Is this a scam? Worthwhile reporting scams?

[Stickperson]

I've come across several Craigslist scams recently while looking for a used tractor. Is it worthwhile flagging them? Based on the number I see from what appears to be the same person, Craigslist does not appear to do any vetting.

Typical example is a B or BX series tractor for $1000. It always turns out the "owner" is recently divorced and moved away, in the military being deployed, or some other reason you can't go see it. Usually they want to move to eBay Motors and the tractor is "in the eBay warehouse" and " your money won't be released until you are satisfied" and related bovine excrement. This moron often uses the same phone number and/or email across ads. Reverse image searches show these pictures on ads across the country.

 

[Mat4644]

Flagging fraud ads is a very very slow process. It might suppress the ad for your net ID giving a false sense of working. Initially the process worked. Then selling competitors and people trying to drive the price down started scamming the system. It now takes many complaints and many days to identify and close down scam sellers and ads.

If it seems too good to be true it probably is. These scams work. Not Craig's List but a RN where my wife works was so convinced she won 5 million in an overseas lottery she gave them $50k.

 

[RjCorazza]

I used to flag Craigslist scam ads, but got tired and frustrated by being "flagged" for flagging too many posts.
The tractor scam ads are so outrageous I fall to see how they attract interest. I suspect most of them are simply collecting contact information of scam susceptible people for future use.

 

[jaxs]

I used to flag Craigslist scam ads, but got tired and frustrated by being "flagged" for flagging too many posts.
The tractor scam ads are so outrageous I fall to see how they attract interest. I suspect most of them are simply collecting contact information of scam susceptible people for future use.

I think that's the case with must of those. Craigslist attract's stupid like dead fish attract flies. A few examples. Many lagitimate buyers and sellers refuse to use CL annomous email. Buyers respond to ads with "is it still available" instead of stating their interest or asking questions. The last example is like he guy that leave's a message on voice mail simple saying "call me soon as you get this message" the when you call,he want's to know something you have to research then call him back,get his voice mail,give him information he asked for then he calls you back saying "I saw where you called" but didn't listen to voice mail before calling you. And quite likly get's your voice mail and start's the ting all over again. Stupid is very much alive and well.

 

[Motorboatin]

Flagging any fraud is a waste of time

I guy here in my office received an email about his gate changing at O'Hare for a flight that was leaving within an hour. It took a while but he finally figured out that someone bought a ticket on his credit card and was currently in the air flying to LAX. The airline confirmed that the ticket was used and that the "party" was on the flight but they wouldn't give any personal information. When he asked if the person was going to be arrested they said no. When asked why they told him that the police have more important things to do. He asked if LAX had security in the airport and was told that they didn't handle this kind of problem

Since his credit card was used he called them. The reversed the charges along with the airline miles but refused to call the police to stop the person at the gate. He was told that they see so much fraud that it would be impossible to to track it all. They just reimburse

 

[MechE1]

Flag it. I do see them disappear. However, I never use CL any longer due to this kind of stuff. Found it to be a complete waste of time given other options now available. I've flagged quite a bit, but never been accused of over-flagging. Side note, I've seen some of these scams on FB Marketplace as well. They don't tend to stay around long or come back as often. What I do see is dealers posting with ultra low prices as click bait. Not sure how they get away with that. Unreported I suppose.

 

[Richard]

These scams work. Not Craig's List but a RN where my wife works was so convinced she won 5 million in an overseas lottery she gave them $50k.

I had a "local" add ( and asked about it here on this forum) where someone had a brand new, still in box Lincoln welder. Retail is about $1,500 ? and they were asking something like $700... I did the obligatory "is this still available" then immediately felt slimed.

looking deeper, this was listed in many locations. I reported it to CL and it disappeared.....KIND OF.

I'm still not 100% sure what happened, but it seems days later, I did same search and I'd see the same thing for a blink of a moment, then it would disappear. Almost as though it was being blocked from ME and not blocked in general.

(shrugs shoulders)

Everyone needs to be on their toes.

As for the quote above..... yep.... I know an elderly gal who "Won the lottery in ENGLAND", despite admitting that she had never bought a ticket! She wanted to believe this so much and got so suckered in with the stories....

Well, as it happened, she was also selling a parcel of family land and got $400,000 for the land. Oh, well she's got to pay taxes and royalties to the Brits.... seems it happened to come out to $400,000...... and she sent it to them.

The story gets worse.... after (the obvious) delays of her getting her winnings, they were FINALLY going to hand deliver it to her.

Get this.... (and of course, every word here was a crock of crap from them)


They flew to our local airport....rented a car. They had a SUITECASE with them with her millions of dollars CASH in it. They left the airport....got confused and "turned right" (when they should have turned left) and got lost...... so went back to airport and went home.


WTF???


She ate every word of it..... they had her hook/line and sinker.

It was a most unfortunate situation as she could have used the $400K she lost for sure.

Finally, her daughter essentially disowned her and moved away saying 'if you're going to go through this, believe them and not me (her daughter) then you are beyond help and there's nothing I can do to help save you from yourself' and the daughter moved to Florida.

 

[Sonny580]

I got tired of flaggin and like others got banned for too much flaggin,---nothing lost!--- I also see this garbage on marketplace and just ignore it! FB already threatened to ban me so I dont have any choice! ---- They dont like me callin chit like I see it!---they cant handle the truth about stuff!

 

[bigtiller]

I flagged this one but it took days for it to disappear.

 

[jaxs]

The sad truth about law inforcement is if there's no a fine to be collected,law inforcement isn't going to act on it. Since I retired,I've persued a few law breakers to see where it leads. Here's one case. I called code inforcement after people next door to my rent house dismantled a motorhome and lots of trash/insulation wound up my property. I recieved a citation in the mail. I contested ticket,produced pictures of what remained of motorhome sitting on lot next door, my tenant (retired ) testified to seeing neighbors tearing rv apart over a period of days. Side note, This not being my first rodeo,I ask for a jury,we showed up twice and case had been resceduled so finally presented before a judge third time and lost. Why me instead of people next door? They were renters and well known by police so no money to be had or tax account to attach. I have other examples but this one should surfice for this conversation. Why,you might ask would I waste time beating dead horses when I realized the deck is usually stacked? I have a tiny but effecient voice recorder that has changed minds of folks about big brother watching out for them. It has been educational for friends and family (some listening to recordings or speaker phone and some who were present). Don't get me wrong,I'm not just talking about court cases,request's for aid to elderly,consumer affair issues and other issues buracrates say they are there to help with when we need them.