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Interview With A Craigslist Scammer (infoworld.com) 241

Posted by BeauHD from the follow-the-rules dept.
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."
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Interview With A Craigslist Scammer More

Interview With A Craigslist Scammer

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  • No value (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @06:12AM (#52365183)

    >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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I thought it was an interesting remark. So our sick workplace atmospheres are fostering crime...
      I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but I hadn't thought about this before.

      • Re:No value (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @12:53PM (#52367151)

        No it is just a normal criminals self rationalization.
        Just like "If the victim really cared they should had been more careful", "People are always scamming me, so I should be first"...

        Most people rarely consider themselves a monster or the villain, they will feel quite justified to themselves on what they are doing.
        That is why we have a court of law, to judge peoples actions beyond the point of view of the criminal and victim because often both sides are too focused on their point of view then what is considered right and just.

        Because often the victim of a crime does have a degree of responsibility too. Trying to acquire and illegal product. Avoiding working around the system to avoid taxes or extra fees... Often the victim isn't completely innocent, however the crime committed against them is far worse than what they were doing. However all this needs to be factored in.

      • ... So our sick workplace atmospheres are fostering crime... I hadn't thought about this before.

        "I don't like to work, therefore I am forced to commit crime." You haven't heard that one before?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      RTFA:

      No one ever gets caught. And if I ever got caught I would pay money and walk away. That is the way of the world.

      In Third World countries anyone can bribe their way out of anything. In the US you need to be politically well connected to get away with crimes.

    • Who are you kidding. With civil forfeiture your little craiglist scam doesn't pay as well as the guy buying a dime bag of weed so the cops would much rather focus on that.

  • Money from people who want to sell? (Score:3)

    by bickerdyke ( 670000 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @06:15AM (#52365189)

    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.

    • Re:Money from people who want to sell? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @06:24AM (#52365205) Homepage

      Yes people still fall for that crap. Because most people are really stupid. and get more stupid when you trigger their "greed" center.

      It's why the Here is a $100,000 check, can you cash it and send me the change.... I'll let you have an extra $1,000 for your trouble, obvious as hell scam works. Most people brains shut off when the greed center in their brain is triggered.

      • Re:Money from people who want to sell? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @07:13AM (#52365301) Homepage

        It's why the Here is a $100,000 check, can you cash it and send me the change.... I'll let you have an extra $1,000 for your trouble, obvious as hell scam works. Most people brains shut off when the greed center in their brain is triggered.

        The main problem here is that people think the bank has verified the authenticity of the check when they've "cleared" it and given you access to the money, and that any failure to spot a fake check is now their problem. Like if I go deposit some cash I got from a yard sale I expect the bank to either accept it or reject it. Not accept it now and two weeks later say "Hey, those bills you gave us a few weeks ago were counterfeit we're deducting $200 from your account". And you never get a second "real" confirmation that your bank got their money from the intra-bank system you only know when they don't. The system is pretty rigged against the somewhat clueless and gullible person who goes to a professional money handler that appears to say everything is okay.

        • I wonder what would happen if you just went to a check cashing place. Obviously they wouldn't take a check for $100K, but say $1K.

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward

            They would have the information from your ID, which is likely real since you think you're being honest. Thus when the cheque bounces a bailiff will show up at your door for cheque fraud (a little more serious than just not paying debts, thus the bailiff rather than annoying collections agencies).

        • It's why the Here is a $100,000 check, can you cash it and send me the change.... I'll let you have an extra $1,000 for your trouble, obvious as hell scam works. Most people brains shut off when the greed center in their brain is triggered.

          The main problem here is that people think the bank has verified the authenticity of the check when they've "cleared" it and given you access to the money, and that any failure to spot a fake check is now their problem. Like if I go deposit some cash I got from a yard sale I expect the bank to either accept it or reject it. Not accept it now and two weeks later say "Hey, those bills you gave us a few weeks ago were counterfeit we're deducting $200 from your account". And you never get a second "real" confirmation that your bank got their money from the intra-bank system you only know when they don't. The system is pretty rigged against the somewhat clueless and gullible person who goes to a professional money handler that appears to say everything is okay.

