Today will find a break from the usual Herkamer and Gertrude stories to address a terrible problem that is becoming more and more frequent within our own community. For lack of a better term, I will call it “Craigslist Scams.” This particular writing implicates automobile scams, but I'm sure there are other related areas.
Three times this week I have had people tell me about SCAMS they have encountered from Craigslist ads where the advertiser has offered a vehicle for sale, usually well below the market price, had them send money, and then never receive the vehicle. In one case, the person actually went to a house where they had a woman posing as an attorney who wrote up the papers, told her that they would service and clean the vehicle and she could pick it up on the next day. When she went back to the house, the people and the car were gone. They stole three thousand and seventy dollars from her, and she later discovered they were from another country.
If the ad seems to good to be true, it probably is. The two most common stories are these: “I'm in the military, and I'm being transferred to Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, you name it, and I need to sell my car before I leave, etc.” or “I've just gone through a divorce, and I was awarded this car that was my spouses, and I do not want it any more, etc.” Then, they ask interested buyers to email them about the vehicle, to which if there is a response, usually a delayed one, they tell the interested buyer to set up an “EBAY” account to which they can put their money. They go on to add, once the money is in the account, they will ship the car which is usually in a crate ready for shipping in California or up north somewhere. They say they will allow five days to examine the car once it arrives before the money is transferred to their account. HOWEVER, if someone is so foolish to go along, when the interested buyer puts the money in the Ebay account, they soon find it gone, and they have lost their investment. There is no car. There is no trial period. There is only a loss!
PLEASE BE WARNED! The people who write these ads are many times from outside our country, and there is very little that can be done to stop them. Take a lesson from three people I spoke with this week. One lost nineteen hundred dollars, another lost over three thousand, and another lost eight thousand dollars. These thieves are cruel, and this money was tax return money, and now these three have nothing to show! If there are doubts about a deal, PLEASE find a reputable person who knows about vehicle purchasing to verify the purchase. It is time yo STOP these “CRAIGSLIST SCAMS” before others in our community are affected by these thieves.
Until tomorrow...Why Say More?
Why would you send any stranger money before you take possession of a product or service? This is just poor judgment.
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