Heads up!

[Paseclipse]

Just figured I'd give a heads up. Someone's trying to pull a Minelab GPX-4500 scam on the Los Angeles Craiglist. Here's the link-

GPX-4500 Scam

At first I knew the price ($1,550) was to good to be true but just in case I sent an email about it and received this response-

"hello ,sure but also forgive me i moved right now at my parents(my father have some health problems and i need to take care of him),and i didnt know this problem when i post the item,so if you decide to buy we will close the transaction via FreightCo,they have refund options,the transaction will be insured and secured ,so please let me know your decision,thank you"

Typical scam nonsense!

Oh yeah. The email adress is sabinaa2003-3@yahoo.com and their name is Sabina Brooks.

I looked into this a little further and found the pics were stolen from a legitimate eBay auction located here-

Minelab GPX-4500

Copied the auction word for word!

If the Craigslist ad is no longer in the link then the ad was probably taken down.

Hopefully someone will read this post and not fall for it.

Del

[DolanDave]

Hey Del,

I have come across those a few times on Craigslist. I noticed on craigslist if they do not have their phone number on the ad, or give you a number to call in their email, they are scammers 99% of the time. I read an article lately talking about how craigslist and ebay scams have been up 60% within the last 2 years. Its getting to a point if you buy something expensive dont do it unless it is face to face, if you dont know the person.

[Bart709]

I have come across this also and think he is fishing for information to do an identity theft scam. I have flagged him.

Freddy

[bklein]

I have been trading emails with this "gal" for several days now.

She doesn't give up. So far here's her personal life story so far:

The detector sold on ebay that had the same exact photo was a 2nd one....

She can't give me her phone number because she is deaf and doesn't have one.

I asked how then she uses a metal detector. She says it is her boyfriend's.

I say just give me your phone number or location and I'll come meet her.

She says she just moved to Oregon. I ask where she says Portland.

I say great - I'll have a friend in Portland meet her and pay for it.

She says she wants to use FreightCo. freight forwarder. I say no, why are

you making this so difficult? Waiting for response.

Google search GPX 4500 and scam and you will see this comes up periodically.

I wonder if the ebay buyer was scammed too.

What I have learned so far with CL ads: if no phone number, give up.

Freight forwarder or Western Union, give up.

If a call to the person says message full, give up.

If you get a message system immediately, give up.

If he/she sounds like a hick in some lousy trailer park that just dropped

working on his lawnmower engine to answer the phone, give up.

Barry

[4daGOLD]

I also run across these scammers frequent on CL. If they don't post there phone # I will still make an attempt to E-mail them via Craigslist E-mail. That only works if they did not hide the CL E-mail. If no CL E-mail, no phone # I move on. Frequently these sellers on CL are just regular folks that don,t want to reveal there #. I usually get to buy there item because most other buyers ignore them and just go to the next seller with there # posted. The one thing you don't want to do is give them your personal E-mail. What I have noticed is that they make every excuse possible, not to give you a contact #. I heard a lot of these scammers are from other countries, telltale signs are how they word the description of there post. Some of the post are to detailed with odd asking price, like $1,137, $1,288 etc. Jack

[bklein]

I also run across these scammers frequent on CL. If they don't post there phone # I will still make an attempt to E-mail them via Craigslist E-mail. That only works if they did not hide the CL E-mail. If no CL E-mail, no phone # I move on. Frequently these sellers on CL are just regular folks that don,t want to reveal there #. I usually get to buy there item because most other buyers ignore them and just go to the next seller with there # posted. The one thing you don't want to do is give them your personal E-mail. What I have noticed is that they make every excuse possible, not to give you a contact #. I heard a lot of these scammers are from other countries, telltale signs are how they word the description of there post. Some of the post are to detailed with odd asking price, like $1,137, $1,288 etc. Jack

Today's email is from a different name - Sandra ANDERSON! Why in caps I have no idea.

That's another clue - poor spelling and cap when not needed.

I'm going to keep this going as long as it goes or until I really get bored.

It seems what is needed here is some sort of autoresponder software that just keeps stretching threads out with these scammers so that they don't know what's worth responding to and they give up. Has anyone any knowledge of just how the international world plans to deal with these guys and shut them down?

[Ant Man]

Appreciate the thread and warning to be careful out there.

I don't use eBay or Craig's list just because of the scams out there. Sure, I'm losing out on some deals I know, but getting scammed just burns me up more than missing a deal.

More power to those who shop online, and BZ to this community of good people who always keep it real.

Paul