Bambi scam on craigslist today

[Eagle & Bear]

Same Bambi scam listed in Sacramento craigslist 11/18/08. I flagged it after trying to get more info. It is gone fron the listing.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

Here is the link to the Craigslist helper which will allow you to quickly search all the regions Craigslist serves. Craig's Helper - Search Craigslist Quickly and Easily I did not think any of our members would fall for this scam. We need to put a stop to it. I encourage our Air Forum members to use this tool to call up all these scam craigslist ads in your area and flag every one of them before another unfortunate person gets hurt.

Hi, just out of curiousity, I went on Craig's Helper and found this scam in six places and four more similar adds using the same pictures, but different prices.

(1.) North Dakota............$5805.00
(2.) Texas......................$missed it
(3.) Illinois......................$5840.00
(4.) Florida.....................$5850.00
(5.) Florida.....................$5810.00
(6.) New York.................$5821.00
And similar in:
(7.) Puerto Rico...............$6090.00
(8.) Guam.......................$5900.00
(9.) Guam.......................$6080.00
(10.) Guam.....................$6060.00

I don't know how to report these, but I'm sure they are all scams. The first six all had the same discription and Laura's E-mail address.

[dwightdi]

To kill the scam Ad, when you are on the ad, you click (flag)on the overposted/scam icon on the top right side of the ad. The ad will be taken off within automatically within seconds.

[easyride]

Just went to craigs list ,yesterday and today had 28 of those scam postings.They put them up just as fast as they are flagged.Just gotta keep flagging. Dave

[mistermcfrug]

While these frauds may seem unusual, my research indicates that Americans never, ever seem to learn. One web site I located a year or more ago on my research said that Americans lose over $400 million a year to Nigerians.

Just recently, my brother emailed me an article (I forget the city) that described how some nurse wired out $400,000 to Nigerians.

I've known about these frauds for over 20 years but there just seems to be an endless list of Americans who refuse to use their heads.

Sometimes I end up talking to these fraud artists in Nigeria in order to waste their time (I ask them to call me). The calls are kind of funny. They use typical American or British names yet speak with horrible accents, if you can understand them at all! On the other hand, some dumb Americans have actually traveled to Nigeria, absolutely the most significant error of their lives. Americans traveling to Nigeria to unwittingly meet with the fraud artists have been known to be held for ransom by government officials and even murdered in some cases. The Americans thought they were engaged in "due diligence!"

Bottom line: Do not ever wire funds to any person or entity that you do not know. Do not believe in "guarantees", fancy paper, fancy titles and b.s. explanations for why someone will give you $20 million if you first wire them money. Note that most Nigerian frauds tend to be "frauds within frauds." By this I mean that they offer to give you a bit chunk of money to help them illegally get millions of dollars out of their country. Americans who thus do "frauds within frauds" deals tend to be sheepish about even reporting their victimization to authorities.

Even though most of these frauds originate in Nigerian, the criminals sometimes use European addresses to cloak their true location.

Finally, I've noticed that most of these criminals are too cheap to hire assistants proficient in English. So even though you should never wire out money to unknown parties even if their English usage is perfect, very typically you can expect to see misspellings and other grammatical errors.

Tell your friends about these frauds because, as I say, the word is still not getting out!

[valynnda]

mistermcfrug,

I realize that you "have know about these frauds for over 20 years" but the average American does not. I have never heard of Nigerian fraud prior to reading this thread. I fell for the scam because I felt protected by ebay...of course as I mentioned earlier in my posts, they spoofed ebays links, email addresses and even their phone numbers. It was not like someone said "Please send your money to Nigeria...I promise I will deliver you a trailer." I have purchased many things off ebay and craigslist and this transaction really appeared like other legitimate purchases I had made. These people are very good. Of course now I see all sorts of flags...everything is clear after the fact. But, to say that Americans just refuse to use their heads is really not fair. Sorry I am a little bitter right now..at these crooks and at the FBI's lack of support. What an eye opener this has been for me.

[bredlo]

Originally Posted by valynnda

...to say that Americans just refuse to use their heads is really not fair.

Originally Posted by valynnda

I am a little bitter right now.. ..at the FBI's lack of support.

Mistermcfrug is right then, at least in one sense; the FBI ARE a bunch of Americans, and they're certainly refusing to use their heads - or do their job - by not putting these scammers out of business once and for all!

[Larry in MO]

Originally Posted by bredlo

they're (FBI) certainly refusing to use their heads - or do their job - by not putting these scammers out of business once and for all!

You are probably unaware that these scams originate and are orchestrated from outside the United States. To that end there are jurisdictional issues for successful prosecution. Foremost is that the people whom are "refusing to use their heads" or are refusing to "do their job" have absolutely NO authority over some crook in Nigeria regardless of what you see on TV. Besides you wouldn't go to Nigeria to testify anyway.

