I Want To Buy Your Stuff!

OK, look, Mom has her little hustle thing going on. I buy stuff cheap from gov't sources and then sell them on craigslist and/or eBay. I buy super cheap, I sell cheap enough that it's still a great deal for the buyers.

Now, there are some hassles involved when you sell on craigslist. There's the hit and run e-mailers, they e-mail you all hot and bothered, they MUST have this item. Then you never hear from them again. Next level of CL flakiness is the "I'm on my way right now with the money." OK... Two weeks later, you're still waiting [NOT]. Today I even got an e-mail from someone wanting to know if I'd deliver the item to him--without even offering to reimburse me for gas. [Think NOT!]

And then, there's another whole level of scam going on. Despite all warnings, this is a common response to online classified ads:

Hello,

I am interested in the immediate purchase of your item placed on Craigslist and I will like to ask few questions before I proceed on the purchase.

1 :- Is the item available for sale ?

2 :- What is the condition of the item ?

3 :- Do you accept a cashiers check as mode of payment?

4 :- Where is the item located ?

5 :- What is the final price of the item ?

6 :- Will you be able to send more pictures to see how it look likes ?

7 :-Will you allow my Shipper come to your house for the pick up of the item cos I don't want you to worry yourself about the shipping of the item.?

8 :- Will you be able to wire the Shipping fess via western union money transfer to my shipper cos the total payment which include the shipping charges and some other commissions needed to get the item to its destination would be issued altogether on the check?

9 :- If accepted kindly get back to me with your full name and contact address including your phone number so that my client can mail out the check right away?

Thanks
Regards

Edwin James

I'd laugh, but this is too sad. I call BULL DROPPINGS on this "buyer"!

Now, FYI, I have no fear in posting this name, because I'm quite sure that this is not a real name. This "buyer" is getting ready to try to rip me off!

Anytime someone e-mails you and wants to send you money via check, money order or cashiers check and then you're supposed to give someone else part of the $$, it's a guaranteed ripoff. Yes, I know you waited a week and your bank said the check had cleared.

Sadly, in another couple of weeks or a month, your bank will pull ALL of the money back out of your account and you'll be the one being investigated for bank fraud and forgery.

Yes, the check is no good. On top of that, you sent off part of the money via wire transfer or Western Union to someone else.

No, the bank won't protect you. No, the Feds won't protect you. No, the Post Office won't protect you.

So, don't be a sucker! If you get an e-mail offering to buy your stuff and you give part of the money to a "shipper" or some other crazy variation of this scam, DON'T DO IT!!

And if someone does seen credible and you do decide to ship an item, accept USPS money orders ONLY and then take them straight to the Post Office to cash them. There's tracking numbers on them and the computer will know if they're good and how much they were originally made out for. Don't put them in your bank! Take them to the Post Office ONLY!!

Remember, the scammers will keep doing this until people get smart and stop falling for it. Don't be a sucker, be a smart consumer!

"Forced To Suspend Your Account"

It must be the holiday season.

I got not one, but TWO e-mails yesterday, one from eBay and one from PayPal, telling me that there was fraudulent activity on my accounts and thus I needed to log in and verify my information or they'd be "forced to suspend your account" (IE my account). Conveniently, each e-mail provided a link to take me to the respective "website".

LOL! Yeah, right!

I call: BULL DROPPINGS!

By merely waving my cursor over the link, it was obvious that it was going somewhere other than eBay and PayPal.

Obviously, these jerks must have some successes, because they keep sending this garbage to me, and I keep forwarding them to spoof@paypal.com and/or spoof@ebay.com. The return e-mail always says the same thing, that the message did NOT come from PayPal or eBay.

Look, to protect yourself, NEVER use a link provided in an e-mail. It's easy enough to open a new window and go directly to the website, log in, and check your messages. There is ALWAYS a message if it's a real e-mail.

There's no need to panic, any e-mail that threatens some horrible event, whether it's suspending your privileges, freezing a bank account, or bad luck for the next seven years, is a FAKE!

As always, you don't have to believe me.

In fact, don't believe everything you read or hear, it's just too, too easy to be fooled. Even my own mom got sucked in on a phishing (fake) e-mail. Luckily, just after she finished putting her info in, she realized what she'd done and called me. I was able to jump into her account and change the passwords before the thieves did, so all was well...

Sigh. Thank God Mom is a smart woman!

eBay Protection Tutorial: http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/accountprotection/js_tutorial.html
PayPal Security Center: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_security-center-outside