Molly’s laptop was stolen, and the thief didn’t even break into her house, or snag it from her at a coffeeshop, or hold a knife to her neck in a darkened alley. No, her laptop was stolen via email. In fact, she mailed it to thief, in Africa. OMG, you’re probably saying to yourself right now with your hands up by your face, how could this be? Discover the horrifying true story, inside…
Molly writes:
1. I posted my laptop for sale on Craigslist for $550.
2. Kaynero01@yahoo.com emailed me and said he’d send an extra $150 through Paypal for shipping to his cousin, a student in Nigeria.
3. Paypal sent me an email saying they needed the tracking # before they could post the $700 to my account, to protect the buyer and be fair to both parties. (I’ve since found out this email was a SCAM!)
4. I emailed the tracking # to the Paypal address they had provided and waited day in and day out. I’d paid $76.05 to ship the laptop.
5. Finally, I got frustrated enough today to call Paypal and demand the money. They said the buyer account did not exist and there was no $700. The only thing they had a record of was my request for $700 from the buyer.
6. So! Paypal couldn’t do shit. They told me to call USPS and recall the laptop.
7. USPS said the laptop left the US on September 22nd and cannot be recalled once it leaves. The insurance I’d put on the item was for lost or damaged goods. It does not protect against fraud.
8. So! USPS couldn’t do jack.
9. I reported this to the FTC, but what’s that gonna do? NOTHING!
10. I’m so livid that I am currently in an emotionless state.
That’s right, Molly, you’re fucked. Here’s a few things to remember so you don’t end up like Molly:
- Don’t mail anything to Africa and expect to get money back. Any email based around some kind of transaction wanting to have you do something involving Africa is probably a scam.
- Someone offering to buy something from you, then give you extra money over the sale price so you will ship it to a third party, is probably scamming you.
- If Paypal were really stepping in to mediate between you and the other party, a record of it would appear in your resolution center on paypal.com
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You have a story about someone in Africa who stole a laptop, so you pick a photo of some random black man (stock photography, I assume) holding a box and consider this story ready to go.
Are you sure that’s a wise art choice?
@LoganAdams: I was just thinking the same thing.
@Segador:
without sharing your assumption that the consumerist editors just plucked a picture of any random black person, rather than entering the term “Nigerian” into the search field of their stock-art library…
so what if this person isn’t nigerian. consumerist uses stock art all the time. what if they did a story about some white criminal in maine but somehow ended up using a nondescript picture of a white person that was taken in Sweden? is that an outrage?
@Mr. Guy: I see no problem with it.
When there is an article about a corrupt DEO (and their actuall pic is not used), I’ve seen generic “old fat white guy in a shirt and tie”.
Then again, we could avoid all this if pics of cats were used (such as a cat with a laptop).
@LoganAdams: I hadn’t noticed that at first, but you have a point.
@CFinWV:
You’re not alone. I’d bet that quite a few here didn’t even see a picture of an African American person – I saw a guy holding a box. Only when people stop viewing people as belonging to specific races and simply see them as people will we make genuine progress.
@LoganAdams: yikes, ditto
@LoganAdams: If you have a problem with it, email me. Comments area is not for backseat post-editing.
@Ben Popken: I find nothing offensive about the choice in picture whatsoever. It’s a guy holding a box…who gives a crap, what difference does it make if he’s black or white or yellow (like me). It always strikes me as ironic that people who want to be politically correct or sensitive are the first ones to point out color, race, religion, etc.
@Ben Popken:
The picture is fine.
Why do people always pull the race card over everything? Everyone needs a little thicker skin and to stop being sue happy cry babies.
@Ben Popken: You ever make a comment that you thought was simple and civil only to realize it was a stupid mistake that stirred up a big angry argument? Yeah, I’m there.
@LoganAdams: Wow, you sure hit a nerve eh?
@CFinWV: I should have just kept that comment to myself.
