by Ruinous
Sun Dec 04, 2016 12:12 pm
I don't want to put the scammer's info up here yet in case it's a misinterpretation, or a miscommunication on my behalf. But I'd love to hear from someone with a different perspective, or collect ideas as to what the scammer was hoping for.
I had posted a small (yet expensive) household appliance on Craigslist. I included the city name as the location of the item. And of course Craiglist lets you designate a general area/radius on a map of where the item currently is.
I received two messages from a single possible buyer - the first was inquiring about the item, and requests that I call him; he included his cell number. The second was a few mins later stating that he is leaving and will be in my area in the next two hours. These are the FIRST communications from him.
I replied within 25 mins stating that the item was not available for pickup today. But, alas, I did not call him, I had only sent him the email, thinking it was sufficient. Almost 3 hours later, he emailed back, absolutely irate - completely lost his shit; that he drove 155 miles, and did not check email until he was in the city. He reports my post as a scam, and follows up a couple times in emails with a bit more venting.
So, I'm 80% sure this is a simple case of some unreasonable expectations on response time from the buyer, mixed with my unwillingness to call someone on the phone on demand. But I also thinks there's a chance that this is some sort of setup to maybe what is a soft scam, where perhaps the buyer solicits something "for his time", and is done so without seeming like a scam.
Has anyone seen anything like this? Doesn't seem like a big payout, and I can't guess as to what the next steps he was hoping for. I probably should have just called him
I had posted a small (yet expensive) household appliance on Craigslist. I included the city name as the location of the item. And of course Craiglist lets you designate a general area/radius on a map of where the item currently is.
I received two messages from a single possible buyer - the first was inquiring about the item, and requests that I call him; he included his cell number. The second was a few mins later stating that he is leaving and will be in my area in the next two hours. These are the FIRST communications from him.
I replied within 25 mins stating that the item was not available for pickup today. But, alas, I did not call him, I had only sent him the email, thinking it was sufficient. Almost 3 hours later, he emailed back, absolutely irate - completely lost his shit; that he drove 155 miles, and did not check email until he was in the city. He reports my post as a scam, and follows up a couple times in emails with a bit more venting.
So, I'm 80% sure this is a simple case of some unreasonable expectations on response time from the buyer, mixed with my unwillingness to call someone on the phone on demand. But I also thinks there's a chance that this is some sort of setup to maybe what is a soft scam, where perhaps the buyer solicits something "for his time", and is done so without seeming like a scam.
Has anyone seen anything like this? Doesn't seem like a big payout, and I can't guess as to what the next steps he was hoping for. I probably should have just called him
