This is a variation on the Nigerian scheme,
I get several of those every day on my email , some from Nigeria, others from England, Spain and others. It is wide spread and much has been published about it, it is not just one person doing this.
I have bought and sold on craig's list with no problem . Accept cash only and only deal locally. Take proper precautions and you should have no problem.

I hate the fact that to live in society today, I have to be a total cynic and am completely unable to trust anybody. Lately, we've had so many things happen to us regarding trusting strangers and scams.

I don't even use Ebay anymore because of all the scams that I've bought into and sold into. I was selling some high dollar items and every item was sold to a scammer...it just isn't worth my time.

I like craigslist, but like others have said...cash, local transactions only. There is too much risk otherwise.

I got into this a few years ago before it was so widly known. The guy sent me a check and I thought "this is just too weird" and did some research. Still have the check. This is a dangerous scam!!

Originally Posted by Arlene Dallas:
I am in the process of a divorce and thinking of selling some items I no longer need on Craig's list but have hesitated as I have been afraid to give out my home address....do you feel safe when these people show up at your house? I could use the extra cash but am wary of opening my home up to complete strangers....

I've met people before to buy/sell at mutual, public locations. Gas stations, parking lots, etc. Also haven't had any problems with sales at the home. Have a friend (male) over just in case.

this has happened to two of my kids who are living in other provinces going to school right now. luckily for my daughter she called and told us the story and we told her not to trust them, something was up. as for my son (the one we thought was smarter than this) he gave them the information and got the check, took it to the bank and luckily the teller told him the check was a fake. someone suggested he report it to the rcmp but he is afraid now because they have his phone number and address. but hes not out anything so told him to chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Originally Posted by inspired by you:
this has happened to two of my kids who are living in other provinces going to school right now. luckily for my daughter she called and told us the story and we told her not to trust them, something was up. as for my son (the one we thought was smarter than this) he gave them the information and got the check, took it to the bank and luckily the teller told him the check was a fake. someone suggested he report it to the rcmp but he is afraid now because they have his phone number and address. but hes not out anything so told him to chalk it up as a lesson learned.

He really should report it.

My mother works in the fraud department of a large bank. These kind of things happen all the time, most of the time to people who just don't know any better. The excuse of not knowing better isn't enough to not get these people into trouble. Most of them have faced felony fraud charges and jail time...The bank just pressed charges against a man who has a family and a couple kids. He calls the bank all the time begging for them not to press charges. He'll face up to 10 years in prison...all for $5000. The check was for $50k.

It is saddening to me that I will eventually have to teach my children that most people are not to be trusted...and the instinct of "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" is the correct instinct to follow. Fraud is a scary thing and too many innocent people fall victim to it.

I have gotten this same scam on Facebook Marketplace. I was selling my auditing textbooks over the summer. I listed them and within a few days some guy from Canada with just about the exact same scheme tried to get me to have him send me and out of country cashiers check, mind you the message was in moderately broken English. I don't think there is that much difference between Canadian and American English. I was initially leery because he only wanted me to respond to a yahoo email address instead of facebook, and I couldn't view this guys profile on facebook. He said that he would be happy to more than the amount I advertised for and that he would even arrange for a shipper to come and pick up the package from my house. He wanted to have my name, address, home and mobile phone numbers basically everything but a DNA sample.

I needless to say didn't do business with him. Then on top of that kept getting the same request from different people until I finally got a genuine buyer on half.com

We've sold items on Craig's list and do the same, local pick-up and cash only. But I have my husband deal with them, not me. Its scary how many scams are out there.

Also when my DH was looking for a job, we found some job listings on Craigs list that once he emailed them, were not job listings but SPAM. It is sad that these people ruin it for the others who are legit. Same goes with looking for apts or places to live. Anymore its more of a waste of time to go to Craigs List than it is worth, in my opinion and its sad because it is a good thing, if people wouldn't ruin it and I know there are those type of people everywhere, not just on Craigs List.........Just is really sad..........Whatever happen to good old fashioned honest people??? :shrug:

We even had a problem when a young lady came to our door selling magazines for a trip for her school. Now I have dealt with these types of things in the past and all was well and good. So we decided to help her out and do it. We bought one subscription for us and donated a subscription to St. Jude's Hospital. She told us we would get our magazines in a few weeks time, well weeks went by, no magazine, a month went by no magazine and no letter stating it would be delayed or anything. So we tried calling the # she gave us and was basically given the run around. Months went by and we got no where. So I emailed our local news station that has one of those people who help out people who get scammed or taken advantage of. The news contacted us and asked us to be on the news, they were interested in our story. The news tried to contact the magazine people and got no where, just like we did. Oddly enough shortly after that, we started getting our magazine and they threw in an extra year for free.

After that experience I posted a simple "No Soliciting" on our front door. We have a No Soliciting sign in our complex too, but that sometimes gets over looked, but I can say that we haven't gotten anybody in a long time. It is sad too, because I know there are legitimate people out there just trying to make a living.

So that is my 2 cents worth, well more like a dimes worth. lol.

Be careful all!!!

Originally Posted by Sassy_Chick:
After that experience I posted a simple "No Soliciting" on our front door. We have a No Soliciting sign in our complex too, but that sometimes gets over looked, but I can say that we haven't gotten anybody in a long time.

NOBODY pays that sign the slightest attention at my BIL's business. None whatsoever. One time, my sister reminded the solicitor that there was a sign saying no solicitors - the woman got extremely offended and huffy, because she was NOT a prostitute!!!

Wedding photographers have been dealing with this scam for a couple of years now. Someone will email and say I'm getting married in your town, but I live out of the country. I'll send you $8,000 and you take your fee out of it, and pass the rest on to [the DJ, the videographer, the caterer, whoever]. I know of at least 2 photographers who fell for it and were out thousands of $$$ after the cashier's checks they deposited were found to be extremely good fakes.

I kow another photographer who has followed one of these scams through to the end, with the assistance of the FBI and the DOJ and they caught some of the members of a huge ring of scammers. His story has been fascinating to follow over the past 13 or so months.

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Originally Posted by Hat Trick:
They also do this with pets on craigslist. A friend had to give her cat away and posted on craigslist. She wasn't selling him, just trying to find a good home. Same thing happened, many scam responses from people who said they didn't even live in the state, some deal about a check (um, that the cat was FREE was posted on the listing), etc. They must have some kind of automated email scam response or something. Real creeps, aren't they?

Cash only, in person is the only way to go. And for pets? No. You never know what will happen to your pet if you decided to go this route. I've browsed the site looking for pets but would even be leery of that. SPCA is the way to go if you're thinking of getting a pet -- those animals are already at their last chance place!

Thanks for posting this and giving us all a heads up.

Yup, also animal testing labs cruise craigslist looking for free animals, so be careful when it comes to pets.