@LoganAdams: Wanna get away?
http://www.southwest.com
@LoganAdams: Oh please, Africans are black, and the scam is about Africa. Please learn what racism is before you complain about it. It’s not like they spelled Nigeria with two g’s or something.
@AirIntake: Um, not all Africans are black. ???
@rdm: Holy fucking shit. Not all Koreans are Asian either. Not all Europeans are white.
Would you prefer he show a white, Dutch African who got pushed off his land? Go back to your sterile, politically correct utopia.
Oh, and it is more pollitically correct to call Black people African-American, so either Africans are black, or ‘African-American’ is the wrong term for black people in America. You can’t have it both ways.
@jodark: I’m not ethno-centric, but I prefer to be called black. Actually, I prefer to be called American. African-American is so for the media, it also sounds like an airline.
BTW, there’s a $25 surcharge for reading this comment in it’s entirety. Thanks….I accept paypal.
@jodark: I have a friend from South Africa that is white. He is my African-American friend (that is how I refer to him). People freak out when a big white guy walks in the door.
Some people are so racist!
I am an Irish-Scottish-Native American.
That means I drink a lot and when I am wasted, I sell everything for a trunk of beads. This happens quite often.
@rntk: Nt qt ccrt n “frcns r blck.” Chrlz Thrn s frcn.
@ManiacDan: Both Ben and I said to drop the race discussion. Drop it.
@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz:
sorry.. i missed this before i posted… dropping in 3…2…1…
@ManiacDan: f u cn rd ths, u cn gt gd jb & grt mny!
@LoganAdams: Would you outrage manufacturers prefer something like this??
@jodark: That’s my damn GPS!
@jodark: Where can I get that palm/GPS unit he is using?!
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: It looks like a handspring, not a palm…yea yea i know, nitpickin.
@jodark: In this pic he should probably be holding a laptop.
@LoganAdams:
He’s right. Clearly you should have a picture of a Korean. The scammer MIGHT BE KOREAN for all you know, YOU RACIST PIG.
Good grief, people. A story about a Nigerian stealing a laptop illustrated with a black guy holding a box is “racist”? Ugh. I can’t even see how it is (no pun intended) off color. What next?
Maybe we should just not have stories about anything but white men, to avoid all controversy.
@Mr. Guy: While I don’t think it’s inherently racist to use a stock photo that more or less describes the act, I think it misrepresents the model and doesn’t paint an accurate picture of the issue.
I’d find it much more appropriate to use a photo from the p-p-p-powerbook incident, where someone scammed a scammer with hilarious results.
Link: [www.zug.com]
@LoganAdams: Get off your high horse. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that picture.
Except that the box he’s holding might not be a laptop box. So the box may find it offensive. If that’s the case, I stand corrected.
@LoganAdams:
Who the hell are we kidding here – the last time I watched the Amazing Race and they went to Africa, the place was completely black. It was also a shithole but big surprise there. Most third world countries are.
I’m amazed people are questioning the choices of this picture. Come on people – enough PC already.
@Adisharr: It’s not even PC. It’s “PC” because it only pretending to be PC.
Insert joke about PC vs Laptop here.
@LoganAdams:
Yea, lets get a white person on the pic, because its all the white nigerians that are stealing laptops and sending those letters about how their dad stole all this money you can help them get out of their country. Its not about race idiots, facts are black people are stealing things from nigeria. Its not like its a slam against all black people, there just dont happen to be many people of other races there. Its like having something about china, you’d expect a picture of a chinese person right?
stf i would post the same pic or another pic witha black guy holding a box!poeple like you thats so anal about everything,that comes up with these retarded lawsuits…if this ad was talking about a chinese person taking the laptop i would us an asian baby working in a sweetshop hacking away on the comp and have ups deliver it right to him….go do something else with your life.@LoganAdams:
@LoganAdams: yep. That was my first thought. Even before I read the story.
