Mr. John [email protected]

So, I'm selling authentic French crystal on Craigslist via the electronics by owner section. I received an email yesterday July 2nd, 2013 from some person. The email says Mr. John. First of all, Mr. John suggests John is his last name, but he claims John is his first name.

This is my first email I get from this person:

>>Tue, Jul 2, 2013 4:55 pm >>I'm interested in buying the ? ? ? ? Cristal d'Arques Longchamp Crystal Set from
you.let me know if it is still available for sale and the last asking price you
are willing to sell it, Pls only reply me with ur real email to
[email protected]
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T<<<

Note the poor syntax. He makes sure to request a "real" email". I instantly Google his email address and nothing comes up. I then pop it into the search bar in Facebook and interestingly enough I find an obviously fake acct with all the telltale signs: two different people at two different times posted as the main picture. VERY few friends from all over the world. One person says "who are you" in the picture comment section. and a picture of a girl with a dildo captioned "long time cousin." Last I checked, cousins are always your cousin regardless of duration. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/john.coker.900?fref=ts

Then I wrote back today, July 3rd this message:
>>Yes It's still available. I've actually had a few inquiries today
and yesterday about it, but nothing is certain. Yes I'm still holding
at $450 as all the pieces are in pristine condition and it is quite
the impressive French authentic set. <<


To which he replies:

>>Thanks for responding, I'm ok with the price. I would like to send
payment asap. Please let me know if a certified check is ok. After my
check clears my shipper will come and pick it up at your location. I
would have loved to come and take a look but I can't. My shipper will
though. If you can get back to me with your details I'll get the check
out asap. Need your full name and address, and your telephone number<<

This is where I feel it's obviously fishy. I then Googled "John Coker scam" and that's how I found this website today (scamwarners). I'm honestly glad sites like these exist since there really doesn't seem to be any internet police. The best we can do is spread the word.

ALL people had balked at my price, asking me to lower it. I won't, but he didn't even ask. I'm pretty sure he's offering fake or non-existent money in exchange for my goods. Therefor it doesn't matter the cost.


I wrote back:
>>Unfortunately, I only take a postal money order or preferably
a bank check. I need your shipping address and who your
shipper is. Let me know if that is fine. Also I need your
full name.<<

I doubt I'll be hearing back.

I think you will be hearing back, misskitty6.

The scammer want's to send you a fake / stolen money order or cheque. It will be for more than the amount agreed as he'll ask you to take the excess from your account and send it to the shipper, which is the scammer. They usually prefer payment by Western Union but it could be any one of several ways, even through a bank.

The cheque will look good and your bank will be very likely to accept it and even give you access to the funds. If you were to pay the "shipper", that is your money that you have sent. The bank will realise the fake once they try to draw funds on it and claw back their money, charging you their usual reasonable fees.
They'll also blacklist you, call in the police and you can guess the rest....

Thank you for your in depth insight. It appears this happens one too many times, sadly. Luckily, I'm the kind of skeptical person who loves to put emails like these on blast. I'm glad I found this site.

WOW...I got ANOTHER email from the SAME guy now using a different fake name and a new email address. I can't believe people like this can't be stopped.

Here's the new email with the name "Lawrence Charles":

>>Hello,
Is the item still available for sale and what's the final asking
price, kindly get back to me via this email [email protected] (317)
891-4008.

Thanks
Charles.<<

So the number is obviously a fake. Doesn't work. I wrote back to the email this:

>>The phone number you provided is invalid. The set is still available for pick
up. <<


To which this person replies:

>>Thanks for your response, I'm ok with the price and the description
stated so I would like to send payment asap. Please let me know if a
certified cashiers check is ok. After my check clears my Mover will
come and pick it up at your location. I would have come and taken a
look of it but I can't. (on a business trip ). If you can get back to
me with your info. I'll mail the check out asap. Need your full name
and address and your telephone number to mail the check out asap.
Thank you.<<

He can't even keep track of
all the people he's trying to scam. There's a whole blog about him and his
antics here (I found via facebook) http://scamscriminals.blogspot.com/2012 ... ilcom.html

and yet a 3rd fake email address from the same person responding from my same listing. Don't know what it is about this listing, but thanks for sending me more incriminating evidence!
1st fake email: [email protected]
2nd fake: [email protected]
3rd: [email protected]

All the same d*ckhead. He now writes:
craigslist reply 1aa5 [email protected]

>>Its nice the way i see it...How much are you willing to go down to. Kindly
cc/forward your response to my work email at " [email protected] " i will
reply right away. Thanks<<

I'm not even sure why this was written, I hadn't written anything to him. Make it stop!

There's no point letting him bug you. Even if you could incinerate him with mind waves another three would e-mail you tomorrow.

Just mail back and tell him that Ebay now only allows payment by Google Dollars and he must give you details of his Google Dollar account to proceed with the transaction. It'll keep him occupied for a while and he'll have a hard job Googling for an explanation about two such common words.

It's called 'taking the piffle' with a straight face. Better than getting angry and he'll be none the wiser.

Lol. That definitely made me chuckle! Oh the people I would incinerate. But you're so more than right! It's futile, though fun mentally. I love your Google Dollars idea. You should trademark that.

As far as Shithead goes, I notified Craigslist, but I'm not sure if that will even move the needle. I'm going to keep adding to this thread I started if I get any from the same guy.

@misskity6,

Con Warner has explained the scam. You are not being contacted by the same scammer. You are being contacted by multiple scammers. Scammers will outnumber the amount of buyers on almost anything you are selling on Craigslist. One of the reasons the scammer will pay more than the listing price for you to remove the listing. Is because he does not want another scammer to beat him to your money. Keep the communication within Craigslist mail system. Scammers like to get out of the Craigslist system because there is a record. Once you determine it is a scam. Just ignore that particular scammer.

Thanks Bryon. Yes, I noticed that this guy was super eager to use his tailor-made email address. I've now gotten 3 of the same messages from 3 different emails with 3 different fake names. It's sad and sick that there's no "scam police" and that these people can just make new account after account, not be tracked, and left to their own devices.

Got one from Lawrence Charles [[email protected]] today about a dresser I'm selling. Guess they feel we won't check them out first.

Is it an antique dresser? I took got a post yesterday for the same crystal I relisted. They do this so much, they don't even keep track of who they mass mail.