Craigslist Scam & Fraud - Selling laptops from the UK
I was recently searching for a used laptop on Craigslist in Chicago, IL for my girlfriend. I came across a wonderful Sony laptop that was well priced, almost brand new, and what I thought was a local item on craigslist:
I got the old bait and switch when I received this email back after contacting the seller.
How do I know this is a scam?
- Seller stated she was from Chicago - then pulled a bait and switch and is now in the UK
- It is a she - most people trust women for some reason more than men
- The product is priced extremely well and at a believable rate
- Photos look like they were shot with a personal digital camera and not taken from an ecommerce website
- Seller is from the UK, not an African nation that is associated with scams like this
When purchasing from Craigslist only purchase local goods. I usually have sellers bring the items I purchase to my home or office - and I give them an extra five or ten dollars from this. But be warned, don’t purchase outside your own city on craigslist, especially not a high priced item like a laptop from someone in the UK or any country for that matter. This was one of the cleanest and believable scams I have seen in a while, I imagine quite a few people are getting taken for some nice pocket change. If you have been scammed in a similar manner, or even scammed by this same thing, please leave your comments and help make other more aware.
Tags: bait and switch scams, craigsist international scams, craigslist fraud, craigslist scams, international sales fraud, laptop fraud, laptop scam, nigerian scammers
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 am
I fell for this, looked into seemed legit, but still felt fishy all the way, i knew i shouldnt have done it and just had to go on a whim. Ill be extra careful next time and warn others of this BS
March 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
i had ran into a rather similar problem just today…..
seller just moved to UK and laptop still works in usa,
too good to be true
March 10th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
i had ran into a rather similar problem just today…..
seller just moved to UK and laptop still works in usa,
too good to be true.
emailed him and sent me back the following
“Hello, The laptop is still available and I hope you are still interested. My name is Warren Caldwell and I am now in Manchester, U.K.The laptop is 12 Months old and still has 24 Months of Applecare warranty. The warranty is good until March 2010.This machine has been used for professional needs over the past year, it is in great condition and runs perfectly and beyond evidence of normal use it is in perfect shape.The warranty is fully transferable. One more thing, it works on US voltage so you do not need a converter.I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the laptop. Please get back to me and let me know if you like the laptop if you’re really interested in buying it. Thanks,Warren”
freaking scammers
March 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Thanks you have saved me money I saw the “Warren Caldwell and I am now in Manchester, U.K.” thing and thought wow to good to be true so I googled him and found this thank goodness to! Again thanks Brandon
March 19th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I was about to fall for this scam before I found this blog. I have copied and pasted what was written back to me after I responded to their offer on Craigslist. Very similar to what is seen above. They also had very good digital pictures of the PS3 and accessories. One thing that sort of gave it away was the seller saying they couldn’t use the PS3 because of the Voltage (plug-in) difference in the UK. I knew that there are converters, but I kind of thought she was really dumb and I could rip her off. It’s good I looked into before thinking about doing this. Thanks for starting this blog.
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Hi there,
Sorry for my late reply but I’m currently in England, Wolverhampton. I was promoted to Sales Administrator and I have to take a 6 months trainning program here in UK, before I’ll be back home, in States.
The PS 3 is still available, in perfect condition, and I will sell it only in US because here the warranty and the SonyCare are US registered.
I can’t use the PS 3 here in UK because it works on 110 V. I didn’t know about this problem when I moved here. Also I don’t have time to play because I work all day.
I have attached some pics with the Playstation to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the PS 3. I bought the PS 3 2 months ago and it still has 22 months of Sony transferable warranty remaining .
I hope you are still interested and we can make the deal happen right away.
Since I can’t meet you and make the exchange, I would like to use a service that will help us with that:
www.tnt.com/tnt.express.wolverhampton.depot/third_party_service.html
TNT is a worldwide delivery company (like Fedex, DHL or UPS). You can see from their procedure that you will be able to check the PS 3 before I receive the payment. If you are in a hurry, I will use 2 day delivery (on my expense).