The best the US authorities can offer you is to aid the foreign authorities whom probably are not the least bit interested in your problems.

[dwightdi]

As technology evolves crooks will evolve to use it to take from the have and give to the "have nots" (themselves). Buyer Beware is what has to be practiced. These particular crooks are very clever and have done an excellent job of impersonation. If you read the Internet or Computer magazines they are full of the details of how it is done. Some crooks learn from these magazines. Cell phones, e-mails, car opening bobs, and credit cards are just some of the new tools the criminals have used to use. The new Federal progressive tax plans also take from the rich and give to the poor legally.

[bredlo]

Originally Posted by Larry in MO

You are probably unaware that these scams originate and are orchestrated from outside the United States. To that end there are jurisdictional issues for successful prosecution...

Besides you wouldn't go to Nigeria to testify anyway.

I wish I could explain it all away as that, but unfortunately - from grand theft auto (friends of ours) to identity theft (my wife) and stealing thousands from my bank account... I've seen complete disinterest when it comes to responding anything less than physical violence (and hey, I ain't takin' that for granted!) Not always, but more often than I'd like to see.

I may have made it sound as if I'm clumping 'em all together as not doing their job -- which I'm not. The majority of law enforcement officials are certainly hardworking people - but I question whether they have the time, budget, manpower or supervision from the top down to deal with many of the things in their job description, whether that's a beat cop or an FBI agent.

I don't want to hijack the thread any further, so I'll leave my take at that.

[Larry in MO]

1.

Originally Posted by bredlo

...the FBI ARE a bunch of Americans, and they're certainly refusing to use their heads - or do their job - by not putting these scammers out of business once and for all!

2.

Originally Posted by bredlo

The majority of law enforcement officials are certainly hardworking people - but I question whether they have the time, budget, manpower or supervision from the top down to deal with many of the things in their job description, whether that's a beat cop or an FBI agent.

Sorry, I must have misunderstood your first post.

[mustang]

I am selling my 71 Airstream, I have had all kinds of weird contacts. They just look like scams from conartists. Here is the latest one I got the other day. I would turn this in but dont know who to turn it in to. Is this a scam or what.

I hereby wish to inform you that i am interested in your airstream,at the price of $6200. I saw the advert on the internet today, Kindly give me your best offer. I Will send you America Cashier Check as payment, is more unless like a cash once it get to you. You cash it at cash point or bank the money will be ready immediately no delay. I will send the payment by post when we both finally agree on terms. If its still available for sale,provide the details below
YOUR NAME...........................................
FULL ADDRESS..............................
STATE..............................
zip code.............................................. .......... COUNTRY........................................... .......
TEL. NUMBER...................................
MOBILE NUMBER.........................................
I would be expecting all of this information so i can send you the cheque immediately and i will also like to know the last price thank


I think asking me what country I am in is a real give away, hahaah

[goransons]

Believe it or not, when we broke down and bought a new washer and dryer last month, we sold the old ones on craigslist here locally. We had 2 emails the first day, one ended up coming and buying them (both for a 100 bucks) the other wanted to send us a check by fedex in the "next week" mail and arrange for the moving company she works with to pick them up immediately that day. Wouldn't give a phone number etc. Amazing how this has spread to even the cheapest of items. Did report it locally, of course who knows where exactly she was located, and simliar typos trends as in mustang's post.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by mustang

I am selling my 71 Airstream, I have had all kinds of weird contacts. They just look like scams from conartists. Here is the latest one I got the other day. I would turn this in but dont know who to turn it in to. Is this a scam or what.

I hereby wish to inform you that i am interested in your airstream,at the price of $6200. I saw the advert on the internet today, Kindly give me your best offer. I Will send you America Cashier Check as payment, is more unless like a cash once it get to you. You cash it at cash point or bank the money will be ready immediately no delay. I will send the payment by post when we both finally agree on terms. If its still available for sale,provide the details below
YOUR NAME...........................................
FULL ADDRESS..............................
STATE..............................
zip code.............................................. .......... COUNTRY........................................... .......
TEL. NUMBER...................................
MOBILE NUMBER.........................................
I would be expecting all of this information so i can send you the cheque immediately and i will also like to know the last price thank


I think asking me what country I am in is a real give away, hahaah

Hi, mustang. I would be willing to bet that the buyer would accidentally send you a check for more than you are asking; Then as the phoney check sits in your bank, they ask you to return the difference. [at your loss]

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, You will never know, or figuer out, all of the scams being used out there, but doesn't it make you stop and think? Why would someone sell a $40,000.00 trailer [two years old, in near perfect condition] for $6,000.00? DING, DING, DING, DING

A friend of mine, many years ago, bought a bunch of tools for far less than market value. The police took them from him and said "It was obvious that he bought stolen tools" because of what he paid for them, he should have known that. He asked the police for the tools back or the money he paid for them [in the pocket of the person [seller] they arrested] They told him to be just happy they didn't arrest him too.

