Craigslist: A scam story

The great 21st century, where everything is possible just with the click of a button, meeting people, sending emails, chit chat, marriages, buying & selling stuff, cheating, frauds, scams and what not. Cheating, frauds and scams, well that sounds interesting. I am sure we all have read a lot about all these things happening over the internet. There are myriads of such scams all around us, we know it exists, even the law officials are very well aware about such schemes but nothing has been done to stop it, or let me put it like that, the master mind behind such frauds are so smart that they design the plan of escape before they plan how to cheat people of their money. In olden days some 20-30 years back, robbers and thieves are suppose to came of their hideouts and they need to go to the bank in person to rob it, they need to frighten the people with guns and knives to steal things, not anymore. Thanks to the internet, these robbers and thieves are not supposed to come out of their homes to steal something from you and me. They are in control of robbing you, me or anybody over the internet. Moreover there are certain sophisticated scam tricks where you will go to your bank, take out the cash and then send it to these guys. Your hard earned money is gone, just like that. It is not like someone is trying to take it from you on gunpoint you yourself with a smile on your face will send it to them. This sounds impossible, right. Well read on.

Craig Newman launched Craigslist sometime in 1995 to spread the awareness among his friends about the social events in the San Francisco Bay area. Slowly and gradually Craigslist become a web based service and spread all over the US and the World. People use Craigslist to posts everything from jobs listings to the stuff they want to buy or sell. Craigslist is now having a major footprint covering around 570 cities across 50 countries in the World.

I came to know about Craigslist about 4 years back and thought someday I might use this site to buy or sell some stuff. It just happened in January (2011) when for the very first time my wife posted the ad on the Craigslist to sell the Cradle Swing. We bought the swing when my 2nd son was born and it was very new (not much used). We got some replies over the email and people have shown their interest in buying it. One such reply came from Pamela Bruce. She not only showed the interest in buying the swing but she emailed my wife that she will pay $20 extra over the list price just because she liked it and want us to hold it for her. In her next email she told my wife that as she is leaving the country and going to the UK, her assistance will send us the money and pick up the swing. In another email she says that her assistance made a mistake and has overpaid us and told us that the money will come in the form of a money order via FedEx. She told us that she had complete trust in us and that she will send the details to send the overpaid money back to her. Within the next couple of days we got the FedEx containing the money order (Money Gram). When we opened the FedEx packet both me and my wife were shocked to see the money order the value of which was more than 10 times the price we put for the swing (we put the selling price of the swing for $70 and got the money order for $900). Now who would pay up more than 10 times the listed price? That was a bloody scam and now we would like to make sure it is.

The very next morning we went to our bank and gave the money order to the cashier. To our surprise all she did was asked how much money I have in my savings account verified the same and gave me $900 (without going into the details about the money order). Now there is a catch, before giving you the money against any money order the bank will check your account and make sure you have sufficient funds in case the money order is fake. If the money order is not genuine the bank will then deduct that amount from your account and you cannot do anything about it. We took the cash and came to the nearest western union as per the instructions given to us in the email from Pamela Bruce. She requested us to deduct our $90 ($70 + $20 extra) and send the remaining $810 to some location in UK (remember I told you Pamela is off to UK for her vacation). Once we reached the western union and discussed about the options of sending the money to the UK the customer rep behind the counter told me whether I know Pamela Bruce and we told her no we did not. After listening to our whole story she told me same thing happened to her when she was selling some of her stuff over the internet and some person asked to send the money using western union and that was a scam. Me and my wife were now 100% sure it is a scam but we actually wanted to know what happen at our bank. We came back to our bank and gave them all the $900 and asked them to verify the money order. This girl behind the counter told me the same story I heard from the western union customer rep and told me how she ended up losing money in one such scam. After my bank made some calls we came to know the money order send by the assistance of Pamela Bruce was already used in April 2010 for $35. Both me and my wife were shocked to hear this.

I guess we were fortunate enough to figure out we are in the middle of a scam. Most of the people do not understand this and end up losing money to these spineless morons. The victims of these nefarious schemes end up sending their own money to these faceless criminals. There is a hole in the system which needs to be fixed. We should have come to know at the bank itself (when we were there for the first time) about the fake money order. The cashier experienced this scam herself and she kept quiet till we told her what exactly happened. Sure Craigslist & the internet have made it a whole lot easy for you and me to buy & sell stuff online but we all should be very careful when dealing on the internet. Craigslist have posted the detailed information about such incidents and how to report the same. Please check it before making any such transactions.

These are some of the actual emails which Pamela Bruce wrote. With such innocuous emails who would suspect Pamela to be a scam artist?
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From: pamela bruce
To:
Sent: Fri, January 21, 2011 10:18:19 AM
Subject:


Hi,
I'm glad it's still for sale. I'm going on a vacation to London but I
will instruct my assistant to prepare and mail you your payment which
I'm sure you will get it in about 4-6 business days. I'll add $20
extra for the delay. Money Order is the means I can pay you with. If
this is acceptable by you, Send me your info i.e full name, mailing
address and your phone number so payment can be mail out immediately.I
will also make arrangement for pick-up which will be after you must
have received and cashed the Money Order.


Awaiting your info
Thanks


From: pamela bruce
To:
Sent: Sun, January 23, 2011 12:26:55 AM
Subject: Re:


Hi,
I urgently have bring something to your notice. I just found out that
my Assistant overpaid you. The payment meant for another transaction
was made out in your name and sent to you. However I want to believe I
wont have a problem with you on this. Once you receive the payment,
Please proceed to the bank and cash the Money order, deduct your money
and send back the balance to me. So I can proceed with arrangement for
pick-up. Once more, I hope I can fully trust you with this? I will
await your response on this so my mind can be at rest.


Thanks



From: pamela bruce
To:
Sent: Wed, January 26, 2011 7:25:50 AM
Subject: Re:

Hi,
I just confirmed that you will receive payment today via FedEx. Once you do, Please proceed to your bank to deposit and cash the MoneyGram Money Order. After cashing, Please deduct your money and take the rest money to the nearest Western Union Outlet and send the balance money to me on the following details:


Name : Pamela Bruce
Address : 60 Hyde Park Gate
City : London
Country : United kingdom


After sending the money, please email me the following western union transfer details


1. MTCN (10 digit numbers)
2. SENDER'S NAME AND ADDRESS
3. TOTAL AMOUNT SENT AFTER DEDUCTING TRANSFER CHARGES
(please pay the transfer charges from my balance money)


I will really appreciate if you can get this done as soon as you receive the payment today so that arrangement for pick-up can commence.
Thanks

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On a funnier note, what is the similarity between Pamela Anderson & Pamela Bruce (except they share the same first name)? One is using silicon to steal the hearts of many while the other is stealing the money from many by utilizing the resources offered by the silicon valley based Craigslist.

If you are someone who has been the victim of such scams and lost your money then my sympathies goes out to you and your family, be careful in the future. If you are someone who is about to trade your stuff on Craigslist or any such site then please make sure you did not end up in any such situation. If you are someone who is planning to cheat others of their money then I along with other victims would like to give you something special – our middle finger and lots of kicks where it hurts the most. I know it’s been more than a decade now, but welcome to the 21st century everybody, where kisses & kicks can be delivered to anyone, just with a click of the button.