Craigslist Scammers

[DETRoadster]

Can I just rant for a moment? I posted a motorcycle for sale on CL last night and within 5 hours I was woken up by my first CL scammer. Should have known better and put my phone on vibrate. Anyway "Jason" from Cincinnati was ready to pay full price and wire me a cashiers check. I politely told him to F himself and then got to wondering, what exactly is the scam here? The guy wants to send me a cashiers check to "hold" the bike for him until his buddy comes and picks it up. OK, so the check is fake or never comes and I lose a week on possibly selling the bike. What's in it for him? Anyone take one of these scams further down the communication road and figure out what the scam actually is?

[F30dud]

i trolled them all the time actually... ALL the time

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by F30dud

i trolled them all the time actually... ALL the time

Ha ha ha! Tell me more. I want to hear how it plays out.

[EJT86]

i believe its like the paypal scam. he wires a small amount to "hold" the bike it clears and all looks good. then he comes to pick it up and wires you the rest which never clears

[oolas3]

i think what they do is when they send the check the scammers will make it out for more than you are asking and then ask you to refund them the difference.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by EJT86

i believe its like the paypal scam. he wires a small amount to "hold" the bike it clears and all looks good. then he comes to pick it up and wires you the rest which never clears

Originally Posted by oolas3

i think what they do is when they send the check the scammers will make it out for more than you are asking and then ask you to refund them the difference.

Ah, I see that makes sense. Wiring an excess of funds and then asking to have the balance wired back. Man, these guys go through a lot of effort. it must work because they keep doing it. Sad. Preying on old folks mostly, I suspect.

[StuP]

I had one complex one who wanted to buy me a plane ticket to fly to Florida to buy a car. I should have seen where that went, but I was busy at the time.

[JsL]

The Holy Church of The Order of The Red Breast is a classic scammers get scammed story:

http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

Can I just rant for a moment? I posted a motorcycle for sale on CL last night and within 5 hours I was woken up by my first CL scammer. Should have known better and put my phone on vibrate. Anyway "Jason" from Cincinnati was ready to pay full price and wire me a cashiers check. I politely told him to F himself and then got to wondering, what exactly is the scam here? The guy wants to send me a cashiers check to "hold" the bike for him until his buddy comes and picks it up. OK, so the check is fake or never comes and I lose a week on possibly selling the bike. What's in it for him? Anyone take one of these scams further down the communication road and figure out what the scam actually is?

CL is the worst when it com6to shopping/buying motorcycles.

Curious though... what kind of bike are you looking to sell and from where?

I have a lady friend who is taking the BRC in a couple weeks and she's very excited to get her own Pre-owned bike next month.

If your bike isn't what she's looking for, you may still be able to sell it on this forum is you post in the for sale section.

Let me know what you're selling.

Either way, GLWS

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Samurai of 2day

CL is the worst when it com6to shopping/buying motorcycles.

Curious though... what kind of bike are you looking to sell and from where?

I have a lady friend who is taking the BRC in a couple weeks and she's very excited to get her own Pre-owned bike next month.

If your bike isn't what she's looking for, you may still be able to sell it on this forum is you post in the for sale section.

Let me know what you're selling.

Either way, GLWS

I'm definitely getting a refresher course on why I hate CL. It's great for buying, terrible for selling. if you ever forget just how many weirdo, flakey, freaks there are in the world, just post up an ad on CL for anything and they will all come find you.

So the bike is definitely the opposite of what you are after. It's a 1987 Suzuki Cavalcade 1400. It's 900 pounds of rolling 80's retro awesomeness. it belonged to my in-laws who are both in their mid 70s and are still avid riders, though their health is declining pretty fast. My wife and I were really not feeling good about the two old geezers jumping on the Cavalcade and going on 1,000 mile road trips. We managed to talk them off the Cavalcade and onto a CanAm Spider. ABS, traction control, reverse, 3 wheel stability, etc. A much better fit for them. Part of the deal was we would buy the bike off them so they had money for the down payment. I never wanted the Cavalcade in the first place and now it's taking up valuable shop space. Like you, my lady is also looking to get her endorsement and get into a small starter bike. So the Cav has to go to make room for another bike.

What sort of bikes are you guys looking at for your lady? We are having a tough time with seat height. Everything is so tall. My wife is only 5'4" so we don't have a lot of height to work with. We got her on a 2018 Suzuki TU250X yesterday and she really liked it. Right now that's looking like the front runner.

[Mardio]

Originally Posted by JsL

The Holy Church of The Order of The Red Breast is a classic scammers get scammed story:

http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm

LMAO! Made my day!

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

Can I just rant for a moment? I posted a motorcycle for sale on CL last night and within 5 hours I was woken up by my first CL scammer. Should have known better and put my phone on vibrate. Anyway "Jason" from Cincinnati was ready to pay full price and wire me a cashiers check. I politely told him to F himself and then got to wondering, what exactly is the scam here? The guy wants to send me a cashiers check to "hold" the bike for him until his buddy comes and picks it up. OK, so the check is fake or never comes and I lose a week on possibly selling the bike. What's in it for him? Anyone take one of these scams further down the communication road and figure out what the scam actually is?