@joel.: Same here.
@LoganAdams: Ok everybody, I think we’ve thoroughly exhausted this topic, I don’t think we need to drill it any further, and even if you don’t agree with him, we really don’t need all the stfus careening around.
@LoganAdams: Do you suggest a picture of a white man? You know they’re mostly black there, right?
@LoganAdams: Stuff White People Like #101: Being Offended.
[stuffwhitepeoplelike.com]
To be offended is usually a rather unpleasant experience…white people, blessed with both time and energy, are not these kind of people. In fact there are few things white people love more than being offended.
h lks ngrn t m.
@tbone13: There are a lot of people out there believe all africans are black. I had a WHITE south african friend who always got funny looks when he told people he was from africa. They thought he was joking.
@dragonfire81: Was his name Dave? And did he happen to play in a multi-platinum selling band?
@dragonfire81: Infact, i remember, for a long time, South African, Zimbabwean and Nigerian cricket teams were mostly white. That was before Mugabe went off his rocker. There are way more Indians and Whites in Africa than people on the either side of the continent realize.
@dragonfire81: I dated a white south african girl about 10 years ago, damn was she hot. I mean like really hot.
@LoganAdams: Don’t worry. I brought it up at the black man’s meetings, and we’re cool with it.
@Darkkeyboard: I totally missed that meating. I was at the Black Assimilation Conference of Friendly Fellows aka BAC OFF.
@LoganAdams: Would it be any more appropriate if it were some random white man?
@LoganAdams:
You just turned this article conversation from phising… to a lame ass race issue. stfu and read the article. Maybe its a black person preparing to ship the item???? Maybe that is an actually picture of Molly’s husband holding said laptop.
I’m dying laughing at the “wanna get away southwest post”
@LoganAdams: I think the worst thing about the article that they make the generalisation that anyone from Africa trying to do any kind of business deal with you is scamming you. That’s pretty strong and pretty unfair.
When I was preparing to sell my ThinkPad 600x, I was hearing these stories left and right. I finally decided that eBay was the way to go, that I’d only accept PayPal, and I would not ship outside the Continental 48 states.
@William Mize: Checking email headers is also a useful skill.
@William Mize:
There are 49 Continental United States.
There are 48 Contiguous United States
@William Mize: By the way, isn’t the 600x a great machine? I’ve had mine for what seems like forever, and and the old man just keeps chugging along….
@skc15: It was a great machine! I joked in my eBay ad that it was neigh indestructible, that it would take a gun to kill it.
I sold it because I have heard the sirens call of the new Netbooks.
@William Mize: my roommate sold a paid of shoes on ebay. Buyer recieveds the shoes and left a positive feedback.
4 months later the buyer filed for a claim through paypal and took the money back. Paypal asked my roommate to provide proof of shipping, which she had, but the tracking number no longer work when you enter it in the usps website. She went to USPS and they said the number lasts 1 month.
Paypal wouldn’t do anything and the jackass took the money and the shoes.
@MoreFunThanToast: I’ve heard of that happening before. It stuns me into disbelief that Paypal/eBay does this sort of thing. Half-a**sed investigations + ??? = Scammer Profit!
@MoreFunThanToast: It’s like Paypal is set up to resolve the disputes in favor of whoever is the scammer, I swear. I got scammed the other direction, dude never sent the product, told paypal he did, they told me since he SAID he did (no tracking #s!), I was SOL and he got to keep my money. I friggin’ hate paypal.
@Eyebrows McGee: Maybe Paypal is scamming both sides of the dispute? Tell the seller they are refunding the money to the buyer because of insufficient proof, tell the buyer they can’t get a refund because of insufficient proof.
@William Mize: Ummm…aren’t there 49 Continental states? Or did California finally fall into the Pacific and I missed that story?
Maybe you meant 48 CONTIGUOUS states?
@TreyWaters: And what the heck is his problem with HA and AK anyway!?!?!
