Craigslist fraud

TL DR

So I made a deal to buy a computer from someone just across the border into Kentucky. My fiancee picked it up, and when I got it home I booted it up and saw that it had radically different specs from what was advertised. I think it may have been an honest mistake (For example, the ad said 256GB HD, it has 256MB RAM). However, the lady hasn't responded to my email asking to return it, or my phone message today stating that if I didn't hear back from her I would be filing a police report.

I'm just looking for tips and suggestions as to how to handle this. I imagine that I would need to go the police station in Kentucky?

VisionOfClarity

Do you have a print-out of the ad and did you pay in cash or by check?

TL DR

Paid cash. I have emails of her giving her address and describing the computer as working fine and having an LCD monitor (both true), giving her name, address, and phone number. The email I sent her was through the craigslist post which I have a copy of and is still on the site.

VisionOfClarity

Print out a copy of the post containing all the descriptions to show that what she described is not correct. You'll want to bring that. This may be a civil case though, not criminal.

Hachface

Worst-case scenario you can try small claims court, although that might be complicated by the transaction taking places across state lines.

meeker

Future reference: Always try out electronics in front of the seller when buying from Craigslist.

RUNN1NGMAN

Hachface wrote: »

Worst-case scenario you can try small claims court, although that might be complicated by the transaction taking places across state lines.

Not really, just bring the complaint in a Kentucky small claims court. That's probably going to be the best solution if she won't give you your money back. Depending on how radically different the specs are, it may not be worth your while if you can't get her to give your money back.

Also, this seems a lot more like a mistake than a fraud—bandying that term about with her is not a good way to get her to play ball. It'll put her on the defensive big time. If you can figure out how much it would cost to buy whatever you need to make the computer what you thought you were buying, you might be able to get her to return that amount to you, rather than the entire purchase price.

TL DR

meeker wrote: »

Future reference: Always try out electronics in front of the seller when buying from Craigslist.

If I'd been able to make the pickup myself, then I would have.

I'll try once more to get her on the phone. I know I can legally record her in Ohio, but I dunno about KY or how it could change being across state lines. Way too much hassle for $100.

Fagatron

Honestly regardless of any mistake on the seller's part I'm not sure what you were expecting to buy for $100 that had a 250GB hard drive in it.

What are the rest of the specs of the computer in question out of curiosity?

TL DR

Fagatron wrote: »

Honestly regardless of any mistake on the seller's part I'm not sure what you were expecting to buy for $100 that had a 250GB hard drive in it.

What are the rest of the specs of the computer in question out of curiosity?

1.6GHz Pentium 4, 256 RAM, 18GB HD.

wasted pixels

Fagatron wrote: »

Honestly regardless of any mistake on the seller's part I'm not sure what you were expecting to buy for $100 that had a 250GB hard drive in it.

I just saw a rig with a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, a gig of RAM, a passable GeForce card, and a 7200RPM 250GB hard drive for $150. Used computers aren't worth very much, given that you can get a brand new Dell with an E5200, 2GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive for around $300 shipped.

Give the OP a break, it wasn't unreasonable to assume they had their specs right.

Just_Bri_Thanks

Hmm, wire fraud across state lines?

[tiny]I'm instigating, don't mind me. This is small claims stuff at best.[/tiny]

saltiness

Sounds like computer illiteracy on the seller's part (which is pretty much a given on craigslist) and buyer irresponsibility to me. There's no such thing as a 256GB hard drive unless you're talking SSD which you're certainly not getting in a $100 computer. So your BS detector should have gone off immediately. I'm assuming this is a pre-built computer so you could have easily looked up the specs online and found out what was really in it. Be more careful next time. Never take a craigslist ad at face value because 99% of the time people have no fucking idea what they're talking about.

DragonPup

Timothy Leary Come Check Out This Theory wrote: »

Paid cash.

Paying cash gives you just about no security. You can chargeback on credit cards(although you dont want to give that info to someone over craigslist), stop payment on checks, dispute paypal, but with cash you may well be SOL. :-(

saltiness

DragonPup wrote: »

Timothy Leary Come Check Out This Theory wrote: »

Paid cash.

Paying cash gives you just about no security. You can chargeback on credit cards(although you dont want to give that info to someone over craigslist), stop payment on checks, dispute paypal, but with cash you may well be SOL. :-(

Nobody deals in anything but cash on craigslist unless they're scamming you.

TL DR

saltiness wrote: »

Sounds like computer illiteracy on the seller's part (which is pretty much a given on craigslist) and buyer irresponsibility to me. There's no such thing as a 256GB hard drive unless you're talking SSD which you're certainly not getting in a $100 computer. So your BS detector should have gone off immediately. I'm assuming this is a pre-built computer so you could have easily looked up the specs online and found out what was really in it. Be more careful next time. Never take a craigslist ad at face value because 99% of the time people have no fucking idea what they're talking about.

Yeah. I was planning on taking a look at it in person, since I assume BS about whatever people tell me. It just so happened that the fiancee was late to work and I got the "if it's no good bring it back" verbal agreement.