Yesterday I decided to put my motorcycle up for sale on Craigslist. I got a hit, so I replied to the email address from where it came. Here's the reply that I got from this individual ~
"Ok Got it i will like to purchase as it is, and like to make the payment asap and the payment we be via cashiers check that i will send to you so get to me with your name and address to write the check out.And concerning the shipping i will handle the shipping via my shipping company so all i need to do now is to send you a check of excess fund so you can deduct your
money and send the excess to my shipping who is currently in bay area for the pick at your residence after the check clears to my house here in Florida so get back to me with the info to send the check out.please contact me now for immediate arrangement
Thanks
Am happy doing business with you."
Now, first of all, this person quite obviously uses ESL (English as Second Language) which is not a bad thing, but it set off a warning bell for me. Second of all, why in the hell would someone living in FLORIDA want to buy a motorcycle from someone in ALASKA? 'Nuther warning bell right there. Then lets take a look at the fact that his "shipping company" is in the bay area. Really, do I look like I live anywhere near the bay area (that's San Fransisco, California for those that may not know) Finally, it was the "excess funds" transferal that made me realize just what was going on here.
For those of you that may not know it, this is a huge scam where they send you a check for excess funds and ask you to deposit it in your account and send them a check for the overage amount. The bank, being smart, will hold the check and when it doesn't clear, they send it back. Of course, if you sent them money, it's tough luck baby. Not to mention the fact that they now have your bank account information. Scary stuff, man...
So, end result is that I have reported this individual to The Internet Fraud Complaint Center for processing. I don't really hope to get much personally from it, but perhaps my complaint was the one more they needed to go after this person. I hope so anyway.
On the bad side, the son-of-a-bitch got my email address.
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