Warning - Craig's list Scam!!!

Hi all,

I was Scammed on Craig's List so this is a warning. I'm not sure if this scam is common or not but I have never heard of it before and they got me good.

I will be moving soon so I decided to sell two of my Kirby's and a few other items on Craig's List. I got an email from a gentleman in CA who said he wanted to buy all of my items. He said he would send a cashier's check via FedEx. He told me the check would be in excess of my selling price. The excess amount was to be sent to his moving Co. who would arrive at my home within 2 days after the check clears and to notify him as soon as the check cleared my bank.

Two days later the check cleared and the money was in my checking account. I notified him via text that the check cleared. He told me to deduct my selling price from the money and send the rest to his shipping company. I wired the money via Western Union to the account he specified and was waiting for the shipping company to arrive and pick up the 2 Kirby's and other items at my home.

The next morning I logged into my online banking account and noticed in horror that my account was overdrawn by well over $700. It turns out that the Cashier's check was being drawn on a fictitious bank that didn't even exist so of course the checked bounced. The check looked 100% authentic but the bank still removed all of the money from my account leaving me quite far in the hole.

So hopefully this will serve as a warning that not all cashier's checks are good! And only accept cash in hand for any items being sold on Craig's List.

~Stan


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Post# 380042 10/20/2017 at 14:50 (2,372 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine)
Checkrate/Likes Hi all, I was Scammed on Craig's List so this is a warning. I'm not sure if this scam is common or not but I have never heard of it before and they got me good. I will be moving soon so I decided to sell two of my Kirby's and a few other items on Craig's List. I got an email from a gentleman in CA who said he wanted to buy all of my items. He said he would send a cashier's check via FedEx. He told me the check would be in excess of my selling price. The excess amount was to be sent to his moving Co. who would arrive at my home within 2 days after the check clears and to notify him as soon as the check cleared my bank. Two days later the check cleared and the money was in my checking account. I notified him via text that the check cleared. He told me to deduct my selling price from the money and send the rest to his shipping company. I wired the money via Western Union to the account he specified and was waiting for the shipping company to arrive and pick up the 2 Kirby's and other items at my home. The next morning I logged into my online banking account and noticed in horror that my account was overdrawn by well over $700. It turns out that the Cashier's check was being drawn on a fictitious bank that didn't even exist so of course the checked bounced. The check looked 100% authentic but the bank still removed all of the money from my account leaving me quite far in the hole. So hopefully this will serve as a warning that not all cashier's checks are good! And only accept cash in hand for any items being sold on Craig's List. ~Stan

Post# 380044 , Reply# 1 10/20/2017 at 15:47 (2,372 days old) by larryeddy (Sandusky, OH)
Checkrate/Likes 2 This is a well know craig's list scam. they even mention it on their website. Sorry for your loss.

Post# 380087 , Reply# 2 10/21/2017 at 20:14 (2,371 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes Yeah, this scam has been around for over a decade now. Usually the first people that respond to your ad are robots/scammers. Never accept Cashiers Checks or anything else on craigslist other than cold hard cash. It's because of these scams that most people hardly use craigslist anymore. Newspaper classified or "OfferUp" website are better options. Craigslist has been pretty well dead for buying and selling for the past 2 or 3 years. Nobody bothers with it.

Post# 380088 , Reply# 3 10/21/2017 at 20:23 (2,371 days old) by rvarley (illinois)
Checkrate/Likes If it sounds to good to be true, it is. Caveat emptor.

Post# 380111 , Reply# 4 10/22/2017 at 02:42 (2,370 days old) by dartman (Portland OR)
Checkrate/Likes Yep, when I was trying to sell our old 71 Scamp to pay the taxes owed for buying this house one of the respondents was a scammer using that same sales pitch. He was out of country on business, would send a larger check to cover the car and shipping etc, his syntax was bad and he acted like we had talked before. I got several like that and the bots usually key on newly posted ads to try and nail down suckers quick. I know all the tricks so just ignored them or responded in a way that would make them have to post something other than a canned response. I did finally sell it for less then I wanted plus some extra parts and the guy told great stories of how he was going to fix it up like it deserved then he kept most of the parts I gave with it and flipped the car again. I got close to what I wanted but the poor next buyer probably got none of the extra parts I gave him to fix it up and rebuild the suspension and replace the heads that it came with and really needed. Most of the non included parts he bought extra he also flipped claiming he'd had them years and that everything was great. I had them years, he had them a month and mostly only knew what I told him. If your buying desirable stuff you have to be really careful as a buyer, and same as a seller as there's lots of folks out there willing to lie and cheat you out of your money or parts.