/pretending to be offended
Personally I think the best resolution would be to send a followup email to the scammer saying you forgot to send the powercord, or laptop case and pretend you have noticed nothing wrong…get some more info that way which could be usable
@chris101d: And then what? The Nigerian Fraud Squad will team up with the Wonder Twins to track down the hucksters? Wonder Twin Power Activate!
@testsicles: No, then they will get more information for whatever reports they have filed. There is no need for sarcastic derogatory replies on this site.
More information can only help…not to mention these scammers are usually gullible enough to give more. In the long run if there is a report with the FTC or a fraud report to the bank then it can only help…
@chris101d: Or she could game him via another email address to pay for shipping on a far more valuable (and heavier) shipment of goods. And then provide a concrete block, etc.
Best one was the guy who sent a broken washing machine with concrete chunks in it and mocking printouts of the scammer taped to the outside of the machine. The scammer thought he was getting a load of brand new in box laptops…
Dude she lost a lap top and 70 something dollars she paid to ship it.
“If it sounds too good to be true…”
- Old Craigslist proverb.
@NefariousNewt, Democratic Poll Challenger: The proverb is true enough, but how does it apply here? The guy just offered to pay a bit more for the trouble (and extra cost) of shipping it further. If the buyer were actually legit, the offer would probably be about the same. It’s not like the guy offered to pay double and then send a jar of the prince’s penis enlargement pills on top of that. The arrangement as it stood wasn’t really “too good” to warrant suspicion–it was the 3 bulleted items listed that were the indication instead.
[www.zug.com]
@bonzombiekitty: That was SO great.
So Africa = theft?
Hmm, interesting…
@TheFuzz53: Nigeria has a law against scams like this, it’s where we get the term “419 scammers”. However, it’s enforced very little because officials within the Nigerian government believes that if people are gullible enough to fall for this stuff, then they deserve it.
If that is there position, then my position is, Nigeria = theft, and they can go pound sand as far as I am concerned. Yeah, I hope they feel bad about being generalized that way. Good for them, they deserve it.
On the other hand, I do see your point about correlating theft to the entire continent.
@TheFuzz53: Unfortuately, that’s almost right.
I would suggest: Email + Africa + Money = Theft
@TheFuzz53: No, just most thefts like these come from Africa. Try not to switch it around.
Remember the ppppower book prank here:
[www.zug.com]
@dorrdon:
I REMEMBER THAT! Greatest prank ever!
While I agree, most of these scams originate from various countries in Africa, those are some stereotypical words to deem an entire continent a scam…
Posting items on Craigslist, I’ve had just as many people try to scam me into sending the item to the UK or even the US. Perhaps you should have acknowledged that you should not mail anything period and expect to get money back.
My alarms went off when they said they would pay more than the amount.
Remember this next time:
Craigslist = meet me with cash
@pete7919: Actually in at least one instance recently it was “Craigslist = Meet me with gun/knife, and I will rob the item from you”
@TakingItSeriously: And in the other 59 million, it was “here’s cash, here’s item, thanks neighbor!”.
Quit that fearmongering shit. Craigslist is the fastest, safest way to sell your old crap and get actual useable currency for it.
@m4ximusprim3:
Wow, what are you talking about? It’s not the safest way to sell, by a long shot.
Not long ago a good friend of mine had a gun put to his head by someone pretending to sell a powerbook on craigslist.
You might lose your money on eBay, but your life won’t be threatened.
TakingItSeriously is not fearmongering at all. Btw, I use craiglist all the time, but I’m not stupid about it.
@Landru:
you MUST meet people on CL in a SAFE, PUBLIC location!!!
@NYYSI: Or carry a gun with you.
@pete7919:
Let’s make that:
Craigslist = meet me IN PUBLIC with cash.
@pete7919: yes exactly! I sold some laptops on craigslist recently, and every time you get a reply on craigslist, or even look at a post, there’s tons of warnings to NOT SHIP, and to do business LOCALLY to avoid SCAMs.
