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Online Scams

HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
edited November 2011 in Everything Else
No, this topic is not for giving tips on how to scam people! I'm starting it so we can list all of the stupid scams we have encountered online.

A few days ago I listed my car on craigslist. This morning I got an email from someone asking if the car was still available. I told them yes and this is the response I got:
Hi,
I am interested ,and consider it sold .Actually ,I am buying it
for someone and payment would be through PayPal ,my agent will come
for pick up,actually i am working in a ship and most time i am on
high seas.

Expecting your prompt reply,with the name and email address on the
your PayPal account so that i can make the payment and possibly you
send me more pics if avail able since i would not be seen it in person
so i can make a payment right away, and pick up would at a given
place or your residence.And lastly , i am offering additional $50 to
your final price for you to keep it off from other offer. Please i
will need you to email me back with below information.

1) What is the condition?
2) Are you the Owner?
3) Pick up Location?
4) Your PayPal Email ID to effect the payment?
5) Kindly get back with the total price?
6)let me have your phone number.

Regards.
Aside from the horrible grammar this entire message just sent warning bells going off all inside my head.

He's buying it using a third party to pick it up and paypal? Please! I know how paypal works and I know you can buy something, contest the charges and get your money back. Plus you can very easily use it for credit card fraud. It's not as bad as asking for my checking account number so you can wire me some money but it's still bad.

I responded with the information that it is a cash only sale and that he should use paypal to send the money to his agent so that they can pay me in cash upon their arrival for pickup. I don't expect a response.

I can lose $50 on an eBay sale because of Paypal and write off the loss (mentally) but there is no way I'm losing $5,000 to a scam!
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Comments

  • GregGreg
    image
  • VigaViga
    High five for using a Tom smith song!
  • BantaBanta
    Nice.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    At first I just thought you were making a joke about how spotify premium is a scam. Haha
  • YuyukeYuyuke
    No, see, the scam is he's using a mac.
  • Jack DraigoJack Draigo
    A lot of MLM scams seem to get going on the internet. Half the local listings for my area are job sites are MLMs. It's sad really.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    At first I just thought you were making a joke about how spotify premium is a scam. Haha
    I thought so too, but I was confused, because Spotify Premium is one of my favorite things.

  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    A friend of mine got burned this year on a check cashing scam disguised as a job offer. I'm not sure of the details but the scammer listed a job offer on craigslist and it ended with her cashing a bad check and paying a bill in cash that was owed by the scammer before he left the country to go back to India.
  • AriaAria
    ...I don't get it. Someone explain it to me please. The Spotify Premium thing.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Read the song titles in order.

    I have gotten so many variations on the "out to sea, paypal" email that I am saddened.
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    edited November 2011
    There's a scam that used my name at one point.

    Link for those curious:

    http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1502298

    My favorite part is definitely "home for motherless babies" as a babble-fish of orphanage.
    Post edited by Anthony Heman on
  • AndouReiyaAndouReiya
    I've had several text messages sending me info on contests and such, and a man once called and try to scam, but I let my intuition work and I avoided it.
  • AriaAria
    Oooh... but how is this a scam? How are you supposed to contact him and give him monies? Anyway, yey, I see it now =P
  • AprecheApreche
    If it's too good to be true, it is.
  • RymRym
    If it's too good to be true, it is.
    Corollary: If anyone approaches you cold, it's a scam.
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    If it's too good to be true, it is.
    Corollary: If anyone approaches you cold, it's a scam.
    Corollary: Sometimes the scam is to get in your pants.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    If it's too good to be true, it is.
    Corollary: If anyone approaches you cold, it's a scam.
    Corollary: Sometimes the scam is to get in your pants.
    Corollary: Sometimes the scam is what is in their pants.

  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    Someone from a collections office cold called me a while ago, and I refused to give him my credit card info. I tried explaining why I don't give that info out to random strangers on the phone, but he became flustered. He refused to even send a letter verifying his identity, so I'm not sure whether it was a scam or not.

    In other news, if I was a terrible person I'd just cold-call people and ask for their credit card info, because apparently it works on the vast majority of his callees.
  • GreatTeacherMacRossGreatTeacherMacRoss
    If a 'collection agency' calls and wants any of your information, it's a scam. Any collection agency will already have all of your information, often including your credit report. If they can not tell you your name and card info from the get-go, it's a scam.
  • SquadronROESquadronROE
    Someone from a collections office cold called me a while ago, and I refused to give him my credit card info. I tried explaining why I don't give that info out to random strangers on the phone, but he became flustered. He refused to even send a letter verifying his identity, so I'm not sure whether it was a scam or not.

