Scam? I think so.

[PJRAM]

continentalfreightshippers.com is registered to an owner in Reykjavik, Iceland. I would say this is a scam. Whois continentalfreightshippers.com

 

[N80]

Actually the tractor arrived today. It is better than it looked in the pictures. The folks from Continental Freight were very nice but they were hard to understand because of the Icelandic accent. The sounded like vikings.

 

[pilotweld]

In another thread I was complaining about a listing on Craig's list that sounded too good to be true and that the person who listed it replied back to me once and then not again.

Well, today I got a reply with a name and the pictures I requested. The tractor looks fantastic. The location of the tractor, according to Craig's list is about 2 hours from me. I sent the seller, who says she is selling her recently deceased husband's tractor, a list of dates that I could come and pay cash for the tractor. This is the reply I got:

As I mentioned before, I'm a widow and now I'm here in *******, ** staying with my parents. [That is not the location listed on Craig's list].
The tractor is already at the shipping company in Roanoke sealed and ready for shipping. My presence won't be necessary because I prearranged the deal with Continental Freight Shippers. The deal includes free delivery and it will arrive at your address in 3-4 days. You will have 5 days to try out prior to making any purchase and if by any reason you find something you don't like about it you can send it back at my expense. If you are interested in knowing more info about how it works, I can ask Continental Freight Shippers to send you an email with more information on how to purchase it. Continental Freight Shippers will contact you shortly after they have the details with all the confirmation that you need to complete this deal and you will also have proof that I am covered by them and a legitimate seller.
If you would like to receive the email from Continental Freight Shippers with all the transaction information please reply with your full name, shipping address and phone # and they will call you right away.
Hope to hear from you soon.

So, this obviously looks fishy. I cannot find a company with the exact name of Continental Freight Shippers but there are a few with very similar names. My wife, who is an excellent researcher, could not find a person by the name the seller gave me in the area that the Craig's list posting originated from except for someone who is deceased. Craig's list also says only to buy face-to-face. The part about trying it for 5 days and sending it back at the seller's expense sounds ridiculous too.

I sent her my work number and address. I'll play along and try to be an optimist just because I want it to be real (the pictures show a sweet tractor!). I'm normally a realist....pessimist according to my wife.

It makes me sad and angry that we live in this kind of world. It also makes me disappointed in myself that I'm still hoping this might be legit.

Curious if others have seen this sort of thing?

SCAMMMMMMM - Sounds almost identical to an RV purchase attempt I encountered a year ago. If it sounds too good to be true....stop right there!

 

[dboreham]

I live in a deep rural location. I think the Craigslist scammers like to post in a location like mine because the chances of someone local wanting to come around to see the machine they claim to be selling will be low. After a while you can immediately spot the fake listings. Price too good to be true, not many pictures. The pictures don't look like they were taken here (e.g. the ad is in winter but no snow in the picture). They specify locations that are pretty unlikely too -- places that are in the national park, or national forest for example. Their bot scripts don't understand how to pick plausible locations.

 

[bartjoebob]

In another thread I was complaining about a listing on Craig's list that sounded too good to be true and that the person who listed it replied back to me once and then not again.

Well, today I got a reply with a name and the pictures I requested. The tractor looks fantastic. The location of the tractor, according to Craig's list is about 2 hours from me. I sent the seller, who says she is selling her recently deceased husband's tractor, a list of dates that I could come and pay cash for the tractor. This is the reply I got:

As I mentioned before, I'm a widow and now I'm here in *******, ** staying with my parents. [That is not the location listed on Craig's list].
The tractor is already at the shipping company in Roanoke sealed and ready for shipping. My presence won't be necessary because I prearranged the deal with Continental Freight Shippers. The deal includes free delivery and it will arrive at your address in 3-4 days. You will have 5 days to try out prior to making any purchase and if by any reason you find something you don't like about it you can send it back at my expense. If you are interested in knowing more info about how it works, I can ask Continental Freight Shippers to send you an email with more information on how to purchase it. Continental Freight Shippers will contact you shortly after they have the details with all the confirmation that you need to complete this deal and you will also have proof that I am covered by them and a legitimate seller.
If you would like to receive the email from Continental Freight Shippers with all the transaction information please reply with your full name, shipping address and phone # and they will call you right away.
Hope to hear from you soon.

So, this obviously looks fishy. I cannot find a company with the exact name of Continental Freight Shippers but there are a few with very similar names. My wife, who is an excellent researcher, could not find a person by the name the seller gave me in the area that the Craig's list posting originated from except for someone who is deceased. Craig's list also says only to buy face-to-face. The part about trying it for 5 days and sending it back at the seller's expense sounds ridiculous too.

I sent her my work number and address. I'll play along and try to be an optimist just because I want it to be real (the pictures show a sweet tractor!). I'm normally a realist....pessimist according to my wife.

It makes me sad and angry that we live in this kind of world. It also makes me disappointed in myself that I'm still hoping this might be legit.

Curious if others have seen this sort of thing?

For that amount of coin do yourself a huge favor and just take a road trip to go see it. I too would be curious. Offload deals on retirement toys like this are not uncommon, so it's plausible this is legit. Trust your gut though. You don't want this to be some messy divorce situation while the owners away and someone is selling the tractor out from under someone else. Bill of sale in chain of documents should be mint

 

[rbstern]

FB Marketplace and CL are the same thing really.

Strongly disagree with the last statement.

Craigslist, for all of its flaws, could have cashed in and morphed into something like FB. Craig Newmark purposely avoided pretty much every negative thing about social media, foregoing billions. He kept it simple. It remains what it always has been: Classified ads. Scammable? Of course. So are newspaper classifieds.

FB marketplace carries the negative debris of all things FB: Next time you look at a bogus ad, look at the seller's profile. I just looked at a FB marketplace ad for a utility sized Kubota that looked brand new, and listed at $2000. The seller was an upstate NY restaurant, located more than 1000 miles from me. Bogus, of course. Another series of bogus tractor equipment ads, the seller's FB account was named "Unicornity." Thought that was pretty funny. In these cases, the accounts are fake, hacked, or used for other FB purposes.

 

[N80]

If it sounds too good to be true....stop right there!

There is a reason that the hook works though. We all know people who have gotten good deals in situations like the scammers describe. That's why the scammers use them. I suspect a decent percentage of used tractor sales are from older guys who have died or can't use their tractor anymore. It happens all the time. So I don't automatically bail on a deal just because it looks good. It does not hurt to investigate as long as you don't send money or give credit card numbers etc.

 

[Tom woll]

About a year ago I called about a great looking tractor on Craig's list and had the exact same interaction. IT IS A SCAME. Made a better deal with the Kubota dealer. LOL.

 

[blueman2]

It happens all the time on facebook marketplace. Samr pic in many different locations. They usually respond they are selling it for someone else, and give you an email address to contact. I spend a lot of time reporting there scams. Not sur eif it does any good!

 

[KubotaGirl001]

No answer at the number. I'm done.

That's what my friend kept saying about the loser she is still dating