I have no sympathy for this haddock. Financial Darwinism.
So, did the OP send the package before the funds arrived? Did she ship it just so she could get a tracking # to give to “Paypal”?
@EBounding: really. Who ships stuff before monies have been collected?
I’ll gladly pay you tuesday for a laptop today…
@EBounding: She thought PayPal had the funds but wouldn’t release them without a tracking number. So she believed that she had confirmation that the “customer” had sent the funds, but that PayPal was hanging onto them until she provided confirmation of shipment.
Though it’s true that she could have sent a tracking number without actually shipping the laptop, I suspect she would then have been scammed by a forged “PayPal” email that said her money had been released to her anyway.
@floraposte: STILL, until I had the cash in my hand, the laptop stays in my possession. Period. Legit customers want to complain about that, fine with me. Let them complain. Let them send me neg feedback. I’ll retaliate in kind.
“Item shipped same day I had money. Questions? Email me.”
Basta!
@EBounding: @floraposte: She used the USPS, and in all my experience, they will only give you a tracking number when you send the package, unlike FedEx/UPS, which will issue a number, and when you track it, it will say “Expecting/Notified of package waiting to be shipped”. USPS isn’t like that. Probably why they wanted USPS.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: No, if you pay for shipping online you can get a tracking number with USPS before you ship as well.
@EBounding:
Actually, Paypal/eBay in all their wisdom now have a policy for certain sellers wherein you don’t get your money unlocked until delivery confirmation or buyer leaves + feedback.
You should spend more money… Get on an airplane and track them down. Then when you find them beat them to a pulp. Then get your laptop and fly back. When you get here, I will be happy to drive over and beat you to a pulp because you make BAD DECISIONS.
If you have ever watched Judge Judy you would know that making bad decisions won’t get you rewarded.
@xkaluv: xkaluv, I find your comment so offensive that I want to drive to wherever you are and beat you to a pulp!
@BugDude10:
All this pulp talk is making me thirsty for orange juice.
@obamaramallama: The new Valencia stuff is to die for.
Also, craigslist is LOCAL. If someone responds to your craigslist post from out of the area, Just Say No.
If you have the address go visit them at their house and beat the shit out of them. Well maybe not since most of these scams are run by people that are in gangs and heavily armed…
Sorry, another thing to remember is call PayPal to verify and not just believe the person that wants the item.
Use Fedex or UPS next time, you can cut a tracking number/label online before you even ship the product. provide the tracking number and get payment before you actually ship the product.
Granted, ANYTHING going to or coming from Nigeria should be considered a scam.
You can get a shipping number before shipping… You can even do that with USPS.
Is it illegal to send dog poop overseas? Yes, it would be more money, but you do have an address…….
@LawyerontheDL:
I have often wondered the legality of sending feces. Seriously, I’m not kidding. I would have done it A FEW times if I wasn’t worried about breaking a law.
Does anyone know if this is legal via USPS or UPS/FedEx?
@LawyerontheDL: “Is it illegal to send dog poop overseas? Yes, it would be more money, but you do have an address” Be sure to include a note saying “Dear Dr. Vet please analyze this stuff.” That should make it perfectly legal. (If enough people did this, Africa scammers would leave us alone.)
Ebay seller rule number 1: Never ship until you have the money.
@figz: Ebay seller rule number 2: Never send the money until they ship.
Wait, what?
Ouch.
Can’t you get a tracking number prior to actually shipping the item? I believe with USPS you can do that. Not that it matters, but the thought just came to mind. That way she could have sent the tracking number, and awaited the payment.
@Atticka
USPS.com offers the ability to print labels/obtain tracking numbers just like FedEx and UPS. You don’t have to just pop your valuables in the mail on the spot. A tracking number could have been generated and held until the money cleared
Craigslist has warnings when you submit your item for exactly what is described here.