    In other news, if I was a terrible person I'd just cold-call people and ask for their credit card info, because apparently it works on the vast majority of his callees.
    Time for a random Google voice number!
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    edited November 2011
    A couple months back my friend was looking on craigslist and saw an ad for a cheap TV. He called them and they ended up saying some bullshit about how that TV was already taken but if he gives information he can register for another one or something like that. He gave his name but then they asked for his Social Security Number and we both knew it was a scam. Other than that I don't think I've really had much experience with scams other than spam messages saying something like "OMG I secretly think you're cute. Come look at my profile on (X dating site) and find out who I am."

    I think one of the best scams I've heard of though is the Indian faux-Microsoft Support company that just calls old people telling them that their computer is infected and gets them to give them all of their information over the phone.
    Post edited by ninjarabbi on
  • RuffasRuffas
    Not an online scam, but there's a group or guys in Orlando that pressure con people into buying "home theatre systems" for "real cheap" out of the back of vans/trucks/SUVs. They've gotten two friends of mine (both named Pete) to buying plywood boxes with really big magnets in them for ~$200.
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    Not a scam, but I just saw an amazon deal for an xbox bundle for $300. I didn't understand how such a thing would sell out so quickly. Then I noticed the bundle included a $100 amazon credit. Then it occurred to me that many people would just buy it at that price, take the credit, and resell the item on craigslist or something similar to make back the investment. Then I was jealous.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Not an online scam, but there's a group or guys in Orlando that pressure con people into buying "home theatre systems" for "real cheap" out of the back of vans/trucks/SUVs. They've gotten two friends of mine (both named Pete) to buying plywood boxes with really big magnets in them for ~$200.
    The Speaker Game. That's a classic.

  • RuffasRuffas
    edited November 2011
    The Speaker Game. That's a classic.
    We too turns taking a hammer to them once we pointed out to the Petes how fake they were. And the second Pete's (~a year later) was a much newer model fake than the first, so at least they try to keep up with the times.
    Post edited by Ruffas on
  • highdefinitionhighdefinition
    Not an online scam, but there's a group or guys in Orlando that pressure con people into buying "home theatre systems" for "real cheap" out of the back of vans/trucks/SUVs. They've gotten two friends of mine (both named Pete) to buying plywood boxes with really big magnets in them for ~$200.
    The Speaker Game. That's a classic.

    Why magnets and not just cinder blocks or something mundane?
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Not an online scam, but there's a group or guys in Orlando that pressure con people into buying "home theatre systems" for "real cheap" out of the back of vans/trucks/SUVs. They've gotten two friends of mine (both named Pete) to buying plywood boxes with really big magnets in them for ~$200.
    The Speaker Game. That's a classic.

    Why magnets and not just cinder blocks or something mundane?
    They actually are usually really speakers, they're just astoundingly shitty speakers with $5 drivers from some sweatshop shithole in China, instead of the Wharfedales that the boxes claim.

  • RymRym
    Fake speakers? Most people actually sell real speakers in that scam: said speakers are just actually overpriced enough to make it worthwhile to the scammer. Gets around the whole "fraud" thing if they get caught too.
  • RuffasRuffas
    edited November 2011
    These were not shitty China speakers. They were 100% fake. Materials included: plywood, magnets, copper wire, a liquid crystal, a power cord, and hot glue. I forget the "brand" they were, but I looked it up at the time and other people said the same thing.

    EDIT: Pretty sure this was the more recent one.
    EDITEDIT: They (or some other scammers) actually tried to sell to me on the road. While driving. Just yelling out of their SUV at me.
    Post edited by Ruffas on
  • ColombianShadowColombianShadow
    One time while my girlfriend and I were to my aunt's house in Long Island, a windowless van rolled up next to me with a couple of Mexican dudes in front. So he shouts to me "Hey! You wanna buy some meat?!"
    "Ummm... no." I says.
    Then he just bolts off without another word. Now I'm not sure if there was actually any meat in that van, but it did leave me feeling kinda hungry. (Cool story bro.)
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