          In the US, banks have to make the funds available shortly after deposit, before the check clears; which makes people think the check is good when it isn't.

          • Why do they *have* to? In the UK thats the banks discretion - many don't credit the account until the cheque or payment has cleared, so why do US banks have to do it that way?

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by Sarlok ( 144969 )
              It's the law. [wikipedia.org] The maximum hold is 9 business days, but that's only for new accounts; accounts older than 30 days can hold funds for at most 7 business days.

              • That really really sucks.

                • Re: (Score:3)

                  by taustin ( 171655 )

                  Not as much as being evicted because your rent check bounced, because you bank held your paycheck deposit for three weeks to get the "float."

                  There's a reason it's the law.

                  • Sorry, I dont buy that - here in the UK, payroll is done by direct deposit, its a rare situation where you get a cheque or cash. And if you are paid by cheque, then you should be planning for the delays.

              • The amazing thing is that in today's world, it takes 7 days to clear a check at all. When the banking system is run on sub Millisecond transactions at Wall Street, millions of times a day, it is hard to believe that it takes seven days of float (the real game) to complete the transaction.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by taustin ( 171655 )

                  From a US bank to a US bank, it takes minutes to verify a check (though I believe the transfer of funds is only once a day).

                  Banks outside the US are not part of the same network.

            • Why do they *have* to? In the UK thats the banks discretion - many don't credit the account until the cheque or payment has cleared, so why do US banks have to do it that way?

              Checks are way more commonly used in North America than they are in the UK. I hadn't seen a check book for 25 years, when I came to North America I basically had to have one.

              The banking system in North America is pretty antiquated, as are many things (taste in music for one thing, the only music you hear in public places is golden oldies. Motorbikes are just toys. Don't get me started on toilets).

              • Why do they *have* to? In the UK thats the banks discretion - many don't credit the account until the cheque or payment has cleared, so why do US banks have to do it that way?

                Checks are way more commonly used in North America than they are in the UK. I hadn't seen a check book for 25 years, when I came to North America I basically had to have one.

                The banking system in North America is pretty antiquated, as are many things (taste in music for one thing, the only music you hear in public places is golden oldies. Motorbikes are just toys. Don't get me started on toilets).

                At least we don't drink warm beer, and don't get me started on British cars. In fairness to Britain, if Lucas made our refrigerators we'd be drinking warm beer as well.

                • Why do they *have* to? In the UK thats the banks discretion - many don't credit the account until the cheque or payment has cleared, so why do US banks have to do it that way?

                  Checks are way more commonly used in North America than they are in the UK. I hadn't seen a check book for 25 years, when I came to North America I basically had to have one.

                  The banking system in North America is pretty antiquated, as are many things (taste in music for one thing, the only music you hear in public places is golden oldies. Motorbikes are just toys. Don't get me started on toilets).

                  At least we don't drink warm beer, and don't get me started on British cars. In fairness to Britain, if Lucas made our refrigerators we'd be drinking warm beer as well.

                  Well your beer has to be drunk freezing cold so that its palatable. Even the ales are over-hopped to compensate for how cold they are served... so when they are served at a proper temperature its like drinking earwax.

          • Re:Money from people who want to sell? (Score:5, Insightful)

            by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) * on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @10:55AM (#52366297)

            In the US, banks have to make the funds available shortly after deposit, before the check clears

            The real issue is that it's 2016 and checks don't fucking clear instantly yet!

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by taustin ( 171655 )

            In the US, banks have to make the funds available shortly after deposit, before the check clears; which makes people think the check is good when it isn't.

            With a check drawn on a US bank, normally, the bank you deposit it into knows it's good before you walk out the door. Sometimes (as with paychecks), before you walk into the door.

            This scam only works when it's (supposedly) drawn on a bank that's not part of the US banking system.

        • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @08:39AM (#52365617)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • Banks make money off of float, which is the 2 day holding period you speak of, hence why it is business days and not weekend/holidays.

