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30-08-2014, 18:16
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#46
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ohio
Boat: Now boatless :-(
Posts: 11,580
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Re: Craigslist Scams
I am truly sorry for your experience but really this isn't how the world works any more.
BTW - What you are describing is not a Craigslist scam so this is a bit of thread drift.
If I am a merchant and someone wants to mail me a cashier's check for goods, I might hold the check too. You could be an internet scammer as far as I know.
Certianly they had an obligation to send you the goods you ordered and not offer a "bait and switch" - this is illegal BTW and rather than email I might have called them and reminded them of that and set my expectation that they send me the newwer/better model for free.
Getting your money back from a "cash" transaction is always a drama. That's why people use credit cards and PayPal.
I'm not saying they are right or they are wrong. But if I was the merchant, i am sure I would be changing my payment policy to no more cashier's checks. I don't need the hassle.
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30-08-2014, 18:56
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#47
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: at mo Hong Kong
Boat: Sadler 25
Posts: 47
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Re: Craigslist Scams
Yep, it is a bit of a thread drift. I was just trying to demonstrate that not everyone is a scammer.
As to using pay pal, well it seems that pay pal accounts are being hacked. Not exactly encouraging me to use it.
Pre-paid credit cards tho, I think that's what I may try next time.
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31-08-2014, 02:18
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#48
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 6,619
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Re: Craigslist Scams
Quote:
Originally Posted by triciarob
Yep, it is a bit of a thread drift. I was just trying to demonstrate that not everyone is a scammer.
As to using pay pal, well it seems that pay pal accounts are being hacked. Not exactly encouraging me to use it.
Pre-paid credit cards tho, I think that's what I may try next time.
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I've been using paypal for 12 yrs now, and my account has never had any irregularities, much less hacked. I've had disputes with buyers and sellers and paypal has reimbursed me every time, because I was in the right.
I like being able to transfer money to friends and family without any fees involved, and being able to instantly pay for something without revealing my CC or bank info is really convenient. My friends and I even use paypal to give each other money for gas, or as a gift, or to buy items from each other.
If I was allowed only 1 method of payment for everything, I'd select paypal over a credit or debit card.
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31-08-2014, 05:32
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#49
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: wherever the boat is -- Jacksonville FL for hurricane season
Boat: Pearson 365 ketch sailboat, 36.5'
Posts: 39
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Re: Craigslist Scams
Quote:
Originally Posted by sarafina
Yeah, it is amazing. Especially amazing to me is that I am one of those people. I can't tell you how embarassing it is.
I had been renting apartments for travel off of CL for years. Last year before our Europe trip I got on CL and searched out units that were in our price range and went thru the drill. I had no understanding that western union has become a partner in scamming and that making a transaction thru them to a party unknown to you PERSONALLY is about the same as wiping yer ass with c-notes and then flushing them...
We wound up out almost 2K, with no place to stay, literally days before leaving SF for London.
Can't even begin to describe the experience of dawning realization that something "was not right", thru to the final revelation that I was taken in by a savvy scammer and that if I had known to google their email before having anything to do with them I would have easily avoided the whole ugly experience.
Scamwarner.com is a good resource.
I got caught up in a phishing email from a Faux paypal/ebay problem. I reported it to paypal and then, as directed by them, I reported it to Ebay. Ebay promptly closed my 10(?) year old account and banned me for life from ebay as a "security risk".
Go figure.
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Just looked up Scamwarner.com. Doesn't seem to be around anymore. Just ads there -- domain is up for sale, apparently. I usually use snopes.com to check anything that sounds less than true. They didn't have that particular PayPal scam though. Would be great if someone who experienced it reported it.
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18-09-2014, 18:52
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#50
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Stuck on an island in Florida
Posts: 284
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Re: Craigslist Scams
Quote:
Originally Posted by GaryMayo
Any law enforcement agency can confiscate large sums of cash and make you prove you have a rightful relationship to the money. ..... Just showing a withdraw slip from your bank is not good enough. You have to prove you paid taxes on the money, and a couple other things.