Let me know what you think.
Best Wishes,
Jenny
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March 28th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I received the exact same e-mail as John. ^
April 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Same thing happened to me. Almost fell for it, but fortunately found this blog. The pictures “she” emailed me are exactly the same. Scammers are so cute aren’t they…
May 8th, 2008 at 12:35 am
LOL… I inquired about a Macbook Pro that seemed too good to be true, and it was:
———————————————–
Hello,
The laptop is still available and I hope you are still interested. My name is Warren Duggan and I am now in Manchester, U.K.
This machine has been used for professional needs over the past 10 Months, it is in great condition and runs perfectly, and beyond evidence of normal use the laptop is in perfect shape. The warranty is good until June 2010 and it is fully transferable. One more thing, it works on US voltage so you do not need a converter.
I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the laptop.
Please get back to me and let me know if you like the laptop if you’re really interested in buying it.
Thanks,
Warren
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June 3rd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
We see this scam a lot. Feel free to post the info about your scammer on our site, www.ScamVictimsUnited.com to help warn others.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Too familiar..Just got scammed by a supposed temporary job transfer to London for an Apple Laptop, with TNT being the ‘go between’.
Please be wary…it appears very legitimate…
June 7th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Same thing happened here. Read my blog about what happened.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:02 am
http://laptopscam.blogspot.com/
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 am
It seems like every other Macbook on craigslist seems to be a scam if they look like they are just a little too cheap.
for example, I got this email from one person I responded too:
Hello,
My name is Lucya Markio and I am now in London, United Kingdom (I was sent here wih my work).
I made an order for new furniture here in UK use and I need the money from this sale to pay it.
We can close a deal ASAP.
Obviously we need a way to complete this deal that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after.
I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the item in less than 2 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by UPS, which will handle the payment and delivery of the item.
I have found a procedure that will allow you to pay for the item only after you will receive it and through this way you will see it and test it before I receive my payment.
You c an visit www.ups.com for more information. I’m sure you’ve heard about them, I worked with them many times.
Like I said, I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the item right away.
I will explain to you step by step how this will work:
1) First, you will have to send me your full name and address. I will need them for the shipping.
After you receive the item you will have a 5 days inspection period to check it and see that all is in order. If you decide to keep it, you will instruct UPS to release the funds to me. If you decide not to keep it, you can send it back free of charge and they will fully refund you the same day.
2) I go to UPS and leave the item onto your name as the intended receiver.
3) UPS will check the item to see if everything is OK with it and also the legal papers that will come along with the item .
4) UPS will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the item , in which you will be told that they have the item and that they checked it.
5) At this point you will have to go to a Western Union Agent Location and the money deposit on the UPS payment agent name for the amount we agreed.
6) After you make the deposit you will have to send the info about the money deposit to UPS (MTCN, sender’s name and address)
7) UPS will verify the payment informations and if everything is in order they will deliver the item to you .
I will pay UPS for the shipping and you will pay Western Union for the Money Transfer fee .
Let me know if we can do this.
Thank you, Lucya
It looks legit, but the whole deal with the Western Union Transfer is probably a scam, so basically, just always be wary if the seeler is not local.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Thanks for the info. I just saw this same scam in stlouis.craigslist.org. The “seller” emailed something similar to Johnkitover. But this time the name is Susan Harnell.
Here is the email:
************************************************
Hello
I still have the laptop. The laptop was set up for the US, it is 3 months old and it comes with 9 months of warranty.
I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail. I am now in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.
Since I can’t meet you and make the exchange, I would like to use a service that will help us with that:
http://www.tnt.com/tnt.express.wolverhampton.depot.overseas.transactions/details.html
TNT is a worldwide delivery company (like Fedex, DHL or UPS). You can see from their procedure that you will be able to check the laptop before I receive the payment. If you are in a hurry, I will use 2 day delivery (shipping is on me).Let me know what you think.
