CL scam or no scam?
 

I need your opinions. Scam or not?

Received this email this morning from a guy that asked yesterday if my house was still on the market:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Sir,

Thanks for your prompt reply. Having gone through your advert, i have
taken decision to proceed with the transaction and the possession date
should be something around next week. I have made arrangement with my
attorney who have handled closing for me in the past. He will be
coming with the offer to purchase agreement and inspect the property.
He is also a property valuer, so he will be handling the bargaining on
my behalf if necessary.

He told me he's presently on a week seminal. In this regard, I have
made arrangement to send you an earnest money deposit of $7000 via a
certified check while waiting for him. Once you get this payment, i
will implore you to withdraw the property from craigslist and retain
it for me.


I need your name and address to prepare the earnest money ASAP.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess I spend too much time on the Internet, but this "almost" reminds me of a Nigerian scam. Perhaps I am too skeptical. What say you?

Scam.

"...i have taken decision to proceed..."

:...i will implore you to..."

That is fluent scamlish.

Scam
 

Ask the guy to bring the check in person as his signature is required, not the attorney. have the police there to arrest him for his fraudulent check.

Similar scam to the roommate scam where they send you a huge deposit to move in then ask for part back before their check/money order is declared bad by the bank.
Friend had this almost happen to them looking for a roommate. But a quick Internet search found this out

You have actually touched on the thing that made me think is was a scam. The guy lives in TX (according to his contact info provided) and I have never met a Texan that spoke/wrote like him [and I was married to a Texan, so I have some (too much) experience dealing with many].

Examples
 

http://deniselevans.wordpress.com/20...y-scam-beware/

http://homesteadtitle.wordpress.com/...-scam-warning/


Even worse, they could tie up your home in court for years and force you to move out

The cashier's check will be a fake, but there is a good chance that your bank won't catch it and the funds will be available to you until it bounces a week or so later. Then the guy will either ask for a refund, or claim that he needs some of the money back to pay his attorney or for some other reason, in hopes that you will feel the deal is on the up and up and pay him. Then you will be out that cash plus the bank fees when the cashier check bounces.

It's a classic Craigslist scam. They also try it with smaller items where they will actually send a parcel service to pick it up from your house when the cashier check initially clears, and then you are left with nothing while your item is being shipped to Nigeria. Fucking Craigslist can be a minefield to navigate...

*Edit* the examples above my post go into more detail, it's almost always about accidentally overpaying and asking for a Western Union refund for houses and cars...

Here's a response:

Kind Sir, I am regretfully informing to you that currency must be the deal.

Gratefully I can add bridge into our shared bounty, this deal which will be sweet for together us.

I need your name and address to engrave new plaque for bridge.

Since his contact info says he "lives" in Austin, I responded:

I have a friend that lives right down the road from you in Dripping Springs. Can I send them over to pick up the cash instead?

You'll know for sure when he asks for the money transfer fee in advance, to his friend in nigeria.

These camel fucking cock suckers would probably do a lot better if they fucking learned American English.

Not at all, sounds like a decent, God fearing person just looking to find a place to live, I say give them the benefit of the doubt ;)

BD, that's a common CL hustle.

What does him jacking off every seven days have to do with anything?

Indeed. They always consult a dictionary but use 'fancy' words totally inappropriately, failing to understand that most Americans don't even know what a dictionary is.

I have seen some duplicate listings on hotpads and the scammers price is always 1/2 or 2/3 of the legit price of the real listing

Sounds like a scam, if your selling your home your better off using a broker and lawyer even though it will cost you fees.

Poor writing helps weed out the people who are going to be trouble and not easy to rip off too.

you need opinions on whether it's a scam? You don't spend *enough* time on the internet.

baddog i really thought you were smarter than this , craigslist is a scammers hustle sad thing is people fall for it

There are tons of CL housing scams. Really sucks.

I avoid CL. Use eBay Classifieds.

welcome to the internet.

this site rocks...it never gets old

http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/


Peter Aka had me in tears.....

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:2 cents:

I thought this was a joke thread, but I guess this scam is new to some. This scam attempt is replied to a vast majority of all Craigslist for sale postings and has been going on for the last decade. Its mostly Nigerians and always involves them wanting to buy whatever your selling on Craigslist and immediately sending a bogus check for more than is needed with the idea that you'll quickly mail them back the difference in a legit check.

You can have some fun with them and make their life a little miserable, here are some tips: http://www.419eater.com/html/baiting.htm

Not a scam. Please proceed with demurage.

