Craig's List Scams - zzz, 2005 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER, ccc - See this example.

Classified Ad Scams
http://www.craigslist.org/  and  http://london.craigslist.org/

Scams selling a car, such as a 2005 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER, 2003 HONDA PILOT, allegedly in Canada, while the seller is in Scotland

Are you looking to buy or sell a car?? Did you respond to an ad from someone claiming to be (at the moment) in Scotland? Newspapers, their online classifieds, Craig's list and other online classified advertising websites, from E-Bay to Yahoo Stores have made it much easier to sell and buy articles from exercise equipment, jewelry, to automobiles and even houses. But sometimes the buyer is more interested in passing a bad check than buying your articles!

Here's how this scam works:

An  seller says he'll sell a fantastic car in great shape (he even has photos) at an absurdly low price, but he is temporarily "out of the country", such as in Scotland, London, Nigeria, or another country.  Note that the names of legitimate people, vehicles and businesses are often used. Sometimes he claims it is a business trip, other times, he is in the military, deployed overseas.  Or he may say he (or she) is a student overseas, or traveling to visit a sick relative.  Being unreachable and unable to come buy the car in person is key to this scam. That enables the scam to agree to sell the car cheap and pay for shipping. And the scammer will send you a check for the full amount.  But gee, he wants YOU to take some money OUT of that check and use Western Union to send it to a "shipper", or tax authority, or anything else he thinks you will believe.

The check he sends you is a counterfeit, probably using the account number of a real bank account, taken from checks stolen from someone's mailbox.  Make a note: ALWAYS pick up your checks at the bank, never have them mailed to you.

When you send money by Western Union to the "shipper" (who is actually the scammer), the money will be paid in cash by Western Union to whomever picks it up using the numbers you provided.  That money is untraceable and irretrievable. Once you send money by Western Union to someone, after they pick it up, it is gone forever.

By the check they sent you, which you deposited, that is a different story.  About 6 weeks later, it will finally bounce.  Your bank will notify you that the check was no good, and you will have to pay the bank back.  If you cannot, you will face criminal charges.  You may face criminal charges anyway, for enabling the scam, which is a crime (passing bad checks, forgery, etc.)

What are the clues that this is a scam?

1. First, you will notice the syntax and grammar.  Often, is it not pathetically bad, it's just plain strange. It looks like it was written by someone who is not a native English-speaker, and writes very rarely in English. This is very typical of scammers, who largely are in Nigeria and have little formal education and probably none in English.
2. Next, he wants to write a check in excess of the required amount. Why? That makes no sense at all. If he hasn't got a bank account, he could always pay in cash or get a money order.
3. Then, he wants the "excess" from the check sent BACK to him or to other individuals, often in many different locations, and always by Western Union or Money Gram! Alarm bells should be going off by now.  Western Union wires and Moneygrams are not only untraceable, they're irretrievable.  Once the recipient picks them up (which can be done at ANY Western Union office in the world), the money is gone, gone, gone!
4. And then there are the little clues; signs like strange name changes, or using words, grammer or spelling that is uncommon from his country, or strange locations (he's away in Scotland, but lives in Canada, and the car is in the U.S.)..
5. Look at the huge number of misspellings, poor punctuation and made-up words.  Again, this is typical of the scammer filth who live and operate in Nigeria.

An actual email that illustrate this type of CraigsList scam:

We may highlight passages that illustrate typical scam clues:

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Example 1:

Hello,

Sorry for the delayed response, but I'm in Scotland (United Kingdom) right now and I have been very busy. Anyway, thank you for your interest in buying the 2005 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER .The car is located in Canada right now. Why is the price so low?I am going trough a divorce, and I had to move out of Canada.So all that I want to do now is to sell the car at this price, because I need to sell it fast.The title is clean. The car has 33,764 miles.It is in immaculate condition, rust free, no scratch at all and hasn't been involved in any accident. The motor runs very well. The interior looks great. This car needs nothing. I want this transaction to go smoothly enough as I am caught in the middle of some very important events and have little time to my disposal. I already have tones of emails so I hope you understand that I need to sort them out. The price is C$4,000.00. THIS IS MY LAST PRICE.I will not negotiate the price. Also, I  take in consideration only those buyers who are really interested in buying the car, to be sure that I don't waste my time with endless discussions. This way, I shall be assured of the serious intentions.

Thanks

Example 2:

Hello,

Sorry for the delayed response, but I'm in Scotland (United Kingdom) right now and I have been very busy. Anyway, thank you for your interest in buying the 2003 HONDA PILOT .The car is located in Canada right now. Why is the price so low?I am going trough a divorce, and I had to move out of Canada.So all that I want to do now is to sell the car at this price, because I need to sell it fast.The title is clean. The car has 48,000 miles.It is in immaculate condition, rust free, no scratch at all and hasn't been involved in any accident. The motor runs very well. The interior looks great. This car needs nothing. I want this transaction to go smoothly enough as I am caught in the middle of some very important events and have little time to my disposal. I already have tones of emails so I hope you understand that I need to sort them out. The price is C$2,999.00. THIS IS MY LAST PRICE.I will not negotiate the price. Also, I  take in consideration only those buyers who are really interested in buying the car, to be sure that I don't waste my time with endless discussions. This way, I shall be assured of the serious intentions.

Thanks!