Craigslist is starting to suck. Scam?

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I never had a problem with Craigslist until I changed to a gmail account. All if a sudden I start getting questions about an item and then when I reply I get bombarded with spam mail. I have a pair of GQF cabinet incubators on now and I get a question yesterday and I reply. This morning I receive a reply from this guy. I m thinking I am going to get really wild with thr reply or jusy act like I am following through and see where it goes. I would really like to get my hands on this joker.

Thanks for the response according to the description, I'm okay with
the price and the condition pasted on Craigslist. I'm ready to make
instant purchase. My mode of payment would be in certified cashiers
check drawn from a local Bank of America where i will arrange for a
local pick up as soon as you get the payment, because that is the only
convenient means for me and i promise everything will go smoothly. I
really wish to be there to see the item but i don't have chance cause
I'm a very busy person. Concerning the pick up, I will arrange for it
after you receive the payment and it clears. Please get back to me with
below information so that i can proceed with the payment immediately
if you are selling to me.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:
Total amount for the item

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. Thanks and i hope we
handle this in good faith while waiting to hear from you.

Regards

 

[navasima]

Ya - complete BS. If you paste the response into Google, you'll get a littany of hits, all regarding scams.
..and I wonder why I get more misanthropic by the day.......

 

[ruthless]

Never answer any reply that does not ask specific questions about a specific item. You won't catch anyone, lots of it is automated

 

[9Catsz]

You can tell by the way their email is worded that it's a scam artist at work.....Obviously, English is not his first language.

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I just replied and told them I would be happy to deliver and cash only. I have used Craig's many times and I didn't have this problem until I moved and got this gmail account. Since then I get some kind of rubbish on everything I post.

 

[stoopid]

I had this kind of reply, but my jerk actually offered me $20. more for the wait. It's been about a month, never contacted me again.
I knew it was crap from the beginning, so I disregarded his offer. What do these fools expect to accomplish?

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
I just mark emails like this as SPAM and don't even reply to them. If you do reply then they have your "real" email address and not the random one shown on the CL ad.

 

[chickened]

This could be a scam to hijack your e-mail or God forbid someone send them a check. These scams are usually from foreign countries.

 

[rancher hicks]

Learn to recognize spammers. Watch the wording. I don't respond to e-mails such as the op posted. When they leave out key words that show they don't know our language.

Such as but not limited to.

"Do you still have this?" When it refers to chickens you don't say "this".

"Why are you selling this so cheap?" Like duh! Spammeroony.

"I interested in item". Sure you are nut job.

or they give you to much information from the start.

Feel them out, do they have chickens, where do they live? Just ask a few questions. Ask for a phone number. Never give your address out if your unsure. I sometimes meet people at malls or locations with lots of people around. If I'm desperate to get rid of chicks or whatever I might even drive to their place.

I had a friend get two postal money orders in the mail and the post office didn't recognize them as counterfeit. Even the Postal Inspectors who were called in didn't recognize them as fake at first. The friend hadn't even sent them the bike!

When in doubt post the response here and we'll take a consensus. Okay?

 

[9Catsz]

It has nothing to do with your email address. You finally posted something that hit the scammer radar. Scammers like ads where the purchase price of an item is a lot of money....My $5-$100 ads they have skipped altogether.

The email you got is a classic scammer email in every way and loaded with classic scammer red flags I've listed below.

1. They offer to pay with a cashier's check or a wire transfer. All scammers do this. NOTE: If you would have continued emailing them, their next step is to tell you they want to send you a large amount of $$$ over your asking price because of some extraordinarily stupid reason and they tell you to deposit the check and keep anywhere from $500 to $1000 over the purchase price (for your trouble) and send them the remaining money. Of course, the cashier's check is a forgery and it'll take your bank a week or so to figure that out and you've already sent them a real check for the extra amount and that leaves you holding the bag with your bank. Cashier's check = scam.
2. They refer to what you're selling as "THE ITEM" not what you have for sale. I've had emails referring to animals I have for sale as "THE ITEM", LOL.
3. They're always too busy and want to arrange for someone else to pick up "THE ITEM" for them.
4. They want more info from you as in the list in the email you got. For wire transfers they ask for the name of your bank and your bank account # and routing #s! Some ppl must give it to them or they wouldn't waste their time sending out these emails.
5. The grammar and sentence syntax is all wrong, and it's not the way most any American would write.

Thanks for the response according to the description, I'm okay with
the price and the condition pasted on Craigslist. I'm ready to make
instant purchase. My mode of payment would be in certified cashiers
check drawn from a local Bank of America where i will arrange for a
local pick up as soon as you get the payment, because that is the only
convenient means for me and i promise everything will go smoothly. I
really wish to be there to see the item but i don't have chance cause
I'm a very busy person. Concerning the pick up, I will arrange for it
after you receive the payment and it clears. Please get back to me with
below information so that i can proceed with the payment immediately
if you are selling to me.

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:
Total amount for the item

And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. Thanks and i hope we
handle this in good faith while waiting to hear from you.

Regards
______________________________

To keep my email address free of this sort of chaff, I created a second email account specifically for use on websites where I offer anything for sale.