Okay, if it wasn't clear before, I intentionally did not include the guy's contact info that said he was from Austin, TX. Without giving it a second thought I knew it was bullshit because there is absolutely no one in the great state of Texas that talks like that. I figured some would enjoy it. He has not responded to my request to send a friend over to pick up the cash. I'll let you know if he responds.

Texas probably has a few Saudi Arabians who talk just like that.

so we can not proceed with the purchase?

The antiquated check clearing process is much of the reason such scams, even in 2012, proliferate.

The vast majority are unaware funds from a "cleared" check is a provisional loan until the check becomes "final", which is typically a week or two later for domestic checks, and potentially several weeks to months later for international checks.

On a related note, even if one 100% certain a check is legit and is drawn against an account with sufficient funds, there's still the possibility the check was stolen / unauthorized - not something one can necessarily determine (even a bank teller at the bank often can't be sure) until some time has passed...

Scammers are well aware of these delays and will ask for a refund via western union or whatever hoping to complete the scam before the bank comes calling wanting their money (the provisional loan) back from the unwitting victim.

Scam dude...

I reply to them even though i know there con men. The more of there time you waste the less time they have to take advantage of people that fall for the crap. Its pretty funny to. Check our some of these email conversations these people have. some of them are really funny. http://419eater.com

:thumbsup

Pure scam :2 cents:

if you knew it was bullshit why did you post to us here asking us if it was for reals or not ?

Can not wait to see how he gets out of this one.

I call scam. The spelling is also smelling of it, if you know what I mean...


BTW - what's up with PR Adult? Is it down or gone? Did I miss something?

:D

Hard to sell anything on Craigslist nowadays try posting a laptop listing that is gibberish and you'll get 5 replies wanting to pay with fake checks.

I haven't met many Texans, but maybe you should talk to people outside of your race and religion more often. People from foreign countries tend to emigrate to cities in the United States (and Canada, and the U.K., and Australia, etc...) in hopes of a better life.

Maybe they're one of those rare "legal" immigrants that the media totally ignores. You've heard about them, right? Not on FOX News, perhaps, but there ARE rumours circulating that these people actually exist...

Nah, I'm shitting you, its a scam. The dude was probably a Mexican. Besides that - you already knew the answer to your own question before you even posted this thread.

Yesterday, I got a phone call offering me a free Ford Mustang if I was willing to replace all the windows and doors in my house. I'll probably get the same phone call tonight - and tomorrow. Sad thing is this: The people who call me have no discernible accent.

According to your logic, I have to trust them. At least they don't speak like Texans, y'all...

I am a little disappointed. It took him 24 hours to respond to my first email, but he has not responded to the last one. Oh well.

The same reason anyone posts that they just won the $24 million Nigerian lottery. Entertainment.

We closed it down a few weeks ago,

I'd venture to say that I have met and spoken with a lot more people outside of my race, religion, culture a hell of a lot more frequently that you have. :2 cents:

And do not attempt to figure out "my logic" as you can not even seem to understand your own personal demons. Take care of them first before worrying about me or ANYONE else.

That is coming as a friend. :2 cents:

Worse than the Real Estate Scam
 

I get emails and I've seen job adds for a "traffic broker" or some nonsense. A company in the UK wants me to process checks sent in by their US reps. I'm to record all transactions and then deposit the checks. At a later date, they will instruct me about forwarding the money to them.
BIGGEST FUCKING SCAM. The checks you process are phoney and they'll want the money at once.
Sad part is many people don't know of this scam and are desperately seeking employment and are easy targets.
When I was looking for work I spotted this on CareerBuilders and they managed to have 5 separate listings in different parts of the metro. I called them up to complain and they took down the ads. Couple weeks later they popped up again.

Where's the banking info? - I want in!

if that is what you do for fun then have fun.

I have lots of fun with them. I have about 50 baits in my email that are funny as hell. I got one guy that wanted to join my fake church "The holy browneye worshipers" with the notion that he would be eligible for a "New member donation" Of 26,500 usd. I told him that in order for him to join he had to bare our church name " Holy browneye worshiper" and slogan "Never wipe your faith away" in the form of a tattoo on his left arm. After trying to come up with reason after reason as to why he could not bare the mark of the browneye i finally gave up..... A week or so later i got an email from him saying he has QUOTE "Found his way through the evil shadows and is willing do what ever it takes to join my faith" Long story short there is a scammer i Lagos running around with a tattoo on his arm that says "Holy Browneye Worshiper Never Wipe Your Faith Away"

"Certified Check"

Should tell you all you need to know.

https://www.google.com/search?source...ied+check+scam