Below is a message I received this weekend from a scammer on Craigslist. I have copied it word for word, without any edits.
Funny thing is, I cannot tell you how many times I have received this from various hotmail, gmail and yahoo email addresses. The first message is “Hello, is this still available for sale” or something similar to make you respond back. When you do respond back with “yes” NEVER use your name, address and phone number.
The spammer then responds with a message similar to the one below.
Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response to my inquiry. I hope it is in a perfect condition as I’m highly interested in it.I will have love to come and take a look my self but i am a very busy man i hope you will understand?due to the distance i will like to make an instant purchase but if there is anything wrong, you can kindly let me know and we can fix things up. I don’t mind paying additional $50 for it in order for you to take the add down from craigslist and also to be assured that it is already mine.I will be paying you with a certified check and it is going to be sent to you via courier service which is going to be mail to you as soon as possible For the payment, I’m going to need your details as follow
**Full name to be on the payment
**Your home or office address which the payment will be delivered to
**And your phone number in order to facilitate the payment asap.
My mover will be coming for the pick up as soon as you have the check cashed, so you don’t need to bother your self about the shipping as everything on that is well arranged.Thanks and I’m waiting to hear from you
Do not fall for this! The scammer is phishing for your personal information. This my friends is how identities are stolen!
Also, here is another military PayPal scam to be aware of!
Craigslist is a terrific avenue to buy and sell items, just be smart about it. For additional Craigslist scam information, visit here.