The scam is once he finds someone dumb enough to bite, he sends the money, then his circumstances change and he asks for a refund. You refund him with your money, then his check bounces.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by oolas3

i think what they do is when they send the check the scammers will make it out for more than you are asking and then ask you to refund them the difference.

This is the exact scam, I have more fake cashier checks than you can believe and many times they were for thousand more than what I was selling the item for. I always had them send the check to my work just so they did not have my home address. When they would demand I wire the money back, I would always say I'll give them cash when they show up, then the threats would start and they would be calling the FBI.

Also it takes 10 days for the cashier check to clear so these guys get desperate to get you to send the money back before the 10 days run out.

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

I'm definitely getting a refresher course on why I hate CL. It's great for buying, terrible for selling. if you ever forget just how many weirdo, flakey, freaks there are in the world, just post up an ad on CL for anything and they will all come find you.

So the bike is definitely the opposite of what you are after. It's a 1987 Suzuki Cavalcade 1400. It's 900 pounds of rolling 80's retro awesomeness. it belonged to my in-laws who are both in their mid 70s and are still avid riders, though their health is declining pretty fast. My wife and I were really not feeling good about the two old geezers jumping on the Cavalcade and going on 1,000 mile road trips. We managed to talk them off the Cavalcade and onto a CanAm Spider. ABS, traction control, reverse, 3 wheel stability, etc. A much better fit for them. Part of the deal was we would buy the bike off them so they had money for the down payment. I never wanted the Cavalcade in the first place and now it's taking up valuable shop space. Like you, my lady is also looking to get her endorsement and get into a small starter bike. So the Cav has to go to make room for another bike.

What sort of bikes are you guys looking at for your lady? We are having a tough time with seat height. Everything is so tall. My wife is only 5'4" so we don't have a lot of height to work with. We got her on a 2018 Suzuki TU250X yesterday and she really liked it. Right now that's looking like the front runner.

Lol, your description of the bike is just awesome!

I hope you find a buyer who will give it a good home. Unfortunately, my friend is looking for something a bit more modern, lol.

Have you tried Cycletrader.com? That is a great online community, similar to this one. I'm sure you would be able to find a serious customer on that site.

GLWS

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Samurai of 2day

Lol, your description of the bike is just awesome!

I hope you find a buyer who will give it a good home. Unfortunately, my friend is looking for something a bit more modern, lol.

Have you tried Cycletrader.com? That is a great online community, similar to this one. I'm sure you would be able to find a serious customer on that site.

GLWS

A bit more modern? Pfhht. Whatever. What's more modern than a cassette deck? I made a mix tape that has Kenny Loggins Highway to the Dangerzone on a permanent loop so I can blast that as I cruise.

So I did try cycletrader. Posted the ad on Friday night and they said it could take 72 hours on their end to review and post. So far it's not posted for the public to view, but I have been getting cycle trader spam e-mails for 3 days now. Thanks cycle trader. I missed the whole memorial day weekend shopping crowd, but did get your 25 spam e-mails.

[Alfisti]

I will never, ever understand putting your phone number on Craigslist or Kijiji, just astonishes me that anyone does that.

[Alfisti]

The other thing, the USA and cheques .. really?? Who uses a freakin' cheque in 2018?

The way you go about things down there is just flat out weird at times.

[lsturbointeg]

when I went looking to buy a used car off CL here's the common scam tactic that was sent to me after I sent the buyer a text:

Hi, I am at work, please send me your personal email address if are interested buying my 2007 Honda Civic at $ 1800 and i will contact you later.Thank you very much

Jessica

so after you send your email I get this:

The 2012 Hyundai
Sonata Limited 2.0T is still available. It is in a good
condition, no scratches, no damages, never been involved in
any kind of accidents. It has a 2.0L - 4 cylinder
engine (great on gas), automatic transmission & only
62,190 miles. ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUES at all and I have the
clean title in hand. I'm selling it at this final price
1,800 because my husband passed away 2 months ago (he had a
heart attack) and brings me bad memories and that's the
reason I want to sell it asap. I also got a new job, moved
back to my hometown, and many other things have priority
now, so, this car has to go. If you are interested in buying
my car, feel free to email me.I
also attached more pictures.

Bet regards,
Julie Taylor

so the cars don't match nor does the seller's name. the funny part is I contacted 10 different seller's about car all sending me the same story.

[EJT86]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

when I went looking to buy a used car off CL here's the common scam tactic that was sent to me after I sent the buyer a text:

Hi, I am at work, please send me your personal email address if are interested buying my 2007 Honda Civic at $ 1800 and i will contact you later.Thank you very much

Jessica

so after you send your email I get this:

The 2012 Hyundai
Sonata Limited 2.0T is still available. It is in a good
condition, no scratches, no damages, never been involved in
any kind of accidents. It has a 2.0L - 4 cylinder
engine (great on gas), automatic transmission & only
62,190 miles. ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUES at all and I have the
clean title in hand. I'm selling it at this final price
1,800 because my husband passed away 2 months ago (he had a
heart attack) and brings me bad memories and that's the
reason I want to sell it asap. I also got a new job, moved
back to my hometown, and many other things have priority
now, so, this car has to go. If you are interested in buying
my car, feel free to email me.I
also attached more pictures.

