My wife has been redecorating our living room. We figured we would sell the old furniture on Craigslist.
I took some photos and posted them on the website. Within a day, someone contacted my wife and said he would buy all of the furniture.
But there was a catch. He was out of town, so he would send a check and have “the movers” pick up the furniture. We would pay them and refund him the extra money from the check.
We immediately recognized this as a scam. No one in his right mind would ever cook up a deal like that. Craigslist itself says any purchases should only be made in person and in cash. Just for kicks, we said OK to it, just to see how stupid this guy was.
In a few days a check arrived in the mail. It was drawn on the payroll bank account of an Arizona school district. So, this guy was not only planning on ripping us off, but a school district, too. He would get a two-fer.
My wife took it to the police department, and, one hopes, they passed it along to the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service, since this guy has broken federal laws pertaining to fraud, interstate theft, forgery and using the mail to commit a felony. Hopefully, the feds will put this guy out of business and provide him with a new home in the Gray Bar Hotel.
But get a load of this. Within a week two other people came along with exactly the same scam.
Here’s the way one guy worked it:
Scammer: “Hi, I saw the end table on CL. … I am OK with the price and will be sending you a check for the item and also for my movers whom will be coming for the pickup of the item. Get back to me with your full name and mailing address to get the check sent ASAP.”
When I told him it was a cash deal only, he said, “You have nothing to worry about since my mover will be coming over to your location after you have the cash in hand.”
Uh-huh, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn that’s for sale, too. When I said “cash only” a second time, he vanished.
The scammers must sit at home all day and troll for victims. The sad part is I’m sure some people fall for it. After all, it seems legitimate, sort of.
But like all things that are too good to be true, scams are easy to resist. My suggestion: Call the cops. Hopefully, they’ll track down these bums and take care of them.
What is ironic about this is Craigslist acknowledges it has a scam problem. It has an entire webpage devoted to how people rip off its customers and who to contact about it.
Apparently, it’s not working. If our experience is any indication, plenty of scammers are still in business.
Maybe the best idea is to steer clear of Craigslist altogether. You get what you pay for – with a few scams to boot.
Carl Sampson is a freelance editor and writer.
