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Interview With A Craigslist Scammer (infoworld.com)
snydeq writes: Ever wonder what motivates people who swindle others on Craigslist? Roger Grimes did, so he set up a fake Harley Davidson ad on Craigslist and requested an interview with each scammer who replied to the ad. One agreed, and the man's answers shed light on the inner world of Craigslist scamming: "If you mean how often I make money from Craigslist, it depends on the day or week. Many weeks I make nothing. Some weeks I can get five people sending me money. But I respond to a lot of ads to get one email back. I'm not only doing Craigslist -- there are many similar places. I haven't counted, but many. It takes many emails to get paid. That's what I mean. Some weeks I lose money. It's harder than most people think. But I don't have to go into a place at a certain time and deal with bosses and customers. I can make my own time." Grimes asked the scammer a number of questions ranging from "How do you know when you have a good victim?" to "What country do you originate from?" and everything in-between. He ended the interview asking the scammer for any words of advice for readers. The scammer responded: "It's getting harder for business people like me to be successful, but if they [the victims] follow the rules it would be very hard for me to be successful. That's one of the surprises. My friends and I thought we would not be successful for so long, especially with how Craigslist is different now. But there is always someone looking to sell something who doesn't know the game."
>But I don't have to go into a place at a certain time and deal with bosses and customers. I can make my own time.
And if you're lucky, you might also _do_ time.
Could someone wrap up in a few words how you could scam money from people who want to SELL something?
From buyers, yes. You could simply ask for advance payment and refuse to deliver.
Or is this the old "I'll overpay you $500 when I'm paying for the bike and you give $400 to my old friend Vladimirostowzitschzky, but have to do that before you see any money from my side"? Do people still fall for that?
As another advanced reading about how successfull scamming works, I'd suggest the Most von Lipwick books in the Discworld series.
bickerdyke
The dregs of humanity, pulling us all into shit.
They are everywhere, on the streets, in shops, on the fucking internet.
Wanting to suck you dry for being a trusting human being.
Lying, cheating, even resorting to violence if they need to.
Fuck scammers!
Finally, a "businessman" so honest to admit that he's a scammer.
I wonder if you realize how ironic is this specific trolling in a post about scammers.
...if he set up a fake ad, doesn't that just make HIM the scammer?
I can see an international purchase on my bank's transaction history in one hour. Why does it take US banks 3 days to discover there's no money in a cheque writer's account? Why doesn't the seller wait a week before sending the item?
I clicked on that "about/scams" link from TFS out of curiosity. It told me:
This IP has been automatically blocked.
Uhh... ok? This is the first time in my life I have ever tried to visit the "www.craigslist.org" domain. It does not appear to want me to know "about scams".
"From the end of the sixth working day after we receive it, if the Cheque is returned unpaid by the paying bank, we cannot take the money from your account without your consent unless you have acted fraudulently" Form TSB Cheque clearing process, but it is the same for all retail banks. Smaller building societies have a couple of additional days as they pass the cheques to a bank to clear.
Could it possibly be money?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This interview is full of classic self-justification;
"I like to think I am a businessman. Not a criminal."
"I like to think my victims are rich and won't miss the money I'm stealing."
"I like to think those I'm stealing from had the opportunities I didn't. This makes us even."
"I like to think that because scamming is hard and takes time, it's like a real job."
"I like to think it's my victim's own fault I'm scamming them. It's not my fault they don't follow the rules and don't know the game."
CL has taught me just how broken the mental health system is in the USA, and just how many lunatics we have who seem to have access to the internet. I had a really old junk Craftsman garden tractor in my garage that i just wanted gone. So i put it on CL under the free section. My phone got so many calls, texts, and emails that my phone was LOCKED UP for nearly 2 hours from so many alerts (this is back in the Blackberry day). Couldn't do anything. My voicemail was filled up in under 3 minutes.
