Post #387457 by Mai Tai on Mon, Jun 16, 2008 10:12 PM

(I would have posted this in Tiki Marketplace or Collecting Tiki, but the item that I'm selling isn't tiki).

Okay, I am trying to sell a sofa on Craigslist. I keep getting a strange response from what appears to be three separate people, but I believe in actuality that it is the same person - a scammer.

One of the e-mails sent to me says:

*Monday, June 16, 2008 10:34 AM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified "Recia Schuil"
Hello,
I really appreciate your response to my previous mail. I'll like to buy this item, pls do me a favor of taking down the ad from CL so as to be rest assured that I'm in hold of the item, anyways I don't have time to come have a look cause of my Job transfer and shortness of time but you don't need to bother yourself with the shipment, I'll take care of that by engaging the services of a mover, hence I'll be sending a check and it will be delivered via United Parcel Service, so i'll need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.

1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your cellphone number.
4.Final Price

I'll have my mover come over for the pick up as soon as you have cashed the check.
N.B UPS does not deliver to a P.O box addresses.. Have a wonderful day.*

Another e-mail response from a supposed other interested party says:

*Monday, June 16, 2008 7:17 PM
From: "TINA TINA"
Hello i really appreciate your response to my earlier mail.like i said i will like to buy this item so pls do withdraw the advert from Craigslist. I will also like you to know that i will be paying via check .I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.

1.Your full name
2.Your mailing residential address
3.Your phone number.

I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping i will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check
Have a nice day*

So, common sense to me says that this is the same person, especially when I received the following e-mail response from a supposed third person:

*From jeny jj Mon Jun 16 06:16:57 2008
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta196.mail.mud.yahoo.com from=fresnomail.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 66.150.243.6 (EHLO mxo1s.craigslist.org) (66.150.243.6) by mta196.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:16:51 -0700
Received: from c0mailgw03.prontomail.com (c0mailgwalt.prontomail.com [207.183.238.110]) by mxi4s.craigslist.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 690AD6BC74 for ; Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:16:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from c0web101 (c0mailgwalt.prontomail.com [207.183.238.110]) by c0mailgw03.prontomail.com (8.13.8(MC-AXH/MJD-001)/8.13.3) with SMTP id m5G5GkPg021553 for ; Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:16:46 -0700
From: "jeny jj"
Message-Id:
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:16:57 -0700
Reply-To: [email protected]

Am interested in your item and will like to know if still available.
Thanks*

Looking through the full headers, I noticed that this third e-mail appears to be from [email protected] but has a reply-to address of [email protected], the same sender one of the other e-mails listed above. So I went back and looked at the full headers of the other two e-mails. and discovered that they all have some something to do with fresnomail.com.

So, I'm not trying to establish a connection with Al-Quaeda or Saddam Hussein or weapons of mass destruction or anything. I'm just wondering what this person's angle is? Is it that they will send me a bad check that will bounce after I cash it, and then I'll be liable for covering those funds? And is that why the supposedly interested buyer keeps pressing me to remove the ad from Craigslist, as in if I remove the ad, and then cash their bogus check, then I'm totally liable or something? Or is it something entirely different? I'd love to hear from all you seasoned online seller types. Thanks!