Craigslist Scammer [email protected] AND [email protected]

I am selling a couple items on CL and received a message asking if the item is still for sale. Not thinking about it I replied "yes"( I should have thought about it as I received the response 20 minutes after posting the item for sale and it was after midnight). This morning I received this message from the email addresses I listed in the subject:

Hi

Thanks for your response. I'm going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I'm sure you will get in about 4 - 6 business days. I'll add $20 extra for the delay. I'll pay by M O or cashier check so send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment.

Awaiting your info.

Thanks

I was discussing this email before I left home, my boyfriend advised me to copy and paste the text of the email into google to see if anything comes up. Lucky for me, this website came up with the exact same text. Whoever participates in these scams are just horrible, mean people...
SELLERS BEWARE!!!

Welcome to ScamWarners aiaicortez. We are pleased you found you were communicating with a scammer and did not continue. Do not tell them you know they are a scammer, they learn from failure.

Thank you for posting this information and best of luck selling your items. Feel free to expose any other scammers who contact you.

I just received the very same email. Unfortunately the first email just asked if it was for sale and I replied with my phone number. What should I do???

Don't worry about it. Odds are pretty good that the scammer won't call, but if he does, simply tell him that you have decided the sale needs to be local, cash on pickup.

The scammer will want to "pay" with fake paypal, check, or money order, so they aren't an option, he has nowhere to go.

I received the same e-mail from [email protected] as listed above in regards to an item I have for sale on Craigslist, this person also e-mailed me from this e-mail account as well [email protected].

I'm selling some stuff on Craigslist, and of course, I'm getting bombarded with all the usual scams. But now they claim to be willing to pay right away by paypal. I'm curious... how do that scam that? Are they somehow still trying to get you to send the merchandise, but then file a claim and try to get their money back or something?

Thanks for any insights. Just curious.

George

They don't actually pay. They send fake payment confirmation emails from paypal without transferring any money. The emails usually contain some explanation that says the money is "on hold" to explain why they can't see it. Typically, they target people who are unfamiliar with paypal's policies.

I guess it just occurred to me that they could also use a stolen credit card number to make a payment to a paypal account, too.

George

I also received an email from this [email protected] address

Told them I'd rather meet in person after doing a simple google search of their email and so far that's been the end of it. I did receive a whole slew of spam after my correspondence with them but I pretty much expected it.

Be warned! Let's get craigslist scammers and make them pay!

I'm selling an item on CL. Right after posting received an email if I still had it..(odd) I did reply then received the following from Mike Walker:

Thanks for your response. I'm willing to pay your asking price and
I'll be paying with a Check or Money Order which you should receive
within 2 - 3 business days. As per pick-up, I will take care of that
after you received and cashed the Check or Money Order. I'll also
offer you an extra $20 so that you can keep it in my favor. I'm going
to London on vacation so my assistant will issue and mail out your
payment to you once you email me your full name,phone number and
contact address. I would really appreciate if you take the posting off
craigslist today and consider it sold to me. We'll proceed on the
pick-up once the payment is delivered to you.I look forward to your
full name and address for the payment.
Thanks

It didn't taste, smell or feel right but I couldn't see the angle so I wrote back and told him to convince me that he was real..(dumb) I just got done searching the tmainn part of the email and found your site (thank you!) So now what should I expect? Lordy I'm already drowning in spam mail. I still don't get the angle...oh his email wasn't quite the same as the ones you have listed above it was Mike Walker <[email protected]>;

This is the angle right here:

We'll proceed on the pick-up once the payment is delivered to you.

The check will be much more than $20 over the item cost. The scammer will explain that the additional overpayment is for his "shipper" - but you must cash the check and pay the shipper so he can come pick the item up.

The check is a fake, of course--but will likely be good enough to pass initial inspection, and the bank has to give you the cash as required by law. Then, days to weeks later, when they discover the fake, you will be out the cash you sent (they will take all the money back), plus will face fees and fines for depositing a fraudulent check. Nobody will show up for the item, as they were really after the cash.

I also received an initial email from this scammer just 20 min after my posting from a gmail address that began with "[email protected]" under the name "Elin Newman". googling both "hardy jones" and "elin newman" made me initially suspicious, as well as the very laconic email with just 4 words "Still up for sale". i simply replied with "yes".

i didn't really think too much of it, but when another reply came this morning, given the lack of detail provided in the e-mail (now from another e-mail address "[email protected]") i got suspicious, googled "tmainn" and ended up on this page. thanks guys! and stay alert.

I got the same type of response from [email protected] on a craigslist item for sale.

First email from [email protected]:
You still have it up for sale?

To which I stupidly responded and got:

From [email protected]:
Hi,
Am glad it's available. I'm going on a vacation to London but I will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail your payment which I'm sure you will get in about 5 - 7 business days. I'll add $30 extra for the delay. I can only pay via money order or cahier check as am on a vacation now send me your info (i.e full name, mailing address and your phone number) so payment can be mailed out immediately. I will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must have received and cashed the payment. Awaiting your info.
Thanks

It sounded very suspicious and now thanks to scawarners, I know.

-Doug

Welcome to Scamwarners, and I'm glad you didn't fall for it.

Yep, [email protected] is a SCAM