Randomness

[Casius]

Honestly I'm not quite sure what it is either! I just know that it's way too coincidental that two people email me and basically run down the same story and the same requests.
All I can guess is they want to make the transaction with paypal so they can then say I never shipped the product and there for get the watch for free. That's the only thing that makes any sense.

[c.r.e.a.m.]

but if you stay within the paypal "rules", then arent you covered? as in ship only to a confirmed address, etc, etc. i actually got scammed pretty bad this year. i paid like $700 for a camera, but the guy told me the package got sent back to him for some reason. so i told him to send it to my school address, which is one of my paypal addresses, but not the one i used when i paid. anyway, he ended up sending me a package, but it was full of garbage. so the fact that he physically sent a package was what got me, and the fact it was shipped to a different address worked against me as well. he ended up taking the money out of his paypal account and i never saw the money again.

[Casius]

Trust me, I want it to sound legit but it all seems so fishy. Shit, let me grab one of the emails and post it here. lol

Here's one...
Hi,
Thank for the prompt response to my mail,my secretary will be processing
and mail a draft to cover the cost of my purchase as am completely
satisfied with the advert.I will need the details of whom & where to
mail the draft.It will be delivered by the FedEx
within 2-3 days.Please note 'FeDex' do not deliver to
P.O.Box addresses
1.Name to be on the check
2.Home address
3.Mobile #
Kindly delete the posting as am totally committed to buying from you
to save me cost,my mover will be coming over for the pick up right
only after the payment as been delivered and i want you to understand
that,i love to call but am a deaf and only uses a hearing-in paired
phone the relay so please send me a email you leave a message on my
voice mail XXX XXX XXXX
it will be delivered as an email to me as
well,thank you.
Regards

Here's another...
Dear seller,
i want to buy this item cos am in need of it urgently i want
to present it as a wedding gift to my pastors daughter and i also
want to inform you that i want to ship the item direct to my pastor
in Ibadan. i will be paying $7250.00 for the item and i also pay you
$350.00 for the shipping cost am really in need of it urgently that is
why i want to offer you all this amount. i will be paying you through
international PayPal into your PayPal account direct. and i want you
to ship the item Via ***Usps Global Express Mail International Ems..
you will ship the item to my client immediately you receive my payment
approval from PayPal if you agree with these term,send me your full
name and you PayPal email address for immediate payment... get back to
me soonest with the payment details.
Regards.

[c.r.e.a.m.]

youre right, both sound extremely sketchy.

"love to call but am a def"... thats a good one, unless he really is. then id feel bad. obviously its sketchy that he wants to send you a check. you could always ask him for a cashiers check or money order...

second one is most likely a scam cause he wants you to send it to an address thats not the confirmed paypal address. you could tell him you can ship asap to the confrimed address, and he can ship express to his "pastor's daughter" lol. otherwise, i wouldnt do it.

id say to keep on looking for a more normal buyer haha

[Casius]

Hahah, yea, I'm going to hold out for something the feels a bit better.
I just didn't realize to the extent scammers actually contact you via craigslist. (I got a total of three different emailers within the last 2 days)

[Chinorlz]

scammers are ALL over Craigslist like crazy. They'll try to scam even for subletting believe it or not.

Unfortunately high priced items don't seem to do well on CL in general Cas :(

[Casius]

Thanks Albert. I really need to try and find another good place to sell my watch then. I'm already on timezone but need another....hmmmm.

[Chinorlz]

wish I could help Cas :(

best of luck!

[Servo2000]

scammers are ALL over Craigslist like crazy. They'll try to scam even for subletting believe it or not.

There's a lot of warnings about these scams all over college campuses since they mainly go for college students moving out of apartments since it's typically their first domicile and don't really know otherwise. It's a fairly ingenious scam - I don't know if I would have fallen for it but it doesn't sound like a totally unreasonable one which is the hardest part.

[casem]

Yea, I get scammers all the time from craigslist. I adverstise for music lessons sometimes and always get a different version of the same check cashing sceme:

"Dear Sir, I am delighted to see the services you are offering. I live in France but my son will be in X for three weeks to study. I would like you to give him lessons for 2 hours everyday during his stay. Please let me know your fee for this and I will send you the check immediately etc."

[Chinorlz]

I could never quite figure out how those scams work. The subletting one was a mystery for me same with what you've posted there Casem.

Can someone spell it out for me? I just dont know how they get anything out of these versus say the watch scam

[casem]

From what I understand, they send you a bum check for more than the amount they owe you and ask you to wire them back the difference. So 1. Your like "whoa, this person is really eager to send me money, bring it on"
2. You get the check, they ask you to send them back the difference
3. You cash it and send them the money
4. Your dumb ass is held responsible for the bad check and they got some money out of it

In all the scam attempts I've gotten they are very eager to send me money no questions asked. Not sure how Cas' version would work though.

[Casius]

It sounds like something similar Casey, only using paypal. Now that you just broke it down, I could easily see that working, especially easy with paypal.
Also one person did want to send a check (see above), so sounds like the scams are very similar. Not to mention in my case, they would get a free watch out of it.

[Time & Space]

I know that you already figured it out, but they are all scams on CL for the most part. I tried to sell my titanium road bike on there asking $5K for it, and so many emails asking for information, send me a check, make a deposit, etc, etc, etc...

I then posted the same ad for the bike for $50 and got the same responses from the same posters with the same messages. It was a joke! There were some with the $50 ad that were asking me if I was crazy, and I knew they were real cause of the kind of bike it is!!!

So, as if you did not already learn, CL is great for some things to sell. I found a great car, antiques, cell phones, scuba and surf gear and stuff and have sold a lot of stuff, just have to be wary about whom you deal with and never pass out that personal information...

Just repeating what you probably already know...

Luc

[Casius]

Thanks guys for the input. I'll have to try my luck on ebay. Ugh.

If anyone has a friend/family member who is looking for a role', send em on over. :)