A Scammer Trolling Our Classifieds

[Kathryn Klos]

Thought I'd provide the communication I received from a "potential buyer" of my c.1890s canoe. I assume there's a way they get into bank accounts through PayPal, which is a scary thought.

His EMail #1:

louismarvin263@yahoo.com

1:39 PM (5 hours ago)

to me

16' pre-1900 UFO

Hi,

Q#1. How long have you owned it Canoe?
Q#2. a) Have you owned it from new? b) If not how many previous owner?
Q#3.Why are you selling it?
Q#4. How much are you asking for it?
please i can only pay using Paypal.

Regards.

(I responded with courtesy, in spite of the bogus nature of this query. Have I had the canoe since new? Do humans live into their 160s? But I gave him the benefit of my doubts... perhaps he didn't read the ad closely. He did miss the stated price...)

His EMail #2

Louis Marvin

6:23 PM (34 minutes ago)

to me

Thanks for the reply, i am a sailor, i am at sea right now so l wont be able to check the canoe but l need for details about the canoe and also l will be more happy if you can send me some pictures of it because am buying this for my father as a surprise gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email address to make the payments, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been sorted. l will be waiting for your reply asap.

(I responded that I would only sell this canoe to a WCHA member... which is sort of a fib, but that honestly would be my preference.)

How does this type of scam work?

Kathy

 

[Andre Cloutier]

It works many, many ways. Just do not respond any more and delete the email, or consider blocking them.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_scam

 

[Fitz]

I typically tell them to take a swim, bring cash, and I will throw in a free paddle for the return trip across the Pond.

 

[Jan Bloom]

Some of these scammers can be very persistent. I had one that managed to get my phone number and called me.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Kathy,

I got the same messages on my 2 adds.

I told him to bring cash on pickup.

Dan

 

[Greg Nolan]

Spammers do not deserve courtesy or any response -- after all, they have insulted you by assuming you are gullible enough to respond. A response only confirms that your email address is accurate and active and encourages further spam in hopes that you are gullible. Such email should be marked as spam (in hopes that your email system will block similar future efforts) and deleted without a response.

 

[crosscuts]

I got this scam inquiry on a boat I have for sale on Craig's list. Every question asked was answered in my ad. A response gives them your email address which then can be sold as a valid address. I never use my email address in ads, just my phone number. Every inquiry that comes in an email is obviously a scam. If a person is truly interested in the boat or canoe they will call on the phone. Don't answer, that is all they are looking for, just delete.

R.C.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Thanks for the replies here... I wondered if there was a way they could get into a PayPal account, and if that was the purpose of the scam.

I actually did sell something once to a person who had a bit of trouble with English-- and he was buying the item as a birthday gift for his brother... I can't remember what he said that made me decide it was real. Maybe his need to know the exact cost of postage, and his willingness to give a name and address.

 

[Benson Gray]

I wondered if there was a way they could get into a PayPal account, and if that was the purpose of the scam.

PayPal is usually a fairly safe way to transfer money but only if you have a good password and keep it secure. Any electronic mail account is valuable to a spammer, especially one with an owner who regularly reads the messages and responds. This is one reason that the electronic mail accounts associated with PayPal accounts are particularly desirable to scammers and spammers.

There have been people scamming the classifieds here as long as they have existed. A quick search for scam will find the message at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?1678 and many others describing these problems. There are also groups like the one at http://www.419eater.com/ which advocate "scam baiting." They encourage you to "enter into a dialogue with scammers, simply to waste their time and resources. Whilst you are doing this, you will be helping to keep the scammers away from real potential victims and screwing around with the minds of deserving thieves."

I had advertised a canoe last year and got a message with a low offer suggesting payment by wire transfer. It seemed like a scam since these types of transfers require sending your bank account number and other details to set it up. I decided to reply anyway as a small bit of scam baiting. The short version of this long story is that he ended up buying the canoe for the full list price with no problems but it took a long time for me to believe that he wasn't running a scam. The highest achievement in scam bating is to annoy the scammer enough that they make a death threat but I have never wanted to push it that far. Good luck,

Benson

 

[MGC]

As a rule (practice safe PC) never respond to spammers/scammers!
You are confirming your mail address as well as giving a direct trail to your IP Address, neither of which are helpful in your efforts to avoid being highjacked.

There are many other steps you should take to protect your internet identity. Practice safe PC, dance the security tango regularly, never respond to spam, use a safe browser (firefox vs IE) and do not allow stored cookies etc. Just be damned careful. Craiglist is a troll magnet as are most internet classifieds.

It's for real, it's safe.....

securitytango.com