I had every personality imaginable on the voicemails. I had death threats. I had people telling me i was a scam artist, or asking if i was lying. I had people going through lists of reasons why they should have the tractor over everyone else, including the "my kid has cancer" stories, because we all know lawn mowers are a critical element in most chemotherapy. I had people who were incoherent and didn't make any sense. I had people crying and begging. It was ridiculous, and I refuse to use CL for anything again.
The calls and stuff started seconds after hitting "Post". There must be armies of people who literally sit there all day long clicking refresh on the fucking page.
[x] Dodgy character
[x] computers involved
[ ] call him a "hacker"
What's this, the new new slashdot broken already?
Scam me into a job willyaz, make my application rise to the top, or be the only one left
If we vote for Donald Trump, will he order air strikes against CraigsList scammers in non-allied countries?
I and my friends have encountered these scams numerous times. The scam actually revolves around Paypal, and not craigslist or whatever the listing / auction site is. They open up a conversation to obtain your email address (that's how craigslist works, unlike eBay which specifically discourages people from communicating outside their system). Once they have your email address they say they're sending money, and *oops* they "overpaid" by accident. They send a spoof "You've Got Money!" Paypal email from some domain that contains "paypal" in the domain in some way. Usually crap like paypal.asdasda.com. That is the key to the whole thing, is that fake Paypal email that makes it look like they paid.
Then they immediately start threatening legal action unless you refund them the amount they overpaid. However, instead of Paypal, they insist the money be sent via Western Union.
That's basically it. They typically copy / paste some background story about them being out of the country or something, and they'll have a transport service come get the vehicle. The "marine biologist on a ship doing research" is a story they were using a lot a few years ago.
Better known as 318230.
I just lost my job and this motorcycle would help me get to interviews for a new one. Please give it to me.
And pretty much ignore mental illness, loneliness and Alzheimer's as factors. When people look it's mostly those 3 with a little bit of naivety from living a sheltered life...
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The only way to fight these scammers is to waste their time. Make them think you are falling for their scam so they lose time and money trying to pursue you for nothing in return. This scammer even admitted that he loses money some weeks. It is because he didn't get anyone to fall for it. If the typical scammer had to chase down 1000 dead-ends instead of 10 before he got someone to fall for it, the whole thing would not be worth it. It's like telemarketers. Ignoring their calls is not what you want to do. You want to answer it and give it to your 2 year old so the guy on the other end spends 5 minutes trying to get the toddler to "give the phone to mommy". Waste their time and they will eventually stop.
See subject: I used to be a loss-prevention mgr. circa 1988-1990 (before being into computing) - folks like that + bank personnel used to check for "nsf" (non-sufficient funds) on checks & other like financial instruments (vs. frauds & what-not) but the banks CLAIMED it "slowed down financial transactions" so the "check 21" legislation came about relieving BANKS @ LEAST of checking for 'nsf' (especially on personal checks) & PUT THE LIABILITY ONTO THE DEPOSITOR OF THE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENT (be it a check or money order etc.)... that said, if YOU the depositor cash a check, usually way, Way, WAY over the value of what was sold, & it's fraudulent (happened to me on POSTAROO, selling a ATI 9800 vidcard asking $100 @ the time - the guys sent me $5,000 in fraudulent forged series Western Union money orders... I called him & said "Man, you sent me a WEE bit much don't you think?" & he replied "Oh, I am just being nice" - well, due to that I checked w/ the issuing institution Western Union who told me it was a known forged series... this came from doing my old job thank goodness on checking for nsf etc., & then it was off to the local Federal Building to speak to the FBI with the forged money orders... 2 wks. later they caught him - served him right. He tried suckering the WRONG guy & I was lucky to have background in it from previous employment I had).
APK
P.S.=> Was I bitten by 1 of what I call "viruses of the spirit" from Pandora's box in GREED? I'd be the one in trouble, due to Check21... heck, if you THINK about it?? Banks themselves could be BEHIND these scams too - the depositor's made @ FAULT is why! apk
House rentals are another big CL scam. My ex-neighbors house was being actively scammed.
