OT: Scam Question

 This is off-topic, but similar behavior may exist when selling
motorcycles ...

I put a printer on craigslist, and I'm pasting in below the final
e-mails with the potential buyer.

What is the most likely scam here?

I'm guessing a good looking but counterfeit bank check?

Thanks for any insight, DFC

--------

Hi Mary,
 
I'm not willing to ship the printer, I'm not willing to deal in any
medium except cash (no checks), and I'm not willing to sell to anyone
where the actual buyer does not come to pick it up (no third parties
or intermediaries).
 
Thanks for your interest.  I will move on to other buyers.
 
Thanks, XXXXX


- Hide quoted text -
On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Mary XXXX <XXXXX> wrote:

I'm kinda grateful to see your response to my inquires.i really love
the item and satisfied with the description ..i will love to make an
outright payment of the item asap but my mode of payment for the item
will be via USD certified check due to my working schedule and i will
arrange for the shipping as soon as you get the check cashed at your
bank.i would have loved to come and check it out myself by my work
would not let me and all i need is your honest and sincerity ..i
assure you that everything will go smoothly because this is my first
time of dealing on craiglist...Kindly get back to me with the
information to facilitate the payment to you so that it can be mail
out on time.I:e
 
Name to be on the check
Address
city and state with the zip code
Phone number for easy contact
 
As soon as i get the info..the payment will be mail out to your via a
courier service so that you can get it overnight and i will update you
with the tracking number for your assurance and tracking of the
payment..and once you get it cash, i will arrange for the shipping
where my shipper will come to your location for the pick up..i believe
u can handle this with good faith..i will be waiting to read from you
soon..
Thanks

 On 10/09/2011 6:37 PM, Datesfat Chicks wrote:

It would be a sure bet the cheque is either fake or stolen.  What
puzzles me is unless your printer is made of gold, they are not worth
much and why would a scammer go to all the effort to beat you for the
value of a used printer.  I would imagine they would want to add the
shipping cost to the value of the cheque and have you pay the shipper in
cash, but even with that it is still just pocket change. Is it really
worth the risk?

Do you have something else for sale on Craigslist?  Something of
significant value?  If so they might have been setting you up with a
small item in order to beat you for bigger bucks on something else.

When I had my Venture and XJ advertised last fall I had a handful of
scammers contact me with great, although convoluted deals. For some
reason I felt more comfortable with uncomplicated cash sales.


Disclaimer
Do not believe a thing I have said, unless you already know it to be
true, or can independently verify it from another source.

Reeky Ride To The Rockies
http://actualriders.ca/reekyrockies.htm

 On Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:51:59 -0600, "Calgary (Don)"


Nothing else for sale on craigslist.

Yeah, the printer is an HP P2055DN with optional lower paper tray.  My
price on craigslist was $190, which is about half the new value.  This
is chumpchange.

Not a valuable item.  I concur with your assessment.  Why would anyone
scam for such a mundane item?

According to:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

it fits the profile of a scam.

Additionally, I sent this person my cellphone number and they e-mailed
back instead.

Here's a theory:  maybe a master scammer is getting their kids into
the business and training them using small stuff as practice.  I could
be chatting with a 10-year-old who is in training.

Here's an unfortunate observation:  by corresponding back saying "no",
I cut off communication.  I could have had some fun and pursued it
further to see where it leads.  If I knew for sure it was a scam, I
would ship a couple of bricks or maybe a McDonald's happy meal in
place of the printer.

DFC

 On 10/09/2011 7:44 PM, Datesfat Chicks wrote:

That's what I did. Once I got bored I accepted the buyer's offer with
the only caveat being I would hold off on shipping until the PayPal
transaction cleared all the banks. Odd, I received no further emails
from the buyer.


My sense is part of the scam is that the buyer would make out a bogus
cheque to you which would include the cost of shipping and then you
would pay the shipper cash when they showed up to pick up the package.


--
Disclaimer
Do not believe a thing I have said, unless you already know it to be
true, or can independently verify it from another source.

Reeky Ride To The Rockies
http://actualriders.ca/reekyrockies.htm

 On Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:40:28 -0600, "Calgary (Don)"


I understood that.  But I had planned to pay to ship them a happy
meal, as a kind of a perverse joke.  I was going to pay the shipping.

I think they would giggle to receive a cool toy with a rotted
McDonald's hamburger.  Something to break the tedium of stealing for a
living.

DFC