Craigslist Shenanigans

As some of you may know, I've been trying to sell a 1931 Ford AA truck for my dad. Up to this point, I've been avoiding the uncharted wasteland that is Craigslist, but enthusiast websites haven't generated a sale, so off we go. Less than 12 hours after the listing, I've been contacted by email by someone we'll call individual A. Individual A sends me an email at 4:30 a.m. EST (which, along with individual A's name, suggests Europe/Eastern Europe), says he wants to buy the truck, doesn't negotiate price, even though the price says OBO. Says his agent will contact me. I answer the few questions he asks in his email and send him a few more pictures by reply email. He says he wants the truck, and says his "agent" Vladimir (I'm not making this up, honest) will be contacting me. An hour later, I get an email from "Vladimir S***". BTW - the complete name I'm given for "Vladimir" is apparently the name of a famous 1950's Russian novelist, which a quick google search reveals. He says Vladimir is from New Jersey. I google Vladimir's name and add New Jersey to it and I get a white pages listing for the guy. It says he's in the auto parts business, but also indicates he's the sole employee of his company. Vladimir's email requests that I contact him by phone, which I haven't done yet, but makes no mention of the possibility he's acting as agent for anyone else. It does, perhaps unusually, request that I contact him by phone. The whole thing reeks of a scam to me. What I'm really after here is an extrication strategy that preserves the somewhat remote possibility this is legit.

Critique/criticize/refine my plan here: 1. Option 1 - totally ignore. (I've probably blown this by answering the first email) 2. Option 2 - contact "Vladimir" - start off negotiations by indicating that this will be a cash/wire transfer deal only. Seems that would turn away 99% of scammers. 3. Option 3 - open to suggestions.

Honest, I'm not making this stuff up.

Cash only, in person, or go away

oldtin wrote: Cash only, in person,in a well lighted public place or go away

FTFY. Seriously, you don't some naer do well eye balling your garage up.

Total scam. Walk away.

Tell "Vladimir" to meet you at your bank with cash dollars. Those are the terms, nothing else.

I'd ignore it. Absolutely a scam. Most police stations will let you do deals in their parking lot for safety. If you insist in trying to meet, do it at the PD.

Usually if they don't ask any questions about the item for sale and/or want to buy it without looking at it and/or just copy and paste your post title. It's a scam.

So, I spoke with "Vladimir" - first, he offered to send the funds by wire transfer. As far as I know that's relatively foolproof, but then he says he's buying it for himself, which is totally contrary to the first email I received where guy #1 says Vladimir will be contacting me to buy the truck for him. I'm surprised there isn't a Nigerian prince involved.

This is exactly why I didn't want to deal with Craigslist in the first place.

Out of curiosity, has either of the characters discussed how they wish to take possession of the vehicle?

Again Cash at the Police station. Here in Atl. an Older Man and Wife were Murdered going to look at a Mustang. Push All his Buttons and if they still want it It's Cash at the Police Station

Ah Craigslist you're always full of fun and interesting people.

I bought a set of rims a couple of years ago from a guy and the whole thing looked sketchy as hell, meet one place, follow him somewhere else (really far out in the sticks). But as with 99.999% of the time, he was harmless and just needed a few extra bucks.

It pays to be cautious and this Vladimir sounds pretty scammy to me (wire transfer? Oh, so you can clean out my account later? No thanks.) but personal safety, be aware and if you carry more than $100 that someone knows about you should be carrying something 9mm.

Tell Vlad to pump off.

Stress, BS, getting robbed; go to an A website or forum. They're nice people.

Wire transfers (Paypal) can be troublesome too, as you can be left in the lurch if the funds don't materialise. I don't exactly follow how this works, as I thought you can only be credited with funds once the sender sends them, but apparently these can fall through, leaving you with a bad situation. So yes, cash only.

Life is too short to get raped and murdered by a vampire.

I MIGHT meet the guy... With a van-load of my biggest friends armed with guns (and garlic) in tow.

Ive been dealing with this while trying to unload my 81 chevy. If it isnt off the wall trade offers its some guy in los angeles ot new york trying to buy it and have it shipped. Apparently they even try to scam cheap vehicles.

I found a picture of the guy in case you meet

[URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_29.jpg.html][/URL]

I wish I had the space and time, I actually want your dads truck.

Good luck with Vlad the Impaler.

So here's the final update: Did our homework and Vlad turned out to be legit, if not the best communicator in the world. Secure electronic funds transfer cleared today. (Our credit union was very helpful in setting up a secure transaction. Our bank, not so much. Direct quote: "If you were a business, we could do that for you, but we don't do that for private individuals")

Here's the sort of interesting part: According to Vlad, the truck will be headed for a Russian Military Museum. Apparently, they built a gazillion of them under license during the "Great Patriotic War", sort of their "duece and a half", I guess.

Sweet man! Glad your head didn't end up on a pike in Transylvania and you got paid. Win-win!

So between craigslist and autotrader I've had 7 different craigslist scammers approach with various craigslist paypal scams. One of which was trying to act like a deployed servicemen which seemed lower than average. Roughly 20 real customers of which 18 were idiot kids asking nothing about the car but trying to beat me to below trade in values ala text message. Love it.

I was surprised that I got not a single scam response to my Scion ad on CL.

A couple of idiots, including the guy who texted me a photo of $3800 cash (now that's gangsta!) without even looking at the car, but no scammers.

kazoospec wrote: So here's the final update: Did our homework and Vlad turned out to be legit, if not the best communicator in the world. Secure electronic funds transfer cleared today. (Our credit union was very helpful in setting up a secure transaction. Our bank, not so much. Direct quote: "If you were a business, we could do that for you, but we don't do that for private individuals") Here's the sort of interesting part: According to Vlad, the truck will be headed for a Russian Military Museum. Apparently, they built a gazillion of them under license during the "Great Patriotic War", sort of their "duece and a half", I guess.

YAY!!! and I haz a sad...

Glad it worked out man, just bad timing on the truck for me. I would have loved that thing.

Two stories.

1) I had my '99 M3 Convertible listed on CL with photos and a video link at $9,500. I got the usual insanity, including some guy who wanted to pay full price and was "out of the country." Long story short, he met me at his brokerage office in Baltimore after flying home from Afghanistan, and I took possession of a cashier's check (directly from the cashier). So, not every crazy story turns out to be crazy.

2) I saw a '92 NSX on CL listed at a price that was in my ballpark. I asked a few questions and did some research before getting my bank to cut a cashier's check for what I was willing to pay made payable to the seller. I texted a photo of the check to the seller and explained that this was my final and only offer, period. He came back with demands for cash and a larger amount. I reiterated that this was my ONLY offer and that he could accept it or I would happily return the check to the bank. Long story short, he took it.

Lesson: things are not always what you think.