Saw this on Craig's list today...

Incredible deal or what?

2006 Mini Mini Cooper - $5200 (Kansas city, MO)



http://kansascity.craigslist.org/car...0218.html:sly:

 

Scam.

 

+1 definetly a scam heck maybe some wheels and tires and shocks

 

Not there anymore.........I would have gladly volunteered to check it out!

 

On a different subject I have some oceanfront land here in memphis to sell.

 

Did it look anything like this one. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/car/710522156.html

 

Maybe its a tricked out R/C.Q

 

How about this one: http://charlestonwv.craigslist.org/car/710558634.html

 

That is the same car that was on the St Louis craigslist this morning!

 

That was probably the same one my husband saw a couple of days ago and someone here found it on the canadian ebay site. We sent an email and the lady stated she just got divorced and had the car but she didn't have a driver's license.

 

I'm in charleston! lets go see this baby! LOL

 

Flag'em.

 

An ad pops up like this every few days in Columbus. Here is "her" response. Sad that anyone would fall for this.

---------------------------------------------

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, been real busy with work.
I think I covered everything in my ad, but again this is a 2006 MINI Cooper Hatchback, with clear title, 25,069 miles on it,1.6L L4 FI DOHC 16V engine and automatic transmission. Very clean inside and out. The price I want for it is $5,200. I took an exceptional care of this vehicle and the buyer of the car will be very happy with it.
View pics here : http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll317/mellenbug78/
The transaction will be closed only through a 3rd party and this way we will both be protected. My time is limited due to my job, so I decided to use the Vehicle Purchase Protection Program offered by eBay Inc. They handle all the paperwork and collection of selling price, and will hold the payment until you verify the Mini is as described and want to keep it. I have already enrolled and paid all the necessary fees. To begin the transaction I'll need your full name and shipping address,
Look how the program work:
1. I will forward the details of our transaction to the eBay Security Program.
2. They will process the paperwork and will email you the Payment Invoice and the transaction details.
3. You will have to submit the payment, as instructed to one of the eBay agents.
4. The payment will be verified and if everything is OK, I will ship the car to your place on my cost. The car will be shipped insured to your location with DAS ( Dependable Auto Shippers ).
5. After you receive it, you will have 7 days to inspect and test drive the car.
6. If you accept the vehicle by confirming to eBay, they will send me the payment for the car. They will then FedEx overnight the signed title to you. If you decide to NOT accept the vehicle for any reason, they will refund your full payment price within 48 hours. They will then make the necessary arrangement to have the car picked back up by the vehicle transport company.
Please let me know your position, I have many potential buyers for the car.
Thank you!
Ellen Clark

 

HAHAHAH! I can't believe people still fall for this type of scam. SHADY!

 

I inquired and got the same kind of email. My cousins from east Texas got suckered into one of these deals and lost $10,000. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, there is a sucker born every second. You can look at the full headers on the email, copy all the info, and report and send to the internet fraud division. Sometimes they are successful in working with foreign governments to nab these evil doers. You can actually put in the originating IP address from the full email header into the "whois" at http://www.geektools.com/whois.php and find out what country they are from.


Hi,

You need to send me your info that i ask if you want to buy the vehicle.
full name
full address
phone number
thanks




--
866.496.0052

 

Then again...it may just be an ugly American, but the writing suggests a foreigner.

 

Sorry to hear about your cousin. General rule of thumb: If it's to good to be true it is. Always have a face to face transaction. I recently responded to one of these emails with a very similar response.

I basically told him off! To get a life and to stop scamming people! Never heard back from him.

 

The dead giveaway is "Vehicle Purchase Protection Program offered by eBay Inc." Why would ebay be involved with an ad on Craigslist? People just need to use common sense and these scams would disappear.

 

My first (attempted) experience with Craigslist was one of these scams. A poster was selling a nice Nikon lens with at price that, while low, didn't absolutely scream "ripoff".

I e-mailed him saying that I'd like to buy the lens, and he responded saying that he would only complete the transaction through "BuySafe" (I guess it's supposedly some kind of escrow service). I'm thinking "what the hell? - I work in the city where you supposedly have the lens, and you want to use an escrow service?"

I told him I was still interested in the lens, but only as a face-to-face purchase, and never heard back from him - go figure.

 

It seems to me that the more I hear about craigslist the more it is a paradise for scammers. I don't know how they have the reputation they have.

 

craigslist is great but you must be aware of the scammers and NEVER EVER send money ..

I found most of my tenants thru craigslist but everytime I post an AD (selling stuff - rental etc.) I get at least 3 or 4 e-mail of scammers..

something like " I am a doctor from UK and want I moving to the US w/ my wife and daughter ... I wil send you a check that covers my expenses so kindly keep the money for the rent BUT send me back cash.. "

 

I had a similar conversation with a guy selling a Mini. Told him, "I want to see and drive the car and then I'll pay you in cash."

The response?

<crickets>

 

I dunno ... seems to me it takes some real effort to get scammed via CraigsList. Like by believing a deal that's really is "too good to be true."

We bought our '05 MCSc via an ad on Craigs List. Found EXACTLY the car we wanted, all the options we were looking for, and a color that was on our short list ... and priced at $10K less than a local dealer wanted for a similar car. Got a hell of a deal from a really nice guy and haven't looked back.

Next purchase was for accessories: brand new car covers and other goodies. Again met a really nice person and got just what we were looking for at a great price.

There are plenty of great deals via CraigsList. Just don't be an idiot. And if you have to ask someone if you're being an idiot, you probably are...

 

I came across a deal about 4-6K cheaper than what the market was and missed it by 1 day. It sold. The seller just wanted to get it gone. I don't know how you pulled off a 10K savings but good for you.

 

I just found an '05 MCS Convertible on autotrader.com for $9000 and got pretty much an identical email. They wanted to ship it to my house for me to drive and inspect, even though the car was 3 hrs from here. I figured it was too good to be true, but the email was definitely written by someone for whom english is a second language. It had mistakes I have never seen a native speaker make.
Is there anyway to flag people on auto trader? I'd hate to see someone lose that kind of money to a scam.