So how does this Craigslist scam work?

Our son and I drove 1200 miles the Denver area to buy a Tormach mill for $16K. He'd only take cash so instead of hauling across country with cash I opened a bank account in CO and did an electronic transfer from our bank in MI to the one in CO. We looked over the machine, agreed on the deal. His brother and my son did most of the loading while we ran around the corner to the branch and did a transfer there.

Bruce
 
This is a great question and Sticky worthy - thanks for asking and all great replies. This is the kind of thing that belongs at the top of the Craigslist sticky board so everyone has a chance to get educated about the scams out there. Thanks everyone.
 
I feel like I've just become a "member of the club." Had my fist encounter with a Craigslist scammer!

"Thanks for getting back to me! I'm still interested but please due to
my health condition and my age I won't be able to meet up with you but
I'm Okay with the price and condition. I'll overnight a bank check to
cover the cost, once check cashed/clears I will make arrangement for
pickup. Get back to me with below details asap to issue out the
payment
Name On Check? Address? Apt # ( If Any )? Zip?
Cell Phone #? Last Asking Price?
Please, note that the payment will be mail overnight via USPS
Priority Mail and its bound to delivered within 1 to 2 working days.
I'll let you know when its mailed out.

Best Regards,
Judith."
 
Welcome to the club @hman ! You spotted one out in the wild! Well done!

I got a call yesterday at work, interrupted my day, wasted my time, my purchasing agents and our president's time. Here is how it goes...

Scammer: "Your president, [calls him by name], was a friend of my father who recently passed. I'm trying to help my family liquidate his business inventory. I was going through my fathers rolodex and found your bosses name. He told me to call you because...<proceeds to go on for ten minutes complimenting me and my boss.>

Me: "Thank you, what can I do for you?" after not knowing what he wants for ten minutes of him buttering me up and trying to interject that and getting interrupted to move things along.

Scammer: "My father has packing tape, 2" wide, Talon brand. 16 cases, 36 rolls per case. I was looking at the invoice and he was charging his customers $4.75 per roll. I just want to get rid of them and will send them to you for 1/2 price. He also has a case of the dispensers I'll ship to you for nothing and he also has some 20" flat screens. Hell, I'll throw one of those in to thank you for helping me out.

Me: "Tell you what, let me check and see if it is something we can use. I'll get back to you. What's your phone number?

Scammer: Well, see the thing is, I'm a psychiatrist and where I'm calling from right now is on the fourth floor of the county hospital where I volunteer. They don't allow me to bring any electronics or laptops, so why don't I call you on Monday and we'll see where you are at?

Me: "So you don't recall your cell phone number off hand?"

Scammer: "Yeah, I'm calling from the hospital phone. <proceeds to go through the whole story in an abbreviated form, complimenting me again.> "Ok, well thanks for helping me out. I will talk to you on Monday.

Me: " " <hangs up phone>

__________

Went down to talk to the purchasing agent. Two questions: what do we pay for packing tape and has our boss been forwarding cold calls to us?

Without missing a beat, my purchasing agent says, "its a scam. We will probably get a skid of packing tape delivered next week and then he will invoice us for it. Do a google search, "packing tape scams" and prepare to be amazed.
 
Well against my own advice, I posted a couple of lathes for sale,,, zero response now for 4 or 5 days now .. no big deal..
I thought while on craigs list I would sale some camera lens and made another ad
10 minutes later i get a text asking if still had the lenses ? I am thinking thats fast
Thinking thats kind of weird because all 3 are specialty lens that normally most photographer's would only be interested in one of them.
Then the buyer saying i need to send him the 6 digit code he just texted me ?
This guy was texting me from Idaho.
Again wow he asked zero questions on the lenses.
Because i wouldn't text him the code back , he said did you text the code, I thinking why doesn't he or she know if i texted him the code.
Then the person texting me says I am a scamming bastard, LOL
I said no this a person to person cash sale ... Knowing craigs list full of scammers and knowing I don't know all the scams .
I didn't post my email address and I am not willing to give out any personal info.
I blocked this person number.
5 minutes later exact same text pretty much word for word ,,, even the scamming bastard part.
I blocked their number too and edited my post local and cash sales only.
I also been checking my account.
Lucky or stupid i didn't give out any more info then my phone number written weird .

I read up on the 6 digit scam ..
I suggest not giving out any private info ... to anyone. and make cash transactions only.
I have no issues conducting a sale at the police station ....

Be wise, study up on scams ..

Top 6 Craigslist Scams & How to Avoid Scams on Craigslist – AdvisoryHQ

www.advisoryhq.com www.advisoryhq.com
 
I rarely even post items for sale on Craigslist anymore, I'm tired of all those bot scammers that automatically reply minutes and even days after I post my ad. Also, the numbers of buyers on CL has seemed to have declined in recent years.
I find Facebook Marketplace to pretty scam free, at least with scammers approaching me as a seller. I do occasionally see scam ads there but they are pretty easy to spot. For one thing, everyone has FB profile so you can check them out and get a sense if they are legit.
 
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