Does this CL email look fishy?

[Alucard817]

[quote]I so much appreciate your response to my earlier mail. I wish to let you know that i am a deaf woman and i will not be able to call you, so i like to know it's condition and more pictures will be convincing i will be to busy to come and check it myself. Like I said I'm gonna purchase it no doubt about it. Therefore I want you to consider it sold by withdrawing the advert from the classified site. Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling. My shipping company will send a pick up agent on my behalf to your location for pick up after payment has been arranged.

I'm sure they will contact you soon. I would like you to know that the payment will be made via PayPal because is fast and secured to send and received money online, All you have to send me is your PayPal email address so I can make the payment immediately and if you don't have a PayPal account you can simply log on to www.paypal.com and sign
up for one and i am a PayPal verified with a verified (PayPal Email ID PP1478). Hope to hear back from you asap. Kindly provide me your name and full address, so i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. Please get back to me as soon as possible.

Regards[quote]

I don't know if it sounds legit or not. Any ideas?

[nutdog]

spam and/or scam

[Randall]

Reads like a lot of scams out there.

[Alucard817]

Thats actually her second email to me though.

How does it sound like a scam?

[Bassdirty]

Originally Posted by Alucard817

Therefore I want you to consider it sold by withdrawing the advert from the classified site. Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling. My shipping company will send a pick up agent on my behalf to your location for pick up after payment has been arranged.

I'm sure they will contact you soon. I would like you to know that the payment will be made via PayPal because is fast and secured to send and received money online, All you have to send me is your PayPal email address so I can make the payment immediately and if you don't have a PayPal account you can simply log on to www.paypal.com and sign
up for one and i am a PayPal verified with a verified (PayPal Email ID PP1478). Hope to hear back from you asap. Kindly provide me your name and full address, so i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. Please get back to me as soon as possible.

ITS A FAKE


These are very common Phrases (That clue me in on a scam)

who says advert?...or classified site rather than CL?

Good luck

[AnnieSocial]

Involvement of a agent for a shipping company, an excuse not to talk on the phone, wanting you to withdraw your ad from the classified site... it all sounds flaky to me. It sounds too much like other scams I've heard of. I'll bet they offered you your asking price with no arguments or haggling. I would steer clear.

[Col Pruse]

whay not just give your email to see if she pays? what are you selling?

[millertx]

Not legit. They did not reference the item you are trying to sell, they give excuses why they cannot talk to you, want to ship it themselves using their "own" shipping company (big red flag), and ask you for financial information such as your payal account.

From Craigslist Help section on avoiding fraud:

You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:

• DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist.
• NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
• CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
  
• NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
• AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.

[pica]

Scam. I've gotten similar sounding emails from stuff I've sold over the years. Normally the seller arranges the shipping, not the buyer. Don't fall for it.

[Alucard817]

Originally Posted by Col Pruse

whay not just give your email to see if she pays? what are you selling?

A Suede by Giant beach cruiser bike. My mom got it a while ago and has ridden it once.

[NKBassman]

I almost got nailed by this same scam last year. DON'T DO IT!

[dalkowski]

Originally Posted by Alucard817

Thats actually her second email to me though.

How does it sound like a scam?

"My shipping company will send a pick up agent on my behalf to your location for pick up after payment has been arranged."

"I'm sure they will contact you soon."

The pidgin English is another tipoff:
"I would like you to know that the payment will be made via PayPal because is fast and secured to send and received money online, All you have to send me is your PayPal email address so I can make the payment immediately and if you don't have a PayPal account you can simply log on... etc."

It's the second email b/c they want you to think it's legit and they're serious.

This is why CL is adamant about dealing locally. DON'T FALL FOR IT! You'd be well served to read CL's advisories.

[DreadRaver]

Originally Posted by Alucard817

My shipping company will send a pick up agent on my behalf to your location for pick up after payment has been arranged.

That's a huge red flag, almost assuredly a scam.

Next step is "she" overpays you and asks you to send some of that money to her shipper, broker, etc, via Western Union.

See:http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/vie...hp?f=6&t=13360

[Bassdirty]

Ive gotten as far as recieving a money order for $4700(For a Bike I was selling).I assumed it was fake (Based on the talks back and forth with the scammer..but I played along with him.)

When I asked my credit union to check out the..check..It took them 2 days to confirm.Yes, It was a phony.They also said that If I had cashed it, they would have billed me...and charge me with cashing a fraudulent check.


Believe me.ITS A SCAM.

[Col Pruse]

So she already has your email obviously, if she never pays thru paypal, or nobody contacts you about shipping, what's the scam?

[ZombieSpacebat]

This is fake, i got the same email almost word for word once myself.

[Alucard817]

Ok so now that I realize its a scam. something felt fishy but I guess I just wasen't paying close attention.

You would think that someone who knows quite a bit about internet security that I would catch this right off the bat.

anyway I think I'll string this person along for a ride.

heres my second email back to this person

Where will this item be shipped to? What company will you be using to pick it up?
I have many ads on CL, which one were you interested again?

[Miskatonic]

Just wait till you get the "payment" email from Paypal. Bad mock up from the wrong email address in an attempt to get the item for free.

I hate scammers.

[Plays_For_Dog]

All she needs to pay you through paypal is your email address, which she clearly already has.

[Phil Smith]

Craigslist if for local deals, if they can't meet, they're not for real.