Post #387687 by The Gnomon on Tue, Jun 17, 2008 6:37 PM

On 2008-06-17 15:37, Mai Tai wrote:
But I wonder why they were so urgent and adamant about me removing the ad from Craigslist? Is it that if I remove the ad, and then they send me a bogus check or some other form of payment, then am I legally locked in to this transaction and the financial responsibility, because they could claim that there is no ad?

There are lots of scammers out doing the same thing and they all have more or less the same pitch (depending what type of scam their into). If you leave your ad out there, it could be found by another scammer with the same pitch. When you see both offers (or several), then you'd know there was a pattern and would not trust any of them. If you withdraw the ad, other similar scammers would not be able to respond and give away their little secret. Scamming is a numbers game. They are continually stepping on each others toes. But they just move on. Pulling the ad just helps avoid stepping on each others' toes and giving the scam away.

Side benefits of getting you to pull your ad include:

1. Hopefully, making you think they really want what you're selling; and
2. Since you won't be getting any more offers unless you go through the trouble of placing another ad, you might be further motivated to continue with their scheme when their check arrives.