Major Craigslist and Kijiji Scam

[Major Wood]

You know the age old adage "if it sounds too good to be true it usually is" Well I just want to advise all members of a scam that is rearing its ugly head again. And to please tell everyone you know about it. If any of you guys on here are in law enforcement please P.M. me I have a few questions for you.
These b**tards troll Craigs and Kijiji looking for mostly furniture, you will get an inquiry that states they are interested but are out of town (trip, honeymoon, business but will have their secretary send you a check. they will also ask you to pull the ad off of the site because they want to make sure you will sell it to only them. About 2-3 days later you will get and overnight envelope from UPS with nothing in it except a very official looking check it might be a bank check or a check from a particular business DO NOT CASH IT!!!!It is not worth a penny. These guys know when you receive it because they track it and you will immediately get an email informing you that their secretary made a major error and made the check out for more than what you were asking for your item (sometimes hundreds or thousands of dollars over) They will tell you to keep an extra 50 for your trouble and to Western Union the difference to a bogus shipping company that is going to pick-up your item. The check is worthless and you just sent them hundreds or thousands of dollars in cash for nothing. My brother in law came to me with the check and asked me what to do I said deposit it but don't cash it and see what happens 2 days later it bounced haven't heard a thing from the guy wanting to pick-up his furniture. If anything the only way to get back @ these guys is to string em along let them send you the check and do nothing (they send them overnight so it costs em a few bucks to send the bogus check) No matter how official the check looks do nothing with it save it for evidence. I have a way that I believe would bring these scum sucking pigs down but I can't share it yet as I am trying to talk to some authorities about it. Again please let everyone you know that deals with internet want ads know about this. Thanks

 

[sawinredneck]

Old scam thats been going on for a LONG time!! Most times it is for cars or trucks and they want to ship it overseas. They send you a check, for more than you are asking, and want you to deposit it and foreward the rest of the money to the shipper.
Obviously the check is no good, and it depletes people of their savings, becasue the check they write IS GOOD!!
Most of these people are overseas and use emails that are gone in a day or two that cannot be tracked.
Sounds like you got hosed, sorry. Not much you can do, talk to your local law enforcment, but I doubt there is much they can do for you, as I and a freind found out.
Best thing you can do is take the check to the bank and have them run it to see if it's any good before doing anything.
Most banks don't waste much time and tell you it's not worth the paper it's written on.

 

[Backwood]

I just want to advise all members of a scam that is rearing its ugly head again.

I didnt know it took a break. That is a common scam for any big money item on craigslist. I have probably had over 100 of the same offers.( the delete botton is the easiest fix ) As long as its a small precentage of people that will say send me the check they will always do it.
The main rule with craigslist: If dealing with craigslist NEVER take a check of ANY kind for ANY reason.

 

[Major Wood]

I want to string em along so they waste valuable time and money sending their bogus checks.

 

[sawyerDave]

I did a little research on this, had a cop try to track down what is going on, What it boils down to is this: The scammer is in Africa, or somewhere outside the U.S., He responds, sends you a bogus check in an envelope from Fedex or UPS, on a stolen account #. Sending the bogus check costs him nothing, any name he uses is picked out of an internet listing of people in your area. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it. Stringing them along to waste their time may be of negligible value, but getting a check sent to you only increases some business' overhead, which causes their prices to go up to legitimate customers, you and I.:bang: :bang:

 

[pdqdl]

Why turn away checks? They are more secure than any charge card payment!

Just deposit the money. Wait for it to clear. Make sure that it cleared. Call the bank to confirm that they got their money! Then ship the item.

Be sure that any deals you agree to are well understood to not ship until the check clears. Then there will be no hard feelings. That will scare off the fraud artists as well.

 

[Dubai Vol]

Why turn away checks? They are more secure than any charge card payment!

Just deposit the money. Wait for it to clear. Make sure that it cleared. Call the bank to confirm that they got their money! Then ship the item.

Be sure that any deals you agree to are well understood to not ship until the check clears. Then there will be no hard feelings. That will scare off the fraud artists as well.

The problem is that with a lot of these phony checks your account gets credited in a few days and then weeks later the bank comes back and says "oh that check turned out to be bogus your account balance has been adjusted."

It's not the acepting the check part that is a problem, it's the refunding the "overpayment" that is the scam. If you get a check for more than the amount with a request to return the extra, it's a scam.

 

[Major Wood]

These pigs are real good the checks they manufacture are unbelievable. What gets me is that very few of these can be identified immediately as frauds by the bank, but man write a bad check in your local grocery store and your standing in line with a boatload of food that you can't pay for because they run the numbers pronto!:monkey:

 

[carvinmark]

Been there, done that, hate it. I think they make good fire starter.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Had some friends had that happen on a mini van about 6 yrs ago. Fraudulent buyer overpaid by 8k or so and my friends were in the process of wiring the money via Western Union. Western Union actually held up the deal and called them-said it was a scam and so saved them a heck of a lot of money. A W.U. employee went the extra mile that day-kudos. Good things to tell your kids about-

 

[landyboy]

These kids of scams are a national pastime in Nigeria. Most are run from internet cafe`s.

 

[Major Wood]

Luckily I nor my brother in law are out anything but 5 bucks the thing that gets me is those of us that use Craigs and Kijiji are getting black eyes because of these predatory pigs, it just makes earning someones trust that much harder today.

 

[Dave]

Check out this site- http://www.419eater.com/
Not only do they have no shame, a lot of them have no intelligence.

 

[Major Wood]

Hey Dave thanks for the link I was rolling on the floor these guys are genius. I can't wait to have one of these pigs try to run one on me. I'm going to use a few of those tricks.