Best,
Susan
July 9th, 2008 at 1:16 am
They have a new site now…Those old links are dead but these guys are up to the tasks…Keep on creating new sites when the working link brought down by athorities..
http://shipeutnt.com/tnt.express.wolverhampton.depot.overseas.transactions/details.html
In all the links, they do include TNT’s name to establish the TRUST.
Careful!!
August 13th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
We saw this article before we sent the money to a third party in a western union shop. Wow these guys are really good. I have a friend in the FBI that i have turned this over to. He says they will track the email trail and see if they can inflict some pain.
Hi
Don’t worry, shipping is on me. My company uses TNT a lot and we have lower rates. So I will only pay $25 for the shipping.
TNT knows how to ship fragile items but I will ship the TV insured just in case.
I will sell you the TV for $330 with everything in the pictures included, I will use 2 day delivery and allow you 5 days to inspect it. Shipping is on me. Your total price will be the $330 for the TV + a fee ($30) for sending the money to TNT. So, do we have a deal? At this point I need your name and address to start the deal.
Best,
SusanHi
Don’t worry, shipping is on me. My company uses TNT a lot and we have lower rates. So I will only pay $25 for the shipping.
TNT knows how to ship fragile items but I will ship the TV insured just in case.
I will sell you the TV for $330 with everything in the pictures included, I will use 2 day delivery and allow you 5 days to inspect it. Shipping is on me. Your total price will be the $330 for the TV + a fee ($30) for sending the money to TNT. So, do we have a deal? At this point I need your name and address to start the deal.
Best,
Susan
——————————————————————————–
From: shanschool@frontiernet.net
To: greene.sus@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Philips 42 Widescreen 1080p HDTV Plasma TV - $330
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 12:26:39 -0500
this all sound like a great service. Are you sure you want to take that risk of shipping it that far? what is the cost for you to ship it? Just let me know when you want to get this started
—– Original Message —–
From: Susan Greene
To: shannon rahm
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 7:06 PM
Subject: RE: Philips 42 Widescreen 1080p HDTV Plasma TV - $330
Hi
Sorry for the delay.
I never had any kind of problems with it.
Yes I have the receipt.
Did you read TNT’s procedure on their website? It is explained there how their service works. Let me know after you read their procedure so I can be certain that we are on the same page
September 15th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Just to let everyone know, scammers are also doing this as Sean and/or Amy . . . both in Manchester.
Oh, and now they use Royal Mail Third Party Delivery. The URL they send is registered to someone in Columbus, OH.
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Looks like the script kiddies only change a few words each time…
I got this email, then my instincts decided to check it out before I replied.
I may have actually fallen for it had they emailed me with the same price that was posted on craigslist!
—————————————————————————————-
Hello,
My name is Amy and I am now in Manchester, United Kingdom.
The laptop is still available and I hope you are still interested.
This Macbook Pro was ordered brand new directly from Apple on March 8, 2008. The laptop works perfectly and it has never had any problems. Included in the $720 price is everything (right down to the original box that FedEx shipped it in) with the order from Apple (manual, cleaning cloth, etc). The laptop has almost 3 years AppleCare coverage until March 2011.
One important thing is that the laptop is a US version so the software is for the US and also it doesn’t need a power converter.
I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the laptop, and I hope we can work out a deal.
Just to make sure we are on the same page, I am selling the 15″ MacBook Pro, with 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4 Gb memory, 200 Gb HD for $720 USD.
Please get back to me and let me know if you like the laptop and if you are interested in buying it.
Thanks,
Amy
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I discovered this scam because I “shop around” CL for things like laptops, responding to the dozen or so most promising ads to see which one pans out as the best deal. Three or four of the “best deals” from the past week in my city returned almost identical form emails. Then my friend (who was shopping for a MacBook) forwarded me a similar response for the “best deal” compy he was looking at, so I was able to point out the scam to him.