Messing with a NYC Craigslist scammer

JetFalcon · Oct 2, 2017

So found a DJI Mavic for sale for $750 brand new in NYC. And the guy immediately starts talking about PayPal and shipping the drone over, not having to meet, dead on scammer. I told him I know he is a scammer but he is so desperate he keeps trying to prove he is not. I said if you're not, meet me in person with drone. Says he can't, he has to order it, not buying it.

Then he goes on about saying how he is in college and shows me his class schedule and homework, like if it's some kind of proof.

And he keeps going on and on how he is legit, spending like 2 hours with me trying to convince me he's legit. Mostly sending me pictures of homework, class schedules, school IDs. I was on the subway back to my AirBNB so I had time to kill, so that's where I spent most my time messing with him.

And that he can only mail it via paypal. So I just let him keep going until he finally gets tired and wants to get to the subject of payment. I told him I paid but I kept playing games with him until he realizes I just wasted 2-3 hours of his time.

I wanted to keep him going trying to get him to send me homework or class schedules. But after he saw no money coming through he gave up and realized he just got trolled. I have no idea why this guy thinks college homework or class schedules is convincing enough to send $750.

Maybe I'll text from a different number another time and pretend I'm another interested buyer and see what kind of crazy story he makes up next. But seriously, who would send money to a random stranger on the internet like they think they're ordering off Amazon? I've done many Craigslist deals and it's always in person, I never done a PayPal thing and wait to ship deal.

macoman · Oct 2, 2017

You could tell him to meet in a mall or in a public safe place for both of you so he does not get scare and maybe in a weekend in which case he does not have to go to school. But sincerely, when I need an electronic product, I do not go to Craigslist, I go to Amazon or eBay. Now when I am in search for an used car to buy, I do use Craigslist.

JetFalcon · Oct 2, 2017

macoman said:
You could tell him to meet in a mall or in a public safe place for both of you so he does not get scare and maybe in a weekend in which case he does not have to go to school. But sincerely, when I need an electronic product, I do not go to Craigslist, I go to Amazon or eBay. Now when I am in search for an used car to buy, I do use Craigslist.

I did tell him to meet public and show up with the drone and we do an exchange. He said we could, but told me he does not have it and has to ship it after getting paid via PayPal. He would only show receipts to prove he was “legit”.

And he was desperate, he spent 2 hours trying to convince me he was legit. From receipts to showing his homework / class schedule from college. He was so determined to try selling a drone he didn’t have, talking to me on a friend level to trust him enough. All I did was set him up for false hope.

When it was time to pay and he had enough of being my friend, I tried keep it going on as long as I could. I said I paid, he said money didn’t get received, and tell him my credit card was cancelled. And I’ll ask my friend. After 5 minutes of trying to role playing, he got mad and he stopped all contact. Probably exactly what he would do after he got my money

anotherlab · Oct 2, 2017

The ad looks pretty sketchy.

Brand new in sealed box! ONLY ACCEPT PAYPAL WHICH IS SAFE AND SECURE! Ordered online through me with a discount! DO NOT HAVE IN HAND I ORDER ONLINE WITH A DISCOUNT FOR YOU. MESSAGE ME FOR MORE INFORMATION!
Shipped via FedEx Ground

The cheapest I every saw it new was at $749 for Apple employees. And that was before tax. "Brand new in sealed box" sounds like the code words for stolen.

macoman · Oct 2, 2017

JetFalcon said:
I did tell him to meet public and show up with the drone and we do an exchange. He said we could, but told me he does not have it and has to ship it after getting paid via PayPal. He would only show receipts to prove he was “legit”.

And he was desperate, he spent 2 hours trying to convince me he was legit. From receipts to showing his homework / class schedule from college. He was so determined to try selling a drone he didn’t have, talking to me on a friend level to trust him enough. All I did was set him up for false hope.

When it was time to pay and he had enough of being my friend, I tried keep it going on as long as I could. I said I paid, he said money didn’t get received, and tell him my credit card was cancelled. And I’ll ask my friend. After 5 minutes of trying to role playing, he got mad and he stopped all contact. Probably exactly what he would do after he got my money

Lol that was pretty smart to let him believe that you was going to get into his trap and unfortunately what I worry is that, he will probably find an easy target, because that’s what he is looking for.

JetFalcon · Oct 4, 2017

macoman said:
Lol that was pretty smart to let him believe that you was going to get into his trap and unfortunately what I worry is that, he will probably find an easy target, because that’s what he is looking for.

Ya, he spent 2-3 hours trying to gain my trust. I had no idea why he spent so much time with me, especially when I told him that I am aware of the Craigslist PayPal scam. He even showed me his homework & college schedule, which I have no idea why. I tried assigning him some homework to prove he was a real college student. Asked him to write a 5-6 sentence paragraph. I wish I got to make him do some homework.

And at the moment he wanted me to pay so he could go to sleep and it's late, I try to play it as long as I could but it only lasted 5 minutes when he figures out I was just playing games with him.

I wanna text him on a different number and see what I can get him to do. Maybe next time I'll pose as a serious buyer who wants the seller to do some homework.

AuldGimpy · Oct 5, 2017

Ask him if he could do your homework ... as a friendly gesture encouraging trust all round.

JetFalcon · Oct 6, 2017

AuldGimpy said:
Ask him if he could do your homework ... as a friendly gesture encouraging trust all round.

I tried assigning him a 5-10 sentence essay. And he wouldn't do it. What kind of college student can't write a 5-10 sentence essay? I am starting to think he doesn't go to college and has fake homework & and a fake class schedule.

KMF294 · Oct 31, 2017

Looking at the ad the first thing I noticed aaa the grammatical errors. They are usually a strong clue of a scam. Most of these craigslist scams originate in Russia or Nigeria where they don’t have the strongest command of English.