It was up for rent, and this young woman shows up at my door asking about it. She had been in contact with some dude on CL.
"$900, all utilities included."
Of course, he was out of town (had to move to California suddenly). He had the key in hand, and wanted her to send him the $900 + $900 security dep. In return, he sends her the key, blah blah.
This was a house that actually was being rented for $1100, with no utilities. From a valid real estate agency.
I told her in no uncertain terms..."This is a scam. You will never see the key, nor will you ever see that $1800 again"
Young single mom, but she did have the smarts to ask around.
I have no rational explanation for this. It's just how things are. If you sent a "Nigerian prince" email to a bunch of people, few would actually fall for it. But for some reason many people, especially but not only people under 30 years old, believe that you simply can't be cheated on Craigslist - ever. Simply doesn't happen. But if it did, Craigslist would make you whole. Ha ha ha! If they only knew.. I really have no idea why rational people lose their minds on Craigslist and assume there is no risk to any transaction.
How many people do you know that use Facebook, Whatsapp, Snapchat, Asley Madison, ... How many that buy lotto tickets or "may already be winners in the publisher's sweepstakes"? Nuff said.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
I can definitely understand the motivation for someone to do these scams. But ultimately, you're in a situation where you can't really get "the law" to crack down on the people doing them (thanks to their location and ability to post their ads using various internet connections that aren't their own).
The way to deter them is to cost the scammers as much time, effort and money as possible. Lead them on into thinking you're going to give them a payout, when you're really just harassing them. (If they're going to "send you a check in the mail", make sure you tell them you never received it and get them to mail another. If you can get them to pay postage for an item they think they're scamming from you, mail some heavy rocks or bricks.)
Email and Robocalling works because scammers can send out a million emails or call a million phone numbers for nearly free. Most are ignored but a few respond and out of those few who respond, a few victims can be easily scammed. The answer is to force the scammer to waste too much time trying to find the few gullible victims. If every email blast got a million responses, but only one or two of them were going to fall for the scam and the other 99.999% of them were just bogus responses by people pretending to show interest; then it would cost them too much to find their victims. Same with phone calls. If you answer the phone and pretend you can't hear them or just put the phone down for a few minutes while they read their script to nobody, you are part of the solution. Making it super quick to rule you out means they can contact/bug 10 other people in the meantime. Waste their time!!! Buy or fall for NOTHING!
A few years ago I got really frustrated with these idiots scammers and I started scamming them back. I collected well over 50 fake bank checks that they sent to me via FedEx overnight. So each one of them had to go to considerable time and effort and cost to send me the bad check. This was about 2 to 3 years ago and I noticed a big drop-off since then. If all of us would do our part we could run these leaches out of business.
Preferably immediately after detection and verification.
This opinion is unpopular, until you've been scammed.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Right now the so called solution is to make it difficult on people who misbehave and don't teach them the proper way to behave.
This article appears to discuss a particular type of scam, but doesn't explain how it works. Can someone explain how this scam works, and how an over priced Harley on Craigslist helps?
We talk about the greedy being caught by these scams and don't feel too bad when they trap themselves. Another class of victim is the inexperienced and we know that they are unlikely to be caught twice. However one group of victims that gets hit time and time again is the mentally impaired. As the father of a son with Down Syndrome I am very scared that his beautiful trusting nature will expose him to this sort of crime. Sadly he won't learn from experience because he can't. It isn't in his nature to distrust and he really doesn't understand the concept of (malicious) lying.
So without constant supervision, and from my talking with other parents with older kids even with, he is vulnerable. I'd love to have some way to protect him that didn't involve a magic bubble or disconnection from the modern world.
I lead one of these scumbag scammers on until he mailed me a fake check ----- and he paid to OVERNIGHT FedEx it. HAHAHAHA!
I like to carry the phone to the loo where I give them an earful of at least a #1, bonus points for a #2. And there's always the "OK, wait a minute while I go find my credit card". Or just ask, "Does your mother know you're a criminal?" if you just want them to get pissed and hang up.
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