Online Scams

[perryg114]

I have been looking from Travel Trailers through Craigs list lately and have had two sellers that advertised locally and they tell me they are selling through a consigner ECT or BCT. The trailers they have are in almost perfect condition for prices that are too cheap to believe. You start asking them where the trailer is so you can take a look at it they start avoiding an answer or they deflect with something like, they came and got it and took it to a wearhouse but they can't tell me where. Both sellers also had almost the same story about needed money to help with the daughter's wedding. Has anyone had similar experience. They want you to send them money and they deliver it to you and you have 10 days to refuse or accept it. This is of course after you already paid them. I expect you will never see your money or the trailer again. These same sellers are on Ebay as well.

Perry

[dstalzer]

I do not understand why the state's attorney general does not stop such advertisements. I have seen numerous adds like this.

Dennis S

[Aage]

Perry,

To answer your question, yes, this is quite a common scam today, sad to say.

Craiglist has a mechanism to "flag" them which will result in them being removed, but this does nothing other than killing that particular ad. They can be back the next day to do it all over again.

In a perfect world, I suppose police would have an interest in pursuing them, but this world is far from perfect, as we all know.

[perryg114]

I have both these guys emails. I wonder if they could be turned in to some sort of government agency?

Perry

[perryg114]

They make the trailers looks like such a good deal that you will take the risk.

Perry

[DKB_SATX]

Yup, definitely a common scam.

For a while it was always Bambis and always at the same price point, I got in the habit of flagging their ads with barely even a cursory review. They've started changing up a bit, both in the price and advertising the smaller Safaris from time to time, but the story is always very similar. I think the ones who are impersonating military families and/or personnel should be beaten, but then again I'm from a state where it's generally acceptable to shoot cattle rustlers, so my attitudes may be a bit extreme.

As to having their email addresses... you have either addresses they set up specifically to run these scams or addresses they've appropriated from real people who aren't careful enough with their passwords, I'd be willing to bet you a mortgage payment that the email addresses themselves would be a dead end. *IF* law enforcement were sufficiently motivated, the IP addresses from which the craigslist ads are posted and the emails are sent would be a start, but it's nonviolent crime with a small dollar figure (small in criminal terms, no doubt not small to people who are duped by these dirtbags!) so the agencies with appropriate jurisdiction aren't going to be particularly interested.