          • So no, this is NOT because the banks can make money from those two days.

            If the banks truly weren't interested in making money from those two days, they'd deduct the funds immediately. But then after the transaction was finalized, post-date the transaction as having occurred two days later. That way you'd get credit (earn interest) on that money during the two day float (time between when the money leaves your account and when the recipient gets paid). This would be trivial to implement.

            When I bought

          • My 'favorite' thing with the banking here in North America is sending money from my bank account to someone elses bank account (within the same country) was a 'wire transfer' and they wanted $30 for it!

            WTF? I've lived in 3rd world countries where bank to bank transfers were free and instantaneous!

        • The main problem here is that people think the bank has verified the authenticity of the check when they've "cleared" it

          Is it? I think the main problem is how slow and incompetent the banks are. Why does it take more than a few seconds to verify (or not) a check?

          • Re:Money from people who want to sell? (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Sique ( 173459 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @09:55AM (#52365941) Homepage
            You don't have much clue about banking, do you?

            A check is just an order to pay from a certain account to either the specified person or the person cashing in the check. If the account is not with the bank the check is presented to, you have interbanking transfer. And you have transactions (read an RDBMS manual to learn about transactions!). Basicly one bank has to lock the account at the other bank, check the balance, withdraw the money and then credit it to its own account. For security reasons, no bank can simply lock an account at another bank. Instead, the transaction is split into two transactions between the banks and a clearing point. The bank the check is presented to is booking against that account at another bank at the clearing point, creating a short time debt. Then the clearing point is performing all transactions with the other bank, and thus creating a short time credit voucher. The debt and the credit voucher are then cleared at the clearing point, thus the name. If they don't match, both transactions are rolled back the next time the banks and the clearing point contact each other. A copy of the check is mailed to the other bank. So it takes at least three transaction runs just to get money from one checking account to the bank to cash out a check. For security reasons, the transaction runs are done several times (I know of one bank which does it at least five times with five different ways to transfer the transaction file, just to make sure the transaction file is complete, not hampered with and authorized).

            Now the other bank has an account where money was withdrawn. The owner of said account has a certain time limit (depends on the Terms of Services, but can easily be two weeks) to dispute the withdrawal and to cancel it. If he says that the check is fraudulent, the original check will be inspected at the other bank, and if there is anything fishy about the check, the transactions are reversed. So it can take easily more than two weeks until a check finally clears. And it has nothing to do with incompetent and slow banks.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Rei ( 128717 )

          Why do people still use checks in this day in age? The mind boggles.

          • Why still use checks? Because it seems that too often online accounts are not properly secure. One company I deal with will not allow signins over 12 digits - and only alphanumeric, no other characters. They are a very big company with no excuse to be back in the 1990s level of sorta secure.

          • Why do people still use checks in this day in age? The mind boggles.

            Because they live in North America. Its about the only place in the world so backward that they still routinely use checks.

        • You shouldn't have sympathy for the idiot trying to commit money laundering. If all those scams were actually real that is what you would be doing, money laundering. I've never had sympathy of the people that do it for that reason, it's clearly illegal to do what you are asked to do you people follow through because of their greed.

          People would probably learn quicker if they prosecuted everyone that got scammed for money laundering.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I once overheard a conversation in a bank where someone went to deposit a check for seven times the asking price of an old moldy trailer that she was selling to someone in Slovakia who just had to have that very trailer. This was in a Swedish bank. The cashier was gaping in awe at what an amazing deal the customer had gotten. Another customer who heard it tried to tell both of them what was going on, but they didn't want to hear any of it. This was about one week into a massive flood of news reports about t

      • A friend's mom fell for the "cash our totally legitimate [wink wink] checks and money orders for us and you can keep ten percent" scam. They cleaned her out. I feel a little bad for her (more for him because guess who had to step up and cover bills and mortgage payments). But I don't feel a lot bad because she wasn't old and senile. She got greedy tunnel vision.

