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Am I being scammed? What could theoretically go wrong?
JamesKeenan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Craigslist offer I found was for computer maintenance and repair. Guy wanted work done on laptops of his and would pay me to do it. Reformatted, XP installed, AVG, Office, a few things. Basic shit to get them up and running. I thought this sounded fine. We sent e-mails back and forth discussing price, and I eventually gave him my address for the laptops. It seemed quite harmless until now. Today I got this e-mail, and I cannot help but feel completely suspicious.
Hello,
How are you today? This is to notify you that Payment for your service on the repair of my laptops will be delivered to you Via USPS tomorrow .Here is the shipment tracking # ( [numbers I omitted] ) via USPS.Yes i have all the copy of everything i will send them along with the laptops.
Deduct your money for the service you want to do on my 7Units, and you will be sending the rest of the funds to my shipper via WesternUnion to my shipping agent so that they can prepare relevant docs and ship out the laptops to you Unfaillingly, and i will get back to you with the shipment tracking # as well for the units coming your way so you can know when they arrives. The excess funds is meant for shipping and insurance fee of the units forth and back as you finish working on them and moreso,I have a past due with them to settle and they wouldn't do anything unless they have their money. I will compensate you with $20 for running around reconfirm me the address once again where you want the laptops to be shipped to:
Here is the shipper information where you will be sending the rest funds to via Westernunion
Receiver's Name:
Changed
John Doe
Somewhere, Somestate Zipcode
(really, there was no street address)
(That is the shipper's information required to send the money via Westernunion Once the money is sent, you should send me the following infomation via email
A. Exact sender information as written on the Westernunion Receipt
B. Exact Receiver's information as written on Westernunion Receipt
C . The total amount sent after deducting transfer charges
D . MTCN # (10 Digit ) On Westernunion Receipt.
I will be waiting on your email,complete with the details , please get to it as soon as you can,the transaction has to be fully completed as soon as possible and hope reading back from you soonest.
Thanks for you normal understanding.
yours sincerely.
JamesKeenan on
0
Posts
"The excess funds is meant for shipping and insurance fee of the units forth and back as you finish working on them and moreso,I have a past due with them to settle and they wouldn't do anything unless they have their money. I will compensate you with $20 for running around reconfirm me the address once again where you want the laptops to be shipped to:"
Bad English, 3rd parties involved, payment before service rendered, but the biggest, baddest RED FLAG:
Western Union you're supposed to cash, deduct a fee, then get a new Western Union for the remainder and send it on to him. Basically, the Western Union you receive will be a forgery, then you will commit a crime by taking some of the fee, then you send the dude actual money with a real Western Union.
Don't do it! You're on the hook when the scam is uncovered, the dude is gone, and you helped him get away. IF he ever is caught, he'll claim you knew it was all a fraud and took a fee for laundering the money.
RTFA, this is exactly the sort of scam Craigslist tries to warn you about.
Until now, the e-mails were more... natural. No real errors. This last one was just, jarring.
Turn over this and anything you get to the feds, too, I'd say. It's probably stolen merchandise if you even get anything.
My wife and I were both skeptical and a quick google search confirmed our suspicions.
This is definitely a scam. Good job for listening to your vibe and following up.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
And don't do face to face in cash in an abandoned parking lot at night.
I sent one e-mail back saying I wasn't going to do it, and sorry. FBI? I was thinking local police station. I don't know how the hell to report to the FBI.
I guess I'll google it.
http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field
Find the closest one to you and call them up. Yes, FBI, not local police. The FBI has a major force dedicated to fraud, many local police departments, especially underfunded and understaffed ones (which in some states is all of them) don't have the resources to deal with scammers, and if you lived in my area I suspect they'd arrest you as soon as you said you suspected the shipment you were getting may have been stolen because that sort of thing is one of those things that shows up in police blotters every so often and makes you say, "WTF?"
Even if you did back out, report it, give them the craigslist ad, emails, any addresses or numbers you got (like that tracking number you cut out of the OP).
Ooo also they have this page about online scams that suggests you fill out this form.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Read a few articles on this a while back. It's actually run like a business, and since you got that far into the deal, you got bumped up to the next tier of... customer support.
So like Dell, one that doesn't speak English?
Yeah, scam.
If you're looking to do PC work, probably try friends/family for references first, or maybe check around your area for other people doing it and see if they want to do a partnership.
The check is obviously fake. It's thick, computer paper. Not check stock. It is only two thirds. The top third is torn off. The middle and bottom third are separated by a perforated split. So that's interesting. The top half says, "Type: Bill" and the bottom half is a check to me. It's from citibank. It came in an envelope inside of one of those thing USPS mailing envelopes.
I just don't know wtf. I submitted a report to the FBI.
The huge amount over what you asked for is the whole point of the scam. They'll tell you "Oh, yeah, keep the $500, then take an extra $200 for yourself." Then they'll ask you to send the remaining $1300 back to them, or maybe send it on to some other "debt" they owe, whatever. In the end, they get your $1300, and you have a check that's (obviously) gonna bounce.
Selling my old iPhone, and I get a reply. Dude wants it shipped to him, and will pay an extra $100 (I'm asking for $100) to ship it to him. He's paying first, to my PayPal, and then I ship it to him.
I don't see how this could bite me in the ass, but $100 for shipping is ridiculous. Especially if he lives locally. File it under "sounds too good to be true." What say you? Am I right in being skeptical?
EDIT: Google holds the answers, and this looks like it could very much be a scam.
Scam. Like I already said, ONLY do Craigslist deals in cash, in person, and somewhere safe.
If it sounds too good to be true, 99.9% of time it is.
EDIT: People can dispute/cancel PayPal transactions REALLY easily.
Fixed for the cynics.
Frame it. Get an autograph from a Nigerian prince (forge one if you have to). Mount it on your wall for all your guests to see.
Titled "Is this a scam? y/n"
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
The Wimpy Test.
Will someone gladly pay you Tuesday for X Today?
No no no.
(Please note this does not apply if it is Wednesday and they are referring to the Tuesday past. They must also be time travelers for this to work, so it's not common).
Yeah this isn't so much an advance fee scam because they aren't asking you to forward any money. They're just going to dispute the sale with PayPal, say the item wasn't as described, or wasn't received or some bullshit, get their money back, and keep your phone.