Bet regards,
Julie Taylor

so the cars don't match nor does the seller's name. the funny part is I contacted 10 different seller's about car all sending me the same story.

Soooo... you’re saying there’s some sort of elidemic that’s killing all these husbands in such a small area?

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by EJT86

Soooo... you’re saying there’s some sort of elidemic that’s killing all these husbands in such a small area?

I guess so? here's another

Hello there,
My 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, is still for sale. This vehicle is in great shape. I’m the original owner. It has no damage, no dings, rust or any other hidden defects. It also has been inspected on a regularly basis so that's mainly the reason it is in immaculate condition. The mileage on the odometer shows 89,472 miles, it has automatic transmission. The 4.7L V8 gas engine runs smoothly with no unusual sounds, it has 4 wheel drive, silver exterior and in prinstine condition, gray interior. The title registration is made under my name and it is a clear title, free of accidents nor lines or loans. I am selling it at this final price of $1200 because my husband died 1 month ago and it brings me bad memories and that’s the reason I want to sell it a.s.a.p. I want to use eBay services for the safety of both of us so if you’re interested in purchasing this car can notify eBay that you are selected as my possible buyer and they will contact you to explain the entire procedure.
Thank you, Barbara A. Rondon

and another:

The 2012 Honad Civic EX-L is still available. It is in a good condition, no scratches, no damages, never been involved in any kind of accidents. It has a 2.4L - 4 cylinder engine (great on gas), automatic transmission & only 35,249 miles. ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUES at all and I have the clean title in hand. I'm selling it at this final price 2,000 because my husband passed away 2 months ago (he had a heart attack) and brings me bad memories and that's the reason I want to sell it asap. I also got a new job, moved back to my hometown, and many other things have priority now, so, this car has to go. If you are interested in buying my car, feel free to email me.
I also attached more pictures.

Best regards, Barbara Matheny

[lsturbointeg]

here's a few about needing to sell before being deployed for the miliatary



Hello
, Thank you for your interest in purchased
my 2007
Honda Civic EX .
I am selling this vehicle because I am in the military and
my unit will be sent back to Afghanistan. I don't want
it get old in my garage. The price is low because I need to
sell it before June 10th. The vehicle is in pristine
condition, no accident history, clear title, ano dents or
dings and no scratches. Always adult driven and garaged,
never abused or raced. If you are interested, it's
still available for sale and the price, as stated in the ad,
is $1800. Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Thank you !SSgt. Jessica
Smith

another

My name is Laura, I'm emailing you about 2008 Nissan Altima SL with an gasoline engine, automatic transmission and only 95k miles. Never had or need any paint/body work done, garaged keep always, without any mechanical problems, tires and wheels are in great shape as well, electric is working perfectly. The engine 3.5L V6 MPI gas, runs very good and the automatic transmission shifts perfectly. Has a clean and clear title in my name and there are no liens or loans on it. This car has been used by my husband who died 4 month ago. The price was reduced to $1,500 because I'm in a hurry to find a buyer. I need to sell the car before the end of the month, when I will be leaving on military duty with my medical team out of the country for a year and do not want to store it. Hate to sell it but its not worth keeping insurance and paying storage fees for a year.Also, my daughter have another car so there's no use on keeping it. If you are interested reply to email.

and another

Hello,

Here are details about 2009 Nissan Maxima SV, in perfect working condition, no body work or paint ever done, garage kept, no mechanical problems whatsoever.

It has 109,000 miles, 3.5L V6 engine gasoline runs smooth and the automatic transmission shifts perfectly. The interior is like new. All regular maintenance was performed. It will come with a clean and clear title under my name free from any loans or liens. It's beautiful car loaded with navigation system back-up camera, sunroof etc...

If you decide to buy it, you'll receive all the papers(including a clear title), owner's manual, keys, a notarized buy-sell contract already signed by me. The price was reduced to $1500 because I'm in a hurry to find a buyer. I need to sell the car before, May 26th, when I will be leaving on military duty with my unit to replace and help the troops scheduled to come home this year.

Hate to sell it but it's not worth keeping insurance and paying storage fees for a year.

You will find few pictures attached if interested reply back.




SSG Tayana Bennet

Bravo Company, Virginia National Guard

[CTinline-six]

Most will claim they will wire the money but need your bank account information.

Lately I haven't had too much issue with scammers, but people who agree on a price then you meet them locally somewhere and they don't have enough money. It has happened to me 3 times. I usually tell them we agreed on a price and if you don't have it then sorry I can't help you. Maybe it is a poor attempt at negotiating? I had one guy magically find $20 more in his glovebox when I told him to pound sand.