        If some company has tens of thousands of dollars in legitimate checks and money orders to deposit, they can get a bank account. The bank will a

        • Re:Money from people who want to sell? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @09:45AM (#52365881) Journal
          While I don't disagree with your first point, your second assumes a legitimate company. Most of these scams let the victim think that the person needing to move the cash is not able to work with the banking system. A popular one involves someone needing to get money out of a failed state quickly. They make up all sorts of plausible sounding reasons why a bank wouldn't deal with them (in some cases, hinting that the money was acquired illegally, so you shouldn't feel bad about taking 10% for a few minutes' work because you're just stealing from a criminal).

          • Everyone one of those scams is implicitly asking someone to assist with money laundering, which is illegal. But people get tunnel vision thinking about the cash and don't really consider that what they have agreed to do is illegal if real.

      • Re:Money from people who want to sell? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @08:50AM (#52365655) Homepage

        There is a good bit of diversity in scams, however. I've been reading up on the different varieties as I've been looking to make some sizeable purchases from China and the number of scammers operating among the legitimate manufacturers/service providers over there is disturbing.

          For example, one involves freight forwarders. They actually do have your goods shipped to your port of destination - but they don't send you the bill of lading, so you can't prove that you actually own the goods and thus can't collect them from customs. They then demand huge sums for the bill of lading so that you can actually collect your goods.

        A common one with legitimate manufacturers themselves is exploiting any terms that you didn't specify, especially "price inflation". Unless you have it spelled out, they'll charge you for all sorts of unexpected costs (after you've made your initial deposit, of course) on top of the agreed-upon price. And more common than actual scams are quality issues. It's usually easier for them to just decide to lose you as a potential repeat customer than to spend a lot of money ensuring quality or to fix production errors.

        With actual scammers, and sometimes legitimate manufacturers, one's in big trouble if they don't use a service that allows them to dispute the charges (paypal, credit card, legitimate escrow service, etc) and instead get tricked into using western union or other non-contestable source. Even if you're dealing with a legitimate supplier, once they have your money, they have relatively little motivation to follow through. Few have any sort of reputation that they need to protect; they can always just rebrand. And sometimes the company is legitimate but an employee is acting rogue.

        Verification is made harder because sometimes the people buyers are supposed to be able to trust are in cahoots with the crooks - for example, there was a scandal a while back involving Alibaba with this sort of thing. An important part of working with foreign manufacturers is ordering an inspection (to see if you're dealing with a real factory that can actually make the real thing you're ordering, and to inspect produced goods before making the final payment). But there's no legal requirements for a person to meet in order to be able to classify themselves as an "inspector" or an "inspection company".

        The whole thing is a minefield :P

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Most people brains shut off when the greed center in their brain is triggered.

        Its the old confidence man thing.

        And for the silliest things. Here's an example.

        Old Toyota RV's. These were made from the late 70's to the early 90's. But they have become popular in recent years. I have a mid-80's version.

        But people have become so enamored of the things that Craigslist and eBay get scammers regularly. With crazy stuff like telling the marks that the Mini-RV is wrapped in plastic in storage at an airport warehouse, or ripped off photos of other people's RV's posing as the scammer's o

        • Belonging to a group involved with the Toyhomes

          Hey, I knew someone who had an 80's Toyota Dolphin. I could see him falling for a scam.

      • 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...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tx ( 96709 )

      Could someone wrap up in a few words how you could scam money from people who want to SELL something?

      I was wondering that. There's probably a lot of different scams, but a commonly documented one seems to be that the "buyer" will send you a fake cheque for a larger value than what you are selling the item for under some pretext or other, and ask you to cash it and send them the difference via various hard to trace means. Often banks will cash the cheque and not discover the fraud until later, when you will

    • Moist, not Most. Lipwig, not Lipwick.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jurgen ( 14843 )

      Follow the second link. That page has cear info (with examples) of various types of common scams.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      Fraudulent checks, chargeback on PayPal accounts etc. The scammer gets the product and you're out of money. Others are of the "let us trade", but the trade is worthless (fake products etc). They then resell it elsewhere. There are others that simply rob you when you make the appointment.

