Scammed a Craigslist Scammer (longish)

[HawaiianShirts]

I recently sold some stuff on ye olde Craigslist. I've never used that particular online classified service before, but it worked out. I got my stuff sold.

I put my email address in the ad because I prefer email communication. Naturally, I got spammed. I expected that. The email subject line would be about the item I was selling (let's say it's an old TV), but the email would be about how I could make billions of dollars online in a matter of seconds just for handing over my credit card number, that the founder of Craigslist wanted to give me a free iPad, that I should buy some medication, magazine subscription, foreign bride, etc. I ignored those.

I also got the standard Nigerian prince messages and the I'm-dying-but-I-want-you-to-share-my-fortune-for-me messages. Then a few who wanted to over pay for the TV and have me wire them the difference. I know that scam; I've seen it happen dozens of times, often to my customers when I worked for Major Electronics Retailer. I'm not going to fall for it.

But one guy...

He called himself Dan Hansen. His first message looked legit, so I responded. We exchanged a few emails about the item, then he said he wanted to buy. The moment he said I would need to ship the item to him, I knew it was a scam, but I decided to keep playing.

- Dan tells me he will pay for the TV as well as arrange and pay for shipping.
- I say that's great.
- Dan says he will send me a check for the TV.
- I say that's great, too.
- Dan tells me his assistant accidentally wrote the check for $950 instead of the agreed $65.
- I laugh and joke that Dan should fire his assistant and find someone smarter.
- Dan doesn't seem to get the joke. He asks for my address.
- I tell Dan that I have to go to Pennsylvania for a business trip right away, but he can mail the check to my brother-in-law who lives near me and can handle everything else for me.

I make up a fake brother-in-law. His name is Dwayne O. F. Oulwater, and he works at the waste water treatment plant. He is severely hard of hearing, so he can't use a phone, and he doesn't have a computer, but I can relay Dan's messages to him via text message.

- After asking me several times if I'm sure that "Dwayne" is okay with all of this, Dan feels reassured. He asks for my phone number in case he has questions.
- I give Dan a Rejection Hotline number for a Nigerian prince style message and tell him it's the number for my hotel, where I'm staying in Room 419 (a reference he apparently didn't get).
- If Dan ever called that number, he didn't mention it.
- Dan is reassured and sends the check via UPS.
- Dan sends me the UPS tracking number.
- I tell Dan that I've relayed the tracking number to Dwayne.

At this point, I've already sold the TV. A nice older gentleman who just happened to live a few blocks from me saw the Craigslist ad and emailed me. He didn't even haggle over the price.

- Dan emails me to tell me that the check should be delivered in just a few hours.
- I check the tracking number, notice that the package is in a town very close to the waste water treatment plant (because that's Dwayne's address, and I guess Dan didn't think it weird that Dwayne would get his mail at work). I also see "UPS has requested a Delivery Intercept for this package."
- I email Dan to ask what a Delivery Intercept means and what's going on.
- Dan does not reply.
- Meanwhile, UPS updates the tracking information. "The UPS Initiated Delivery Intercept request for this package was successfully completed. / Delivery rescheduled."
- Minutes later, UPS updates again. "Package has been forwarded to Government agency for further investigation."
- Dan still does not reply.

I'm a little unsure as to how I should feel about this. I got a scammer to waste his time dealing with me instead of attacking other people who might fall for it. I even got him lose a small amount of money on the deal (whatever UPS charged him). But I can't help feeling ever so slightly paranoid that I might get in trouble for this. I didn't send the bad check, I know, but I certainly didn't do anything to stop the guy...

Anyway, that was my Craigslist adventure. I thought I'd share.

[smileyeagle1021]

Ahem
You might find that interesting
There is a lot of people who spend a lot of time doing exactly what you did, keeping them busy with people who know how to outmaneuver them so they can't spend their time on innocent victims.

[Carsomyr]

But I can't help feeling ever so slightly paranoid that I might get in trouble for this. I didn't send the bad check, I know, but I certainly didn't do anything to stop the guy...

As far as I can tell you haven't done anything wrong, unless the guy can prove that you intended to take his money without sending him the TV - and that would require him not being a scammer, cause if he is he's most likely taken off by now, never to be heard from again.
Even if he did try to prove that, how many people were you corresponding with? Two? There's nothing for anyone to get back from you. A crime that never happened probably won't be taken seriously by the courts.

Don't worry about it at all, he's the one that needs to scarper if his cheque's bad. Plus, if he was busy dealing with you he probably missed potential real targets. Somewhere out there, you're someone's guardian angel.

[Sapphire Silk]

In order for the scammer to take you to court, he must have clean hands. If his check is bad, he doesn't have clean hands.

He would also have to prove you were trying to scam him out of money by never having anything for sale, which is not true you did, and you did sell it to someone who came up with the cash.

And you didn't have the check come to anyone you knew, or to yourself, so it's hard to prove fraud.

The government might get upset about a Homeland Security investigation you just triggered though.

They probably thought the letter was a letter bomb since it was sent to a non-existent person from the scammer who probably sent it from a non-existent address.

His fingerprints are probably on it though. If he's been nailed for fraud before, the authorities are probably wondering, "why'd this guy change MO's?"

But I doubt they'll catch him. He's probably long gone.

It was a good scam on the scammer: I laughed really hard. But next time, don't send it to a waste treatment plant. Make up a false address.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Oh, you'll be fine. What everyone else said.

Congratulations, you're a very good baiter. At this rate, if you keep it up, someday you will be a Master Baiter.

A title that is coveted over at The Eater site.

[dendawg]

At this rate, if you keep it up, someday you will be a Master Baiter.

Approves.