Good advice to follow. But amend to say: don’t mail anything to anywhere until you’ve been paid. If Amazon doesn’t ship until payment, why should you be different?
Oh yeah, more negative publicity for Nigeria.
So she’s smart enough to know about the consumerist, but still thinks it’s ok to send ANYTHING to Nigeria?
I know it was kind of posted above, but it cannot be repeated enough: Unless it’s a family member or someone you personally know, do not conduct ANY business with ANYONE in Nigeria.
Almost every single time I sell something worth more than $200 or $300 on eBay or Craigslist I get these emails. They offer way more than the price if I’ll send it to a relative in Africa. They’re so frequent that I just laugh and delete them.
Ben, please remove this post if it’s improper. I apologize in advance.
This is the what I got out of job hunting on craigslist.
Micneal Mollen to me
show details Oct 27 (3 days ago) Reply
Good day ……….,hope you doing great right there,got your response regarding the driving job
Am mike mollen,My Boss(Mr James Walker) will be visiting the state next month on an assignment in your area,he’s very new to your area in the state and am in position to arrange a good driver that will take him around the places where those assignment are to be carried out
He will be staying for two week, and you are required to take him around the places where those assignment be carried out
You service needed from Wednesday to Friday (10:30am to 3:30pm) for the first and second week.
You are offered $1200,($500 per week,$100 for gas)an advance payment of $600 will be send to you as soon you agreed on this contract.
Also I’ve arrange for a hired Mercedes Benz to be used for this process , the first payment to be sent to you will include your advance payment and the payment fro the vehicle.you will have to forward this fund to the Agent in care of the car ,so he can deliver the car to your place before Mr James arrival.All other info will be supply as needed,such as the date and the hotel for accommodation
My Boss will be paying you the balance after satisfactory completion of your service.if you are OK and satisfy with this,do get back asap and include this detail.
First Name:
Last Name:
Gender:
DOB:
Marital Status;
CDL Serial #/group/type
Address:
City:
State;.
Zip Code:
Cell phone;
best time to call;
present work at hand;
Work ID #
Education Status;
I inquire for this information to secure this deal,i hope you agree with me that there are some unreal people out there,be rest assure that any personal information receive are reserved.
I will appreciate a prompt response from you as the payment will only be sent out to you after i receive this info,so you can work things out this week asap
ALL INFORMATION YOU WILL NEED REGARDING THE CAR HIRED AGENT WILL BE FORWARD TO YOU WITH THE TRACKING # OF THE CHECK
A paycheck will be forwarded to you as soon as possible so once you get the payment,you remove $600 as agreed and send remain part to the car hire representative,so he can deliver the vehicle at your place.
NOTE,they will also come for the pick up of the car after the completion of the contract.
@anker: An unemployed family friend got the same deal in Indiana and even got the fake money orders sent to his home. I was able to work with him to understand it was a scam and he reported it to the local authorities. Supposedly the money orders came from within the US (I did not see the envelope as I do not live by the friend) so somebody might be charged though I figure the money orders were sent via a person who had been duped into the “reshipper” business…
@anker: HAHAHA. Wow, that sure sounds like a great opportunity! You should definitely take the job.
@anker: SCAM.
I’m guessing:
1) Send person fake check or money order
2) Get person to send money back to you
3) ???
4) Profit!
What an Idiot. If she can’t read the warnings on Craigs list and is “smart” enough to ship before receiving payment then she did not deserve to have the laptop in the first place.
These scams did not just pop up yesterday.
Two things about Craig’s List:
a) Never, ever use your daily use e-mail address. (Let alone your work e-mail address) It is so nice having a service like akapost around that I can just shut off an account when the spam gets to be too much.
b) I got a little peeved off at a guy for sticking his two cents about my “conditions of sale” tag that I attached at the end of my paltry $35 listing. I didn’t want to deal with any bullcrap. Lately, CL (at least in St. Louis) has just become a haven of those seeking “something for nothing”. I want within 75% of my asking price if I’m forced to haggle – which is already a decent drop from the retail price I paid.