      That's the scams I've seen. There may be others but those would be more obvious scams and less people fall for the "give me cash for this overvalued check".

      • An online friend of mine was doing book editing work for a "customer from hell", who kept demanding change after change after change, and when they finally told the CFH that they could no longer work with/for them, the CFH did chargebacks on all the payments they had done through PayPal.

        PayPal was of no help whatsoever in the situation.

    • We're trying to sell a couch right now - the only responses have been scammers.

      My wife has been handling the messages, but my understanding is that it works like this:

      (1) The "buyer" says they can't pay cash, that the only payment methods available to them right now are (something that can initially succeed, then fail later - e.g., a check, PayPal, etc.).

      (2) They'll send their mover to pick up the item once the transfer has succeeded.

      But...how do they get any money? My understanding is that there is a step

    • 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 s

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by cob666 ( 656740 )

      Could someone wrap up in a few words how you could scam money from people who want to SELL something?

      The most common scam aimed at sellers is the potential buyer (scammer) sends you an email that they want the item but they're out of town and will have their shipping company pick the item up. You're selling a guitar for $500, they tell you they'll send you a check for $550 to cover the guitar plus the $50 to give to their shipping company when the pick up the item. They send you a check for $650 and an email that the check was accidentally sent for the wrong amount. They ask you to cash the check at you

    • This is one of the things to look out for when selling in my locale at least:

      Seller wants to sell some not-too-cheap, but easily tradable item. E.g. mobile phone, TV, or even car. Buyer contacts him, sets up the payment (e.g. check deposit or EFT) and sends "proof of payment" to Seller (often, the Seller's bank will do this automatically, e.g. text message to mobile, or e-mail that a deposit was made). This often happens on a Friday afternoon. Then Buyer begs to take delivery of the goods "for emergency us

  • Easier in the UK (Score:4, Informative)

    by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @07:43AM (#52365405)
    "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 [tsb.co.uk], 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.

  • Wild guess (Score:3)

    by Hognoxious ( 631665 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @07:50AM (#52365441) Homepage Journal

    Ever wonder what motivates people who swindle others on Craigslist?

    Could it possibly be money?

  • self-justification (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gsslay ( 807818 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @07:55AM (#52365467)

    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."

    • Re:self-justification (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Gilgaron ( 575091 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @08:32AM (#52365591)
      The cognitive dissonance may also be why he consented to the interview.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by wbr1 ( 2538558 )

      Yes, but it funny where if you change the crime/justification the same criminals will be revulsed.

      "That 12 year old had a crush on me, she wanted it."

      "I like to think that you should have moved your face away from my fist."

      "She still would have had sex with me if she wasn't drunk and roofied."

      "The bank is insured, so it is like I stole from no one."

    • If he doesn't self-justify, he has to kill himself, so don't be surprised. The wealthy must share their wealth or the poor will share their poverty with us, and they won't start with the wealthy because they are well-protected. They will start with the other poor, who are easier to reach. The wealthy know this very well, which is how we get the Waltons and the Kochs of the world.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by m00sh ( 2538182 )

      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."

      But, ultimately, he knows that what he's doing is bad. He's justifying to the interviewer but he knows deep inside that he is harming people. He's saying he does what he does to survive and he would do something else if he got the opportunity.

      If he was saying that he was helping people, saving the children etc then it would be dangerous.

    • Just an observation.... I spent a good amount of time traveling in parts of the ex-USSR in the previous decade. I speak good Russian (not fluent, but pretty good) and I've been to places off the tourist track. Got to know several people there on a personal level. I can tell you that the justifications the scammer gave are exactly what someone from that part of the world would use to justify what they did. That doesn't mean that the scammer is from there, but if I had to bet on it, I'd bet that they were

  • Scambait them (Score:3)

    by DidgetMaster ( 2739009 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @10:46AM (#52366233) Homepage
    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.

  • House rentals (Score:3)

    by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2016 @12:44PM (#52367075)
    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 r
    • 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
  • 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.

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As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. -- Albert Einstein

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