Saturday, May 21, 2011

CRAIGSLIST PAYPAL SCAM

I suppose this will be a sort of public service announcement. It is hard to determine how rampant this SCAM is and how many victims it has claimed.

To give you a bit of a background:
I am a somewhat well rounded computer tech/IT guy. I know plenty to be more than just dangerous (i'll leave it at that). From time to time i end up with extra computer hardware in my dealings. You know, extra monitors, extra computers, extra cpu's, extra ram, hard drives, miscellaneous electronics, etc. Most savvy computer techs will generally be in the same situation and will have a box or closet in the house/apartment dedicated to this. Naturally we eventually run out of space and decide to sell off some of our stuff. this is where Craigslist comes in.

Recently i posted several computer systems for sale and a lot or miscellaneous computer related electronics
here they are in case anyone is interested,

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/sys/2368274445.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/sys/2368241837.html
http://dallas.en.craigslist.org/ndf/sys/2368262809.html

anyway...
so after feeling a bit accomplished to know i'm on my way to getting rid of all of this stuff, my email inbox did not sit still for long
almost immediately i got a replay from a so called "Jojo Brad" at email address "radjojo8@gmail.com"
and it stated the following:
"Thanks for getting back to me as soon as you can i am buying this for
my cousin,And i wont be able to pick it up due to my working hours i
would like it shipped to my cousin i would offer you $500 including
shipping and stress i would be paying you through paypal to make this
faster get back to me with your paypal email address asap so we can do
this i need it shipped today get back to me asap.Thanks.
I await your quick response."
It was immediately fishy who pays more than they have to???
mind boggling, yes indeed......But then, something else happened.
I get yet another response from a supposedly different person with something which looked like the same message, just modified a little.
"Thanks for getting back to me as soon as you can i am buying this for
my cousin,And i wont be able to pick it up due to my working hours i
would like it shipped to my cousin i would offer you $420 including
shipping and stress i would be paying you through paypal to make this
faster get back to me with your paypal email address asap so we can do
this i need it shipped today get back to me asap.Thanks.
I await your quick response."
That's when i knew it was all a SCAM!
Of course, thankfully, i did not fall for it.
It did however crush some hopes that i would get rid of some stuff and have extra cash in my pocket.

From what i read online in random forums is that they try to get you to give them your paypal email address. I found no evidence that they actually tamper with your account in any way, but again i really honestly don't know. Once they have your Email address they send back a fake official looking email that seems to come from Paypal, but it really doesn't. I believe they make an argument to say that they have fulfilled their end of the bargain because their fake accounts shows they have paid you, but your real Paypal account shows no record of transaction.
If you happened to send the item, Paypal has no fault and no record of a transaction.
The scanmer just walked away with your goods for free....

PLEASE all of you stay safe out there if you use Paypal
make sure the transaction goes through on the Paypal website and that the user's account has been verified. This particular scam is not the most intricate, but if they keep doing it, it means they have succeeded in the past and are willing to try and repeat the feat.
DON'T LET IT BE YOU!

thanks for reading followers

on a side note:
I might consider starting a FOLLOWER OF THE WEEK! post every week.
I browse through blogspot quite a bit and sometimes there are posts that stand out more than others and stay with you long after you are done reading them.
As a featured follower i will recommend that everyone who reads the post follow the person in hope that they too might find something interesting to ready
good idea? bad idea?

33 comments:

  1. Thanks for the PSA. Tech savvy guys like us usually don't fall for things like this, but a surprising number of people do.

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  2. I think it is a great idea to have a featured follower! It's a good way to give back to those who enjoy your blog. Thanks for the heads up, btw. This always kills me how people come up with ways to scam the average working person.

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  3. I'll keep my eye out for scammers, thanks!

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  4. yea i never deal craigslist too much scammers

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  5. scammers are everywhere but, i didn't know craiglist before

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  6. thanks for the info i think this has been going on for awhile

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  7. Yeah, scammers have gotten better, but the generic nature of them, give it away.

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  8. The web is full of scammers. people need to be careful with their information. Followin!

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  9. Thank god you caught on, many people dont sadly and fall for things like this and are scammed out of alot of money

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  10. You must pay atencion, there are lots of scammers in there

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  11. maybe this cousin just has a big family, lol

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  12. never been scammed on CL, lets hope it never happens

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  13. I already knew about this, but it's good to get the word out!

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  14. hate scammers they ruin everything

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  15. this is exactly why i dont use craigslist or ebay or anything. id' rather sell it someone in real life! and get that cold hard cash baby!

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  16. ya offering you more than you asked for is an indicator of a scam

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  17. Craiglist is ok but you gotta know that 90% of the emails you get are scams which gets annyoing after a while

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  18. These guys are fun to play around with. i have collected many of their "real" checks. Good stuff.

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  19. It is horrible, i hate this scam guys. Did you call cops or something?

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  20. I knew all that!
    But you forgot to say "don't send cash in the mail".
    (Sh*t went way over my head)

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  21. the major problem with many scammers today (electronic or otherwise) is that they work best when common sense is not used. unfortunately, common sense is becoming rarer and rarer these days, which means crap like this actually works on a lot of people

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  22. Thanks for the heads up. Good to know.

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  23. Appreciate the head's up ! So many scams out there - need to stay ahead of 'em ! Thanks again !

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  24. By the way, I think that follower of the week is a good idea - the more you make people feel wanted/needed/appreciated, the greater the feedback, and the stronger the connection.
    Go for it !

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