Fun with Craigslist Scammers

[ronaldpdbrandt]

I have a bass up in my local Craigslist, which always draws its share of con artists and scammers. Most of the time I simply ignore the emails that seem fishy, but this time I decided to have a little fun and waste the scammers time, stringing him/her along for a while.

Below is the email exchange with this dum-dum. "Her" emails will be in italics, and my emails will be in bold. Commentary will appear in blue. Names and addresses have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty:

Hello,
Please I would like to know if this item still available for sales....

Okay, so I'm already suspicious that "she" is referring to the bass as "the item", but I thought I'd at least have some fun and see where it went. So I wrote back:

Yes, it is.

Ron

Ok thanks, am okay with the price are you willing to ship the item?,
do you have a paypal account, plus i will also be responsible for the
shipping expenses, so get back to me asap

Now we get to the classic CL scam. They offer to pay for something you didn't ask them to pay for, then hope you'll ship "the item" before they make a payment, or they'll phish for some personal information first, blah blah blah. In any case, I thought I'd counter with a direct statement of suspicion, so:

To be honest, this sounds a little scammy. Why are you calling it "the item"? If you can prove to me that you are a real person who wants what I'm selling, please tell me about yourself and explain why you want it. Just a precaution, I'm sure you understand.

Thanks,
Ron

Am a chorister leader in my branch denomination anglican church. We
have a musical festival coming up in easter period. That's it all,

What is a "chorister"?

And you want a $2000 instrument for your church event? Why not go on your local CL and find something much cheaper but serviceable? That would seem to be a better use of church funds. What is the name of the church and where is it located (in other words, where are you asking me to send my "item")?

Ron

Ok here is the shipping Address: Name: Rxxxe Hxxxxxk Address:
2087 (no street name given) Ave, Ann Arbor State: MI Zip Code: 48104 Country:
USA

Okay, what happened to the church question? Ignoring that one, I guess. Anyway, "she" had given me a different name from "her" own, so I looked up the name with the partial address and found that it was an actual person who operates a bed & breakfast at that address. I got the phone number of the B&B from its website, then wrote this, figuring this would be the end of it:

I suppose you mean 2087 Wxxxxxxxxn Avenue, which apparently is the Dxxxxy Bed & Breakfast, operated by Mr. Hxxxxxk?

Would you mind if I call Mr. Hxxxxxxk to verify? And may I ask what your relationship to this gentleman is?

Thank you,
Ron

Pls kindly call to do your confirmation. Thanks

I gotta say I was a little surprised by this move. In all honesty, I almost kind of started to think that maybe this was just an English-challenged young lady with no concept of how to answer a question directly or conduct business with another human being. Almost. But again, "she" didn't answer my question about her relationship to this person.

Okay, I'll call when I get off work this afternoon, and I'll email you back after that.

Thanks,
Ron

Ok am waiting for ur massage whenever u are true,

Huh? Not touching that one...

I called the number for the address you gave me, and they said that they do not know anyone named Jxxxxa Mxxxxxxz. I'm sorry, but I can't do this deal. Too many of my questions to you went unanswered.

Ron

We're done, right?

Nope.

U don't call any number it maybe u make a mistakes somewhere not the
number I give to u in the address okay,

Wait, what? Really?!

You didn't give me a phone number. You gave me an address for Rxxxe Hxxxxxxk. I looked up the name and address and found that Mr. Hxxxxxxk owns a business at that address. I called the phone number listed on the business' website. They confirmed that the address you gave me does belong to Rxxxe Hxxxxxxk, but they don't know you, and they don't know a thing about receiving a bass guitar for you.

You are wasting my time. I will not reply again.

Ron

Thanks U are welcome

Aaaaannnd SCENE.

[Proraptor]

I hate these people

[hrodbert696]

Aw you should have gotten them to the stage where they send you a bogus money order for ten times what the instrument costs - because their "secretary" "accidentally" put an extra zero on it, and would you mind sending them a money order back with the change? You could have framed it and had a lovely souvenir of the experience.

[ShoeManiac]

Beautiful! I've had an amp listed on CL recently, and I've been SO tempted to start playing games with these skels. Once they ask about "THE ITEM" you just know. The exchange was almost textbook CL scam.

I'm actually very surprised to see that they didn't offer a specific additional sum (usually $50 or $100) to sweeten the deal or "secure the item", even though they did make the offer for the shipping costs.

[tmdazed]

Hi will you take a third party, out of state bad cheque for your item?

[Astreaux]

Here's a great site to read about Scam Baiting - getting back at the scammers...

www.419eater.com

Extremely funny the things they get the scammers to do with photos...