Scams at large

For those of us who are familiar with Craigslist.com, we are aware of its popularity and its usefulness, especially if you want to get rid of something whether by sale or give-away. Post it on craigslist and usually get good response. And of course if you are looking for something, it is a good local place to scout out some good bargains.

The downside of this freedom to post your ads freely, unfortunately, is that it also open doors freely to scams. One of the latest scams that I noticed which has become rampant especially in the Cars & Trucks for Sale section. Because I have become aware of this type of scam through a personal experience, I am able to spot these right off the page. The tactic used is very similar. There will be an ad for a popular car which usually is less than 6 years old low mileage, in immaculate condition. The posted photos will show a car which looks like new both exterior and interior. And the biggest attraction (and give-away sign) is the asking price, which is usually around $5000.

Seriously for $5000 who would not be interested in those cars, which the market value would be twice as much at least. Those ads usually leave a contact email address, which usually is from one of the followings: gmail, yahoo or hotmail. (Easy to get and discard). And when you do contact the seller (I contacted three such sellers out of curiosity to learn their tactics) , the story will be along the similar line. He/she is currently outside the country and the car too. And he/she will ship the car to your address, and shipping included in the price!

Of course each person (they could all be the same person) will use different stories. One that I contacted claimed to be a US Air Force Major stationed in the United Kingdom, while another claimed to be a single mom needing money (which of course is contradictory since she could have got a higher price at the market value). One common trait in their story is that they all want you to use the eBay Purchase Protection for the payment transaction. That really makes me wonder about the security of the eBay Purchase Protection thing, if it can be use to scam others so easily.

The moral of the story is if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Do a search on Google on the information that you already have and you will soon confirm that it is a scam. Maybe this is pure common sense, if you are buying a car, make sure to buy it locally where you can see the car in person.

Oh by the way, this kind of scam is not only limited to the cars for sale section on Craigslist. I encountered the same tactic in the computers for sale section.