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True about law enforcement able to confiscate....however(in the U.S.) the underlined part is not true. A withdrawal slip can be verified by the bank and proves ownership of the money. The local police department has no authority to make you prove you paid taxes on it, or those "couple of other things" you mention. Once you prove ownership you get your money back, immediately.
Having the withdrawal slip is the equivalent of having a large check in your hand. Cops can't seize the check no more than they can seize the money. If they can seize the money even though you have the withdrawal slip with it, what is stopping cops from standing outside a bank and seizing everyones money as they walk out the door?
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25-12-2014, 04:43
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#51
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Punta Gorda, FL
Boat: 1983 31' Hunter
Posts: 74
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Re: Craigslist Scams
I have been using paypal for 14 yrs now and, luckily, I have never been hacked, although I get Hack/Phish emails weekly. This how the scams work: you are contacted through craigslist about an ad, or ad you've replied to. Once the scammer has your email address, you are sent an "official paypal" email telling you there is a problem with your account. The email has a hyperlink that appears to direct you to the paypal site so that you can log in and correct this "problem". NEVER bite! If there is a problem with your paypal account go directly to paypal either thru a bookmark on your computer or thru a google search for their official site. Paypal will NEVER send you a link, or ask you in an email to provide info. Report this to spoof@paypal.com.
Bank account and credit card spammers work this too, Because 25% of americans either have a Bank of America account or credit card, they are the most popular to try and hack. Never follow a link in an email from a bank, credit card company or paypal....go directly to the official site and log into to your account. If there is really a problem you'll have a message there. NEVER trust an email.
I know several people who have fallen for theses scams, and had their bank accounts wiped out. Once hackers get your paypal info they have access to your bank account and at least one credit card that they can empty out or max out and you have little recourse. Paypal can't help and the banks and credit card companies will make you try to prove it wasn't you before they'll help.
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07-01-2015, 07:04
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#52
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Thailand
Posts: 224
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Re: Craigslist Scams
I had a guy send bogus cashiers checks then claim he made a mistake in the purchase and would get fired if I didnt send him money back. I sent him it looks like your going to get fired im not sending a penny until the checks clear. The bank forwarded the checks and the original letter and envalope to the fbi. Since the checks came from Minnesota
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app
__________________
If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!
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07-01-2015, 08:33
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#53
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Bumping around the Caribbean
Boat: Valiant 40
Posts: 4,625
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Re: Craigslist Scams
Quote:
Originally Posted by denverd0n
Funny thing about most e-mail scammers is that they actually WANT it to be an obvious scam. They work on numbers. They send out tens of thousands of e-mails at a time, hoping that one or two gullible people will bite.
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This is true and a fascinating aspect of this business. Their methodology and communications are carefully "tuned" to hook barefoot pilgrims and not the general public. Make it look too legitimate, and you get respondents who will quickly realize they are being scammed, thereby wasting time. It is, in it's own twisted way, absolutely brilliant.
A few years ago I was selling a bunch of stuff on CL as I was moving onto the boat and selling the house. The number of scam responses I got was exhausting. The big one back then was "I'll give you a check/Western Union/etc and then you pay the delivery man that I send." It actually seemed reasonable at first glance but the item in question was not something you'd send a truck for, lol.
I used to work in the internet space and I don't think people realize how ridiculously easy it is to forge an email. Take a legitimate email, save it, open it in an HTML editor, change a few links, but not the text of them and boom, you have your forged email. Spoof the sending address and you're good to go. Takes about five minutes.
As an aside, there is a massively multiplayer online game called EVE Online with hundreds of thousands of users where in-game scamming has become a sport of sorts. You can't extract game money from the game so the upside to it is limited. The game maker considers it legitimate activity because it's a natural part of the game universe, lol.
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08-01-2015, 07:27
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#54
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Boat: 1973 Easterly 36
Posts: 458
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Re: Craigslist Scams
I just usually respond with generally encouraging them to be a good person and to quit ripping people off. A little talk of karma, doing what's right, and religion.
Other times I tell them I've put a VOODOO curse and them and all their family for the next 10 years...
__________________
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." Antoine de
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