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Thread: The Nigerian Prince of Craigs List Scams

  1. #1
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    Default The Nigerian Prince of Craigs List Scams

    No doubt that you have reviewed Craig's List listing and come across one like the image below. It is almost always a picture of an item (car, truck, boat, ATV, etc.) that is in great shape and has an unbelievable price, some would say too good to be true. They almost always contain an email address or phone number in the image, presumably as not to get noticed by the CL bots that scan for such scams in text.

    My question is has anyone on this site ever chased these scams to their illogical conclusion to see what their endgame is? Any LEOs or knowledge of LEOs that have worked similar cases with these?I can only assume (other than they in no way possess or intend to sell anything they have posted) they are farming and phishing for personal info to further scam you in the future. In all seriousness, I know that the State Department said that Al Quada and others used CL extensively to exchange coded messages, so could it be that? BTW, CL has gone to $5 listing fee for autos and trucks so there will be much few of these type carpet bombing scams there going forward. Thanks, MD

    Screen Shot 2020-07-06 at 2.23.01 PM.png
    Dum Spiro Spero

  2. #2
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    I love the ones where they are in Charleston in July, and there’s evergreens and snow on the ground in the background.

  3. #3
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    Sometimes it's from Fountain Inn.

    I had a coworker put tinsel and such in the antlers of the deer hanging in my office one Christmas. She renamed my buck some girl's name.

    So I did what any of us would do - I went out to the parking lot unannounced and took a picture of her Jeep Wrangler that was 2 years old and listed it on Craigslist for $9000. "This is my husband's daily driver and I found out he's been cheating on me - so I need it gone - NOW. No emails - phone calls only, please 864-XXX-XXXX".

    The calls lit her phone up. Took her half a day to figure out what was going on. She called that evening asking to please make it stop.

    And I'd do it again.
    Last edited by Simple Man; 07-06-2020 at 01:37 PM.
    I don't need my name in the marquee lights....

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simple Man View Post
    Sometimes it's from Fountain Inn.

    I had a coworker put tinsel and such in the antlers of the deer hanging in my office one Christmas. She renamed my buck some girl's name.

    So I did what any of us would do - I went out to the parking lot unannounced and took a picture of her Jeep Wrangler that was 2 years old and listed it on Craigslist for $9000. "This is my husband's daily driver and I found out he's been cheating on me - so I need it gone - NOW. No emails - phone calls only, please 864-XXX-XXXX".

    The calls lit her phone up. Took her half a day to figure out what was going on. She called that evening asking to please make it stop.

    And I'd do it again.

    I’ve done that to a few people that gave me ridiculously low offers, then bitched at me for listings, I have had online.

  5. #5
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    Default

    And they almost always have a G-mail address.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simple Man View Post
    Sometimes it's from Fountain Inn.

    I had a coworker put tinsel and such in the antlers of the deer hanging in my office one Christmas. She renamed my buck some girl's name.

    So I did what any of us would do - I went out to the parking lot unannounced and took a picture of her Jeep Wrangler that was 2 years old and listed it on Craigslist for $9000. "This is my husband's daily driver and I found out he's been cheating on me - so I need it gone - NOW. No emails - phone calls only, please 864-XXX-XXXX".

    The calls lit her phone up. Took her half a day to figure out what was going on. She called that evening asking to please make it stop.

    And I'd do it again.
    Haha- did that once with some discounted Masters tickets with a “call only” in the description.

  7. #7
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    I tried to see how much of the poster's time I could waste. It was a tractor with a loader that was listed as local. The first reply said it belonged to the poor woman's recently deceased husband and she had no use for it. But it was already loaded on a trailer at a shipper in some other state. All I needed to do was send a money order or wire the cash with Western Union. I asked for more pictures, then a bunch of what model, how many hours, what implements, when would it arrive, etc. It went on for a couple days until the scammer realized I'd never come through.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntinghagen#12 View Post
    I’ve done that to a few people that gave me ridiculously low offers, then bitched at me for listings, I have had online.
    Now that is a real thought. Put some of the low ballers to the test of wills. Or maybe even some of the "I can help you sell that _____ for you" people. MG
    Dum Spiro Spero

  9. #9
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    i always look at the boat registration numbers, always FL or either blacked out

  10. #10
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    A guy texted me an ad for an 87 4runner deluxe on the facepage marketplace for like a grand.. supposedly sitting on a lot in Cola, the pics looked clean

  11. #11
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    Some foreign dude put my house for rent on Craiglist while I was still living in it for a below market price. Had people showing up at all hours wanting to see the house, then get pissed when I politely asked them to leave and told them it was a scam.

  12. #12
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    There's a couple brothers around here that I cut up with, black dudes, known them my whole life.. rabbit hunt with one. They're landscapers, one of their buddies to out an ad on Craigslist a couple weeks back saying that one had chickens for sale, holy s*** it was funny. And don't ask him if he has any goats for sale either.

  13. #13
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    I've never thought my time worth so little to pursue such matters but I do get a chuckle out of listening to stories of others who have gone down that rabbit hole.
    Quote Originally Posted by Birddawg View Post
    I dont know how it was done. For all I know that weird bastard that determined it's gender licked it.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntinghagen#12 View Post
    I’ve done that to a few people that gave me ridiculously low offers, then bitched at me for listings, I have had online.
    Genius.

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