Gumtree - something odd

Hi,

There have been appearing recently on Gumtree ads which have the same characteristics, that is :

1 ad only list equipment specs and has nothing in it that looks like it was written by a human
2 each ad seems to have some sort of reference code at the end of the title, eg, B87
3 each ad has only one photo, often stolen from ebay
4 each ad offers kit at a price less than half market value, for example, new camera is 2,500 GBP, ebay price 1,800 GBP, Gumtree price 700 GBP - classic sign of a scam.
5 ads often posted in UK section but posting times are often 4am, etc, so not posted by a UK person.
6 ad poster appears to have not posted before

Now this is the odd part - if you email the seller, you get no reply. No attempt to scam, no fake Paypal emails, nothing at all. So what are these ads for ? They are absolutely no way genuine, but don't appear to have a purpose.
A few examples below......

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/canon ... 1004381040

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/canon ... 1004375997

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/new-c ... 1004375399

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/canon ... 1004342489

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/canon ... 1004304610

aha !

Now I've thought about it, it has become obvious as to why those ads have reference codes on the end !

Enlighten us, if the seller isn't contacting anyone back, the only use would be to harvest email addresses.

Enlighten us, if the seller isn't contacting anyone back, the only use would be to harvest email addresses.

Certainly, and I should have done so before, but got distracted - my apologies.
I wasn't getting responses because it is a team putting up the ads, and I had already baited one of the team over a couple of days. Hence the team wouldn't respond to my addy. When I switched addresses, I got responses.

As for the code, it was something I saw being done years ago on a website, don't know if it's still done, but in that case the little code put in the title was to warn other scammers that the ad was owned by a scammer. That way the ad-owning scammers don't get pestered by other scammers posing as buyers and trying to buy the non-existing goods by sending fake paypal emails.

Anybody selling something has the problem of scammy emails coming in from fake buyers - scammers have the same problem.

Gotcha, well that's interesting and is definitely not widely known (IMO).

I remember at one time they would put certain words in ads, but haven't seen that done for a long time.
I'll have to take a look at some CL ads and see if that technique is still being used.

I also remember being told 40 years ago that gypsies would leave a mark near your house (bent twig or something) to let other gypsies know if you were generous at the door or not. No doubt there's now an internet equivalent.