Take Care When Using Craigslist...Well, Just Take Care, Period

From the MTS Archives

I think Craigslist is a great site, but you do shop at your own risk. The "flagging" system helps somewhat, but you still need to be careful.

Case in point? After writing my previous post on hunting for used cars, (see below) I was rather idly browsing through a list of small trucks on Craigslist and, curious, sent emails requesting mileage info to the sellers of two suspiciously inexpensive vehicles, a Nissan Frontier and a Toyota Tundra.

Here's what I got back from "Mark Johnson" on the Frontier.

Hi, I am selling this car because I am being dispatched to the Gulf of Aden.I will be there for more than a year and I’ve cut the price because I must sell before July 30th.The car is in great condition, no rust, no electrical or mechanical problems. I have a clean title ready to be signed. It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad .The car is in the Billings MT, and in case it gets sold I will take care of shipping.Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Now, if you've ever used the car/trucks section of Craigslist, you'll notice a warning at the top about how any offer to ship a car is "100% fraudulent. So the Billings, MT bit was a red flag. I mean, who's going to sell a vehicle at a very cheap price and also offer to ship it free from Montana to Dallas?
But it got better. I opened the email reply to my inquiry about the Tundra, also listed with a suspiciously low price.

This time, the reply was from "George Lucas" --now there's an original name.

Hi, I am selling this car because I am being dispatched to the Gulf of Aden.I will be there for more than a year. I’ve cut the price because I must sell before July 25th.The car is in great condition, no rust, no scratches. I have a clean title ready to be signed. No electrical or mechanical problems. It is still available for sale if interested, price as stated in the ad ($3500) .The car is in the Dallas area. in case it gets sold I will take care of shipping.Let me know if you are interested, email back.
 

Yes, a late model Toyota Tundra for $3500. This time, he was offering to ship the car from Dallas, which is interesting for someone advertising in the Dallas/Fort Worth area....Dallas is 50 miles away and one would assume that the Tundra could be driven that far, no?

And don't you love the implication that he's in the military?

And for Pete's sake, you'd think he could change the pitch just a little bit, no?

I replied to both posts with the word SCAMMER in 36 point bold type. I tried to go back and flag the ads, but they were already gone; obviously, other people had no problem figuring out that this guy was a crook.
So watch for these people. They are out there, doing their best to ruin a good thing. Read those warnings on the uppper right of the Craigslist page so you'll know some of the tricks scammers pull. Then flag them if you find them.....and never let your hopes for a great deal override your good sense.