I posted an ad on Craigslist, as I’ve done many times before, for an iPod touch I wanna sell. Little did I know, I would be running into the first scammer that I personally need to deal with…
The following is the email exchange, with my commentary in italic.
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32gb iPod touch 4th gen with warantee – $250 (Richmond)
9 messages
| Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com> | Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 6:09 PM | |
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Reply-To: janetscoffy@gmail.com
To: sale-y3khx-2664177043@craigslist.org
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Very legit and similar to what a buyer on Craigslist say. Nothing suspicious yet.
| Billy | Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 6:18 PM | |
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To: “janetscoffy@gmail.com” <janetscoffy@gmail.com>
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| Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com> | Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 7:25 PM | |
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To: Billy
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Here things start to get weird. First of all, WAY too much information with the boyfriend and verified account and instruction to get PayPal and FedEx account… Also, the $280 offer is strange. Why would anyone offer to beat my asking price just to “close the auction”? There are other sellers who are selling at $250, it’s not like mine is a very reduced price. Finally, using PayPal for Craigslist is an automatic red flag. But nothing definitely foul yet.
| Billy | Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 8:30 PM | |
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To: Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com>
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Here I was hinting at the hole in her proposal: since she said she would deal with shipping, that means I need to give her the iPod somehow. But why would you pay me extra money by PayPal and then meet me for the iPod? You don’t know how to work an ATM?
| Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com> | Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 5:22 AM | |
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To: Billy
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She did not answer my question. Sounds like she wants me to ship now. And she signed her email with MY NAME. What’s up with that?
| Billy | Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 6:43 AM | |
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To: Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com>
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At this point I just want to know how she plans to scam me. Cuz you can’t steal money just by having my PayPal account.
| Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com> | Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 1:08 PM | |
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To: Billy
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| Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com> | Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 1:26 PM | |
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To: Billy
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Notice a few hilarious things: 1. she sounded surprised that her FedEx account is suddenly unavailable, although in her last email she already implied that I will do the shipping. 2. Who the hell will get a random seller to send a gift on their behalf? Does she expect me to giftwrap this or write a love letter for her? 3. She threw in more extra money just for fun. And 4. most of all, HER BOYFRIEND IS NOW HER SON.
| Billy | Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 1:34 PM | |
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To: Janet <janetscoffy@gmail.com>
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This is what the “PayPal” emails look like:
And:
Basically, she pretends that she already paid me by PayPal, but PayPal needs my shipment confirmation to “clear” the transaction. To encourage me to do it, she paid me $350 magic money that I will never see for a $250 item.
Here‘s what an anti-scam website has to say about this specific operation.
Supposedly there should be a fake threatening email about how she already paid and how I would get in trouble if I don’t ship the iPod, but I haven’t heard back from this scammer. Probably knows it’s a lost battle.
A few final thoughts:
1. I can see how a greedy person not too familiar with PayPal and Craigslist can fall victim to this scam, but you have to be pretty gullible. First fule of online shopping: If it’s too good to be true, it’s because it’s fake.
2. I still have the iPod for sale. Any takers?
ahh I get that so many times when I list things on craigslist and facebook marketplace!
the message style is always similar following the general pattern (1) it’s usually an expensive electronic that’s easy to ship (2) they would offer double the price (3) they would say it is a gift for someone else who’s living in a distant country (eg. Africa) and (4) paypal is the only paying option. It was really ridiculous because I was selling my old iPhone with fido plan (2 yrs remaining), and I got a bunch of “offers” from people in other countries.. I was like “uhh.. I’m not sure if you really want to get the Fido plan when you/your friend is living in Africa or Poland. At least read my posting before you do your desperate scam tricks please” =____= (I started to reply them with this when I got my 10th scam… and surprisingly some were so desperate that they don’t care about the plan too wth lol)
So your conclusion is right.. if it sounds too good to be true, it usually isn’t! :/
btw, totally laughed out loud at “HER BOYFRIEND IS NOW HER SON.” XDDDDDD
It seems like so many people are getting scammed! I am surprised this is the first time I had a scam attempt. And as always, I appreciate that you appreciated my humor! XD
ahhhahah awesome post. Thanks for the heads up. She emailed me saying she would offer me 220$ for my beats by dre headphones when they were on sale for 200$.. HAHHHAH I knew she was a scammer.
You are welcome. I am sure lots of people are getting scammed by this person/group of scammers.
Just got an offer from our friend Janet. A quick search on her email address brought this post up. Thanks so much for writing it! Saved me a bunch of time initiating contact.
Haha… Janet must be very stupid if she is using the same email for all of her scams. Glad to help though.