On Jul 4, 7:10 am, "Edward C." <edwardclemen...@aol.com> wrote:
[After listing a computer for sale on Craigslist]
> I have had several replies from strange individuals around the world
> or in other states offering to buy the computer with a check or money
> order. Of course the money order or check is for more than I'm asking.
> I'm aware that this is some sort of scam, and will not get involved in
> any way. But I'm not completely clear on what type of scam it is or
> even what their trying to do.
This is an old scam that appears to be coming back. My daughter in Los Angeles listed her car for sale on Craigslist and got a virtually identical reply to the one OP received. Fortunately, she called me first because it sounded fishy; it is.
The point of the scam is, the round-number "cashier's check" or "M.O." they send you is in fact fake, a counterfeit. But it's drawn on a foreign bank so you don't get quick confirmation under Check21 that funds are available, and you can't just call up the overseas bank to confirm funds either. The scammer wants you to draw a check or M.O. from your own funds for their "change" from the transaction; that they keep, and then they disappear before you find out from your bank that _their_ payment has bounced. The amount of the bum check is deducted back out of your account, and you are left in the hole the amount you sent to the scammers for "change." They are not really interested in your computer and have no intention of "sending someone to pick it up." If they can get just a few suckers a day to fall for this come-on, it's worth all the time they put into it to respond to Craigslist ads even if they don't have bots broadcasting their come-ons as spam and do it all by hand.
This is a variation of the Nigerian scam where the scammer claims to be a deposed honcho of some kind and wants you to send your bank account access codes to him so he can "authorize deposit" to you of a zillion dollars in stolen CARE packages or whatever, to help him "get the funds out of the country" and give you a large chunk of it as payment for your trouble, after _you_pay_him_ a "processing fee" or "good faith payment" or such, from your same bank account by authorizing him to make a withdrawal. Of course, the really nasty scammers access your bank account from the information you give them, and clean you out completely, not settling for just the "change" you give them.
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Mike Jacobs
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