craigslist scams

stretched06

stretched06

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About 3 weeks ago I put the bike on craigslist. So far i have gotten 5 text messages where the buyer wants to put the funds into paypal and then have a pick up agent come for the bike. I havent had one serious call yet. On text had a link to view photos and the lady was asking if my bike was the same as the bike in the photos. I could not open the photos to view them but there was a download that I had to have to open them. I sent the link to my brother(he is computer smart). He and a friend discovered that if I would have downloaded to veiw the photos i would have got a virius. Has anyone else delt with this kind of crap? So far the scams have been so easy to spot I cant see how anyone would fall for them.
 
CL is full of scammers. The best way to deal with them is to require specific text for an email response and then use filters to remove all the crap from your inbox. Also don't post your phone number, make the buyer email you their number so you can call them if it comes down to it. I use Gmail and the filtering option is fantastic and a great way to weed out the people who don't bother to read the post before they reply, aka scammers.

Also make sure you meet them in a well lit public place, preferably one with security camera's like a Bank.

I had someone try to break into my house while I was gone during the day because I had given out my address and then the buyer backed out of meeting me last min. I knew he tried to break in because my wife works from home and said our Pit Bull was going nuts, but not everyone has a good home defense setup when they are away.

Recently I have been using CL to post Job postings for my company. I actually created a separate account in our Gmail domain just for the job postings. I give a specific instructions on what to put in the subject line of the email so my filters and labels will work, if they cannot bother to read my job posting and follow a simple request, thier email response gets purged.
 
Thanks for the info. I may delete the add and start over useing your methods. This is the first time I have used craigslist and the first time ever selling something of value.
 
I have bought and sold a lot of stuff on CL but even dealing with legit buyers or sellers is strange on that site sometimes. A few years ago I was selling my daughter's quad. It was a blue, Yamaha, Breeze, the picture I posted was very clear on this. A guy called up and asked if it was really blue. I told him that it was the exact one in the pictures, clearly blue! He said that it was for his wife but she hated blue in any shade and she would never ride it. At this point I was wondering why he called so all I kept telling him was that I understood and he needed to buy something that she liked especially since she would be the one riding it. Then he said that he wanted to come look at it, I literally started laughing on the phone into his ear and asked him why but I changed my mind and told him "Never mind why, I am not wasting my time on this when I already know you won't buy it". I thanked him and hung up.
On the other hand some people show up with cash & minimal questions and just buy the stuff, weird.
 
Don't trust a listing that doesn't have pics. I don't bother with them. As far as selling, I use texting to communicate rarely calls. Write out your cell number in words, they take the time to figure it out if they truly are interested.
 
I have had great luck buying and selling on CL in SA. I think it has a lot to do with where you live. Very large cities seem to have more crooks. Just my observation over the years.
 
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