If someone offers to pay more than your listing = fraud.
If someone offers methods of payment other than cash = fraud.
Cash only, local only, meet in public places.
@tmlfan81: Absolutely. Craigslist haggling is getting silly. I listed a very small ticket electronic item and after a few no-shows, I agreed to sell it to a guy who offered a little less than my asking price. Fine, but he had even less cash when he showed up and said “it’s the only money I have right now!”
He also asked if I’d take a check… yeah, i’ll get right on that.
Is “The Consumerist” on the way down the tubes?
I’ve always gritted my teeth and remained silent when I see your misleading headlines e.g., “Man Jailed After Letting His Girlfriend Eat Off Of His Plate” that SHOULD have read “Man Jailed After Stealing (Even Though He Was Given the Opportunity To Pay Up Before The Cops Were Called”)
Now, I’m seeing race-baiting (You assume the scammer is a black man since Africa is part of the story?)
And now, the editor (I assume Mr Popkin is the author of the sage advice following the post?) is flinging the f-word as part of The Consumerist’s reply
Classy!
Time to go back and review the Journalism 101 textbooks!
@wary_consumer:
Have you not seen the voting ad that has been placed in the middle of this site for weeks? It explains that we would really feel like and a**hole if we didn’t vote. I emailed Ben, and the advertising person, I think his name was chris. I explained that I let my kids read this site and I was truely offended.
I recieved no reply or acknowledgement of my letter.
Sadly, I think the young people of today consider this to be the norm. I think it’s sick.
@wary_consumer:
Blogging is not journalism.
Really? Check out Mr. Popkins 11/10 article “Goldman Rips Off Non-Profits, Endowments, Foundations, And Charities” and ask yourself why he did not reveal the name of the employee.
If you ask Mr Popkin, I’ll bet $5 he’ll say “I need to protect my sources”.
This is something only a “journalist” would say, and being a “journalist” cuts both ways: he can protect his sources, but he also needs to report objectively and strive to tell nothing but the truth.
Instead, he has begun to resort to sensationalistic headlines that distort the truth and has begun to use profanity in an attempt (I assume) to appeal to the younger, non-discriminating audience (read: crank up the advertising hits)
The Consumerists credibility is heading toward the cliff
@wary_consumer:
Start your own blog. It can be a HAVEN of political correctness. Let’s see how many unique hits you have after a year compared to Consumerist.com.
Did anyone hear the story on This American Life about the guys who out-scammed the Nigerian scamster? [www.thislife.org] I have never laughed so hard!
wow, wow…umm, yeah. 1) its Nigeria, 2) they offer to pay over the price stated 3) they demand tracking # before payment. I may be young and a recent college grad, but come on! THis is too obvious.
There’s nothing really that she can do now, and Nigeria will probably sue her if she tries to file claims there (since they believe people who fall for these scams are criminals themselves), so tough luck, suck it up, and deal.
Also, hopefully you just formatted your computer so that no single piece of personal information on it at all.
Kaynero01@yahoo.com emailed me and said he’d send an extra $150 through Paypal for shipping to his cousin, a student in Nigeria
[face palm]
Molly must be new to this planet.
doesnt craigslist have giant disclaimers about foreign buyers and money transfers?
whenever you sell something online it pays to be careful, I recently tried to sell an ipod on Craigslist, the first two emails I got were scammers. I was selling it for $350.
