to the scammer or you will face legal action. Just ignore, delete and block those email addresses. Although, reading a scammer's attempt at impersonating a law enforcement officer can be extremely funny.



Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of being the perfect buyer, great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.



Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.



Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.



If you google "fake check buyer scam", "fake Western Union buyer fraud" or something similar and you will find hundreds of posts of victims and near victims of this type of scam.
FlagMichael
2012-04-29 22:55:40 UTC
Scam, alright. That is how counterfeit cashier checks and money orders are passed off. They are accepted by the bank, you send the merchandise, and a couple days later the bank finds it is counterfeit and takes the money back. You are holding the bag.



Everything about that email screams counterfeit check scam. Using a cut-out person (brother in law), pushing you into a process that seems safe but is not safe, using another cut-out ("shipper"), preying on your expected greed by offering to pay more than you asked, sending this detailed message to you and then pleading a very tight schedule, reiterating his expectation of you to follow his bogus process. This one should go into a scammer textbook.



Edit - Buffy has the best answer so far. I especially like how she recognized that this is a cookie-cutter email. As an in-law says, "If you are suspicious the situation is suspicious." You already knew something was bent here, you just didn't know how. I should also point out if you get ripped off you have no recourse. The FBI is responsible for investigation and prosecution, but they won't investigate if the amount is less than $5000. Check out the source for how this relates to another common craigslist scam.
Adrian
2012-05-03 02:16:35 UTC
Its 100% a scam.

The check is a fake, you end up losing the money and the guitar...



Just tell him, cash only. He can send the money to "his shipper" that he trusts 100% anyway, and have the shipper pay cash to you. (of course, often the shipper is the scammer themselves...)
krazybob613
2012-04-29 23:21:11 UTC
SCAM A MATIC to the MAX!

Absolutely do not have any further contact with this scumbag!

As others have indicated - Pay Pal or Money Order through the Post Office or Western Union!
2012-04-29 22:32:21 UTC
Classic internet scam. THINK about it! NO ONE in their right mind willl give you MORE money!



Demand POSTAL CHECKS ONLY! OR paypal only.



The scam goes like this: the check does clear. You give him the excess payment. Then the bank realizes there's fraud. The check bounces. They revert the charges. You're screwed not only out of the $$$, you're screwed forever out of the money you PAID THEM, you're also screwed out of the bank charges.



Any questions?
Brianna
2012-04-29 22:28:32 UTC
Don't give them any personal information. Say they must come to you if they want to buy the item. Don't give out any information!!


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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Is this a scam and how could it be? I have a esp guitar for sale on craigslist and i got this email.?
started 2012-04-29 15:27:43 UTC
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