Craigslist scam - what can they do with the info?
 

A friend of mine called me about a Honda minivan listed in the Syracuse Craigslist for about half of what it should cost. I said beware before I really knew the details.

I emailed the seller, a Lt. Daniel Roberts. This is the exchange and starts from the bottom up:



Gladly, but first send me your phone number, what base your stationed at and your company commanders name. Also a base telephone number and what unit your assigned with. I have been with the Military for 31 years and want to make sure you are who you say you are.



Thomas Dowling




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Daniel Roberts [mailto:daniel.roberts@msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 5:13 PM
To: Thomas Dowling
Subject: RE: == MUST SELL == 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring Minivan - $10000




Hello,


I'm glad you're interested in my car. As I already said in my first email the car is currently located in UK.
I can have it shipped from here by an US Air Force cargo plane so there won't be any additional shipping costs.
Also I can arrange for a truck to transport the car to your home address or, if you like, you can pick it up from
the nearest airport in your area. The shipping will take up to 7 days, depending on your location.

The car will arrive with all the papers and documents required for registration and the keys. The clear title and
the bill of sale will be already signed by me.

The final price you will have to pay is $10,000. The payment will be done through eBay. They will act as a third party
in this transaction. You will send the money to eBay and as soon as the payment is confirmed they will notify me to
proceed with the shipping. I will ship the car, you will receive it and will have 7 days for inspection, both the car
and the paperwork. During all this time eBay will hold the money. If you are satisfied with the car and decide to keep
it you inform eBay about this and they will release the money to me. If the car is not as advertised and decide not to
keep it eBay will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back the car will be my concern.
I think this is more than fair for the both of us.

Please take into consideration that I will get paid only after you receive the car and make sure everything is as agreed.
If you agree with these terms and you have the money, SEND ME YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS where you want the car to be
delivered and I will initiate the transaction with eBay. You will receive all the transaction details from them.
I will appreciate an answer as soon as possible. Also, feel free to ask me any question you may have.


Thank you,
Lt. Daniel Roberts
daniel.roberts@msn.com






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: tdowling4@nycap.rr.com
To: daniel.roberts@msn.com
Subject: RE: == MUST SELL == 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring Minivan - $10000
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 17:07:53 -0500

Sounds good, having been looking for an Odyssey for some time. As long as the VIN number checks out, I think we can do this. Give me the Ebay escrow information and we will get this going. What kind of deposit do you want? Shipping will be on you to an East Coast port or airbase.



Regards,

Tom Dowling




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Daniel Roberts [mailto:daniel.roberts@msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 4:51 PM
To: Thomas Dowling
Subject: RE: == MUST SELL == 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring Minivan - $10000



Hi there and sorry for the late reply.

The car is still available for sale. This is a 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring minivan, 3.5L V6 Automatic, 24000 Miles, VIN 5FNRL38865B085199.

It is in EXCELLENT condition; the body and paint are great, no scratches and no dents; the interior is clean; it has never been involved in an accident.

Here you can find more pictures with the car:
http://picasaweb.google.com/danielroberts50/car
(if the above link does not work copy and paste it into a new web browser window)

I'm an US Air Force Lieutenant currently stationed in UK. And the car is here with me. It was bought in the US and shipped to Europe, but it was never permanently registered here, the car is still registered in the US.

The car is for sale locally as well, but there are slim chances of this to happen. First of all this is a US model car, with the steering wheel on the left side, as opposed to a UK model, that has the steering wheel on the right side. And second, in order to be able to register this car here in UK the buyer would have to pay very high import/custom taxes that will double the price. So I decided to sell the car back in the US.

As I'm unable to travel in the near future and I don't have anyone back home to help me with the sale I decided to make this transaction through eBay.

So how this actually works? Simple: the buyer sends the payment to eBay and they hold the money until the car is delivered; I ship the car to US; I get my money only after the buyer receives the car and makes sure everything is as agreed. I believe this protects both buyer and seller and it's the right way to do this.

The final price is $10,000 including shipping from Europe to the US and delivery to your home address.

So if you decide to buy this car or need further information please get back to me as soon as possible.

Thank you and have a great day,
Lt. Daniel Roberts
daniel.roberts@msn.com



My question is.....what can this person possibly do with my name and address vs. any other person looking a name and address up in the phone book? I realize this is a scam....but where does it go from here?

If an email from a "US Air Force Lieutenant" reads like a cab driver talks....you might be getting scammed.

You won't hear back from him. Or if you do, eventually you'll get a link to some bogus escrow site.

Just an attempt to get you to enter all your personal and financial info into a fake payment site. Your credit card would be maxed out within minutes of hitting send.

From what I can tell ebay doesn't have an escrow service. There are escrow services that you can use with ebay. This scammer is trying to use the ebay name and well know brand to make you feel confortable with the transaction.

I would imagine what happens is that with your name and address the scammer creates an official looking webpage from ebay. The scammer would send you an "altered" link to the page and there you would be asked for personal information like bank account numbers and credit card numbers and SSN number.

Just for giggles you could tell him you were John Smith and lived at 123 West Street, Anywhereville, NY 12345 and see where it goes.

I would have just asked for his phone number so I could give him a call. I can't do business without talking to the person. A scammer will give you reasons why he wouldn't be able to talk to you. Besides, even if this was legit, are you going to buy a car without really knowing anything about it?

The scammer will send a fake escrow page asking you to send a Western Union payment. Scammer picks up payment and is gone, along with your cash.

Even this is going too far. One shouldn't be responding what-so-ever to offers that are too good to be true (e.g. 1/2 priced vehicles). So, you get a phone number, call the person and they answer all questions to your satisfaction? You still get scammed.

Any time a seller uses the words "escrow service", it's time to walk away.

If you guys remember, this same sort of thing happened to me on a set of Fuchs off eBay -second chance offer. The seller asked for my info, and stupid me, I gave it to him, and I got the fake page. I quickly wrote you guys here advised me to stay away. The story went from the guy was in New Jersey which I was going to pick them up myself to the guy was in the UK. I then asked to give him a call, and the excuses were so funny. Then I just decided to have fun with the scammer.

The eBay escrow site with be a spoof. Run Forrest, run!

Here's a CL scam that ran in a lot of places - an early sporto coupe for $2900. I tried to waste the guy's time for a few days. As you can see, the concepts are all very similar to your scam.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/372790-i-knew-too-good-true.html

Hang on a minute. I know Lt. Daniel Roberts. He was my wingman in the Flying Tigers back in Indochina. Had ten kids and a minivan as I remember...

My buddies wife called me because I am in the Law Enforcement community and she thought it was "to good to be true". Without knowing much about how the scam would work, I just emailed him to see if I could get some more information. He would immediately respond back except the last time, when I asked for HIS personal information. Haven't heard from him since.

Yo Brother T!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gif

I don't know where he "took" the pics of the van, but that ain't England.

Definitely a scam there is no way Lt. Dan can drive that minivan.....:eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1194631870.jpg

I just sent a reply to a scam like this one about an hour ago. People will try anything, and the crappy thing is is that they succeed.