Here is the first one:
“Hi Do you still have it for sale l wanna buy it for a friend am payingyou $450 and l will also include the shipping cost so get back to me
with your paypal email account so l pay asap.
waiting for response asap”
The other one I got:
“Hello,
I am interested in buying the item and i want you to know that i am located in Oklahoma,But am buying the item for a friend of mine in the USA,So i will want you to get back to me with your full name and addrres where payment should be mailed to….and i will offer you $400 for the item including packaging ..but i will be responsible for the shipment of the item…i will like to proceed with the payment via USPS United State Postal Money Order which is very reliable, fast,safe and secure way of making payment online…payment will be brought to your address for delivery so kindly get back to me with your full name and residential address in order to proceed with the payment…Thanks”
Needless to say I ignored both of these emails, but I might have to tempted to respond, before I became a Comsumerist reader a year ago.
Craigslist has an entire section/page that warns people about scams like this. Seriously… people still fall for these scams? Yeah just mail the laptop to his cousin, a student in Nigeria. That sounds like a fantastic idea!
Craigslist = come pick it up, cash only.
The OP should have sent it via a courier where you CAN recall the package, such as FedEx or DHL. The USPS will not allow you to recall packages. Also, the OP, as stated before, should have waited to receive the money before shipping! This was simply a stupid mistake.
Not to blame the OP, but these scams rely on the greed of the seller by offering more than the asking price. If the “buyer” hadn’t offered to pay twice as much to ship the item than it cost, it’s not as likely she would have jumped at the opportunity. This would happen much less frequently if folks would just follow the old mantra, “If it’s too good to be true…”
People don’t think to use an escrow service. Use Escrow.com and they will get the money before you ship the laptop. That said, I would never deal with anyone out of Africa.
With my business, people made online purchases using stolen credit cards. We reported it to the police, but they said that until everything was complete, they couldn’t do anything about it. We contacted the credit card owner and alerted them to the fraud and never charged the order.
Be proactive and make sure to use common sense. That will save you time, money, and sanity.
I hate to blame the victim, but… “a student in Nigeria.” Come on!
Hello?!? Isn’t this one of the oldest scams flying around the internets?
I love it. “That’s right, Molly, you’re fucked!”
I laughed out loud at that one. I feel bad for Molly, but I thought everyone knew about this scam.
I got the same email. Told them to pound sand.
This is a sad story but sadly too common.
My roommate just got hit for kind of the same thing. Except it was a $12,000 ring. He put his ring up on Craigslist and he sent it to Texas by UPS COD, they verified the ID (turns out its fake) got the check from the guy, and got it back to my roommate. He deposited it, and low and behold, bank calls back 2 days later saying they were fake. He can’t say he wasn’t forewarned though, because I told him that scammers do this, and the check looks so good that the bank will even accept it. But he didn’t listen to me, and got fucked.
@graffiksguru: YIKES! Woah, that stinks.
People from other countries must think Americans are so easy to scam! How often do you hear of someone from Spain being scammed by an American??
@RAREBREED: It does happen though. I watched a news special on scammers and they included victims from other countries.
I can’t blame the poster much… this is actually a pretty clever ruse. It’s a classic authentication failure; a good reminder to NOT TRUST EMAIL. Always check back for confirmation on anything financial, using YOUR OWN bookmarks and phone numbers.
Computers and consumer electronics are abundant in Nigeria, look up “Computer Village” in Lagos, there is no legitimate reason somebody would goto the trouble of seeking out a computer from some guy in North America, pay extra, pay shipping and then on top of that pay the fairly high Nigerian import taxes and brokerage fees due on delivery.
I never shipped anything out until the check cleared or the money has been transferred from my paypal account into my checking account. I’ve been cheated before, but in that case I was a buyer and it turned out I was frauded by a teen who was using his dad’s account. Eventually paypal gave me 75% of the cash I sent back since they charge 25% for the trouble.
You deserve it for being stupid. Darwinism in action….
I’ve sold a bunch of stuff off of CL including 2 old computers, one was $50 and one $75. Both times I had e-mails come in wanting me to ship them to Africa. I was smart enough to decline the sale to the scammers and sold them locally to people who needed a working computer and didn’t have a lot of $$.