Need advice soon! Craigslist and PayPal

[Throckmork]

I'm looking to sell my 96 mustang with a tranny slip problem. I said that if you were wanting it, a trailer is needed cuz it only goes in reverse right now. This guy messaged me a couple times. HELP. Is this safe? He asked if I still had it and I said yes but he'd need a trailer and I told him what was wrong. Here's what he said,

Buyer: Dear Seller,

      Thanks for the mail, I'm seriously interested in buying this
for my first Son and am okay with your selling price, I'm an (Crude
Engineering) and currently offshore i really want this as a surprise
gift for my Son so i won't let him know anything about this until it
get delivered to him and I will like to know why you are selling this
item and i will like to know the condition of the item. You can mail
me back with your PayPal email address so i can make the payment to
you right now and if you don't have an account with PayPal you can set
up an account today as it's secured and reliable visit their website
on www.paypal.com... i will be responsible for the payment
fees/charges on this transaction. Do not worry about shipping or
picking up as my pick up agent will come and pick it up from you once
have made the payment to you and i will also need your full
Name,address and phone number looking forward to here back from you.

Regards Surest..

Then I said I would prefer cash. He said,

Buyer: I wish i could  come to view it but there is no way i could do that
cos, am currently offshore and as you
should know that due to the nature of my work phone calls are not
allowed offshore but i just try to squeezed out a time to view the
advert while it's really lovely and that' s why i will like to
purchase it for my son before his birthday so kindly get back to me
along with ya PayPal email so i can make the payment then the pick up
agent can come to view it for me before picking it up to get it
delivered to my son.
I will be looking forward to read back from you sooner.

[dkimble]

dscline, thanks so much for sharing the scamming of the scammers!  I had a very good laugh reading the powerbook prank at zug.com/pranks/powerbook.  Would love to know how it ended.  Thanks for sharing.

[dkimble]

A coworker of mine was selling his Harley on craigslist and answered a spam email.  He received a fedex the next day with check for a thousand dollars or so more than he was asking for the Harley.  The scammer told him to keep an extra $100 for my coworker's time and trouble, and then send the remainder to a shipper who would then come by and pick up the motorcycle upon receipt of the money.  My coworker took the fedex package to the police, but they said there's nothing they can do.   Fedex came from California.

[Crafty_1-Two]

Sorry to hear that that happened to you there are tons of scams out there.  I would say in the last four months someone has tried to scam me total so far 11 times all for items listed on Craigslist except two one was suppose to have come from Wells Fargo I don't have a Wells Fargo account they wanted to update my account information the other one came from someone I had dealt with in another county her email had been hacked into it and they didn't put my name and anyone who has lost or had their passport or purse stolen in another country they don't send emails out like that.  The other one came from someone who had hacked into her email and stated she had lost her purse passport everything and if you wanted to help her please call and send money of course its overseas in India.  The best way to catch a scammer, look for bad grammar and spelling, too much information about why they can't pick it up themselves, paying you more money then you want and asking you to cash the check and you keep what you want and send the rest to them, also you can check the properties of the email and compare them to other emails to see if it is the same person, also since I have had to deal with scams a lot I have learned what to look for.  Anyone can open a zillion emails with fake names and the other thing is if you think it is a scam compare it to the emails from other emails if you think they are scam email they all sound alike in my case they have been copied and pasted so they don't have to type it in each time some even forget what alias they are using.  You have to go to the FBI website and fill out the form IC3 and also The Federal Trade Commission.  Anyone that sends you an email and tells you they will give you more money then you are asking, sending you emails telling you their life story and why they can't come themselves, sends you a check to cash or a money order or cashiers check that once cashed and sent to them will bounce and the bank will take it back minus the money for the check that was cashed by you.  Good Luck

[missy2000]

Same thing happen to me an I almost got scammed if it wasn't for reading here I would of lost my ring an had no money it **bleep** plz have to pray on others n there's nothing you can really do about it . I called cops in my town an they took report but said sorry that happen but nothing really you can do even if u would of sent off ring .. Really its ok for someone to just take from others an nothing anyone can do ... I hope everyone opens there eyes an start reading ur emails an look at every little thing .... Wish u all the best ! 

[moonmaedl]

You are not the only ones to be contacted by this blatantly obvious scammer ... I got the following message

"Thank for your mail. I'm satisfied with the condition of it as
advertised in the listing,i will like to add $100 to your final price
for you to keep off from all offer,and consider it sold to me alone as
i am serious with this.I will like you to know that i am really
interested in buying this for my father,payment will be through PayPal
and the pick up will be arranged by me as i will have my agent come
down to pick it up...i will be waiting to hear from you,and i will
like you to send me the name and email address on the PayPal account
to send the payment and send me more pics of this item if available
since it will not be seen in person so i can pay it right away I am a
busy at work and do not have much time around me.Make sure you get
back to me so that we can arrange for pick up as i will like the item
to be picked at your residence,so no shipping

Thanks and reply asap.

Regards"

Needless to say, he was reported as a scam-scam-SCAM... watch out for this one. 

MoonMaedl