How to check out a possible Craigslist scam

Yesterday my wife was thrilled to get a quick response to our Craigslist "for sale" posting of a UV sterilizer for a pond. When she showed it to me, I thought Scam! I'd seen suspicious responses like this before, when I'd listed my scooter for sale.

Hello! let's do like this, actually now I'm not in town for now, I came to visit my son so i wont be able to meet with you but am ok with it and let me know the last price ok, I'll proceed in issuing a Check out to you and when you received the check , I will make arrangement for pick-up. So get back to me with below details asap.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest with the sale as I am a God fearing person.

Thanks

I told her this message raised alarm bells for several reasons: no mention of actual item for sale; no questions about it; no phone number to call; overnight delivery of payment for a fairly cheap item; and of course, the "God fearing person" mention.

With the aid of Google, I found a great site for checking out likely/possible Craigslist scams: Lets Get the Craigslist Scammers. I was led to it after Googling the first part of the message above. You also can search on the site itself.

What came back was this very similar message from a Perry Smith. (Ours was from "Eddie K.)

Hello! thanks for getting back to me let's do like this, actually now I'm not in town for now, I came to visit my family so i wont be able to meet with you to see the item but am ok with the price as seen on the advert. I don't mind to give you $50 to withdraw the advert for you to see how serious i am in the transaction, i will contact my secretary to issuing a Check out to you and when you received the check I will make arrangement for pick up. So get back to me with below details to be on the check asap. Name: Address: City: State: Postal Code: Phone Number: And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest with the sale as I am a God fearing person.Note you don't need to worry about shipping the items for me as soon as you have the check and have the check cash my shipper will come over for pick up Thanks God Bless

Looking through the comments, I came across an even closer match submitted by someone who'd been contacted by a scammer.

Hello! let's do like this, actually now I'm not in town for now, I
came to visit my son so i wont be able to meet with you but am OK with
the price as seen on the advert, I'll proceed in issuing a Check out
to you and when you received the check , I will make arrangement for
pick-up. So get back to me with below details asap.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest
with the sale as I am a God fearing person.

Thanks
Williams Jane
God Bless.

Lesson: check out any Craigslist emails which seem even possibly suspicious. These scammers don't appear to be very creative, since they tend to keep out sending out messages which already have been identified as scammy. 

Comments

[Frank Biganski]

My wife just saw what eventually appeared to me as a scam, and if you Google [email protected], you'll come to the craigslist scammer's page. But what I'm trying to understand is, how would they scam you using this tactic... is it done in baby steps... first they overnight a check and somehow, they can get access to your bank account? But glad I came across your post - confirms this was a scam...

[CarnacTheMagnificent]

Amazingly, in a followup response to a Seattle Craigslist ad for a turntable, I just got a similar email from a "James Kents" (I found your post by googling some of the text; his initial message actually had seemed legit) ...but now, some of the same bizarre verbiage...

"Thanks for quick response...let's do like this, actually i'm not in
town for now, I came to visit my daughter that just gave birth to a
bouncing baby boy so i wont be able to meet with you any longer but
am ok with the condition as seen on the advert, I'll proceed in
issuing a Check out to you and when you received the check , I will
make arrangement for pick-up. So get back to me with below details
asap.More so i don't mind to pay you additional $20 to withdraw the
advert for you to see how serious i am in the transaction
Name:
Address Not Pobox:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:
Last Asking Price:
And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest
with the sale as I am a God fearing person. Thanks,
"The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not
protect you."
Sent from my iPhone

[Tami Gee]

This scammer's at it again!!!!
Going by RICHARD SMITH [email protected]

-------- Original message --------
From: Richard Smith
Date: 2/18/2016 2:44 AM (GMT-06:00)
To: Kellie
Subject: Re: Pewter car collection

Hello! let's do like this, actually now I'm not in town for now, I
came to visit my son so I wont be able to meet with you but am ok with
the condition as seen on the advert, I'll proceed in issuing a Check
out to you and when you received the check, I will make arrangement
for pick-up. So get back to me with below details asap.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:
Last Asking Price:

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and I will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest
with the sale as I am a God fearing person.** N.B UPS does not
deliver to P.O box addresses.

Sincerely,

[Not Nicky]

I received a response to my CL posting trying to sell. this scammer asked to email back to nicky… and then i received a reply from lisa…. with the above similar statements without the “God” part.

scammer is using these two emails trying to phish for our info.

[email protected]
[email protected]