Sorry this has happened, but let this be an education for all of us. This unfortunate person has come forward and told us their story [bravely] and may have helped save someone else.

[mistermcfrug]

After my first post, I noticed several comments about the FBI. The FBI cannot be blamed for Nigerian frauds due to the fact that the FBI has no ability to investigate crimes originating in foreign countries. In these cases, it is the Nigerian government that is to blame. However, the Nigerian government actively encourages these crimes since the revenue is a welcomed source of income. There are many thousands of these criminals in Nigeria. Since they all have access to the internet, we must be on our toes. As I said earlier: Never wire money to people or institutions that you don't personally know.

[mustang]

I responded to his email curriosity is killing me now.

To: nicolajohnson141@hotmail.com

Hello Nicolas.
I was wondering where you are coming from? Maybe you would like to take a look first.

When would you like to come over? I could show you my Airstream, and if you like it then we could discuss a price.

I will be looking forward to hearing from you.


His response was;

Thanks for the e-mail. Am well with your satisfy.Right price and are now in Essex UK, I will not be able to call because my phone company, as some technical fault, I will call you when setting it up. But for now continue the transaction by e-mail. I will send you American cashier check as the payment of for the airstream. Once the check clear the bank will be my shipper for pick-up of the airstream. If you accept this offer Please send me your name and address for payment and some picture . Thank you


hahahahaha I cant beleve this "Geee ya think its real Wally"

[Soyboy]

I've used Craigslist and ebay for years. I purchased my trailer on ebay from a dealer in MI. I live in MD. The whole deal went smooth a silk. If I wanted another SOB I would purchase from them again. I sold a Honda Odyssey to a family in MA. The guy flew down, I met him at the airport, he inspected the vehicle, signed the papers, threw his tag on it and drove happily away. I purchased my Jetta TDI on Craigslist last year, no problems.

In the end it just boils down to common sense. Not firing big bucks out to someone for something you haven't seen etc. Although someone really good can scam almost anyone, most scams are preventable. Don't want something that appears to be a great deal, so bad, that you start doing stupid stuff. Just like the guy with the tools in the earlier posting, if it looks to good to be true......it usually is.

It's pretty clear that the person posting these Craigslist ads (at least around here) is at least one card short of a full deck. The rambling "news" postings are a dead give-away, that and the ultra low prices.

The only reason I find them annoying is that I have Craigslist postings for Airstreams feed into my news reader and I have to sort through the chaff to get to the wheat.

[ts8501]

Our famous Bambi is back. This time with no pictures. St. Cloud, MN folks beware!
St Cloud 2005 Airstream Bambi - 72544148

[Soyboy]

I am curious, do the listings in your area contain the wacky news/info commentary at the bottom of the listing (see below). By looking at that it is pretty obvious that this person is a wack-job:

Type: Travel trailer Slide outs: 1 Water capacity: 51-60 gallons
Length: 30 feet Sleeping capacity: 6 Air conditioners: 1
Awnings: 2 Leveling jacks included: Yes
Dry weight: 9100 lbs
VIN: 1STJBBP272J514198
Vehicle Description
2002 Airstream Classic 30' (loaded); Aluminum Wheels; 30 lb. aluminum bottles; spare tire bracket; 12" electric drum brakes; electric stabilizer jacks with pads; electric hitch jack; sway bars; deluxe tank monitoring system; 2 Fantastic roof vents; 6 gal. gas/electric water heater; 34,000 btu furnace; 12 volt kill switch; exterior lighting package; 13,500 btu A/C with heat pump; stainless steel A-frame protector; goodyear tires; 50 amp converter; molded rear bumper with roll-out storage; solar grey front panoramic windows; solar grey stone guards; 7-way trailer plug; slide-out in dining area; screen door guard; interior and exterior grab handles; 8 cubic ft. Dometic 2-way refrig; stainless steel double sinks in kitchen; Maytag range; Corian galley top kitchen and bathroom; puretouch faucet; day/night shades throughout, except only night in bedroom; sony AM/FM radio with cassette; dead bolt lock; Zipdee Awnings on patio and windows; cedarlined wardrobe; 2 decorative clocks; oak wood interior; georgia peach interior; sage green carpets and throw rugs; fabric valances; quilted bedspread; innerspring queen mattress; writing table with chair storage in living room; pull out sofa; convection oven; great amount of storage; kitchen and bathroom have skylight with shades; cable TV hook-ups; telephone hook-ups; fiberglass shower with seat; 12-volt circuit breakers
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