Craigs list 419er

May 22, 2009 9:58 AM

I am selling a motorcycle on Craigs list and I am getting a few scammy kind of offers. I am thinking about playing one of these out and documenting the process on Facebook I will not sell this bike to this person but want to see how for it will go ala 419 eater Can anyone think of a reason not to do this experiment?
posted by citybuddha to society & culture (17 comments total)

It is a waste of time and energy.

It could end up not being amusing.
posted by odinsdream at 10:00 AM on May 22

Two wrongs don't make a right.
posted by Carol Anne at 10:00 AM on May 22

Seems like an awful lot of energy that could be directed to doing something useful or fun. I guess if these things are fun for you?

Go for a ride instead.
posted by mollymayhem at 10:06 AM on May 22

I am not doing it for my amusement. I would like to educate with this
posted by citybuddha at 10:08 AM on May 22

It will be up to you to make it entertaining and it might be boring.

That said I don't think it's wrong, by jerking this guy around you are making being a scammer more costly. At the margin this sort of stuff discourages people from scamming (likely by a trivial amount but still it's a positive). I know the scammers are really poor and I wouldn't trade lives with them, but they are trying to do something wrong and reasonable incentives not to do it are perfectly fine in my book.
posted by I Foody at 10:10 AM on May 22

What was the last thing you taught someone?

How would this be similar to that?
posted by odinsdream at 10:14 AM on May 22

People right now are desperate, unemployed, motorcycles are cheap transportation. If you posted the ad asking for offers, geez every ad I've posted like that got extremely low offers. Depends how desperate the seller is, but if it does get accepted, score, and they re-sell it at a higher price. It's not a 419 scam, it's buy low sell high = profit. Just ignore them if the offer is below what you expect.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 10:16 AM on May 22

Could you elaborate on how the offers are scammy?
posted by solipsophistocracy at 10:21 AM on May 22

There was a recent askme asking about the same thing; can't find it right now, but poke around. There were several reasons not to bother.
posted by inigo2 at 10:27 AM on May 22

Personally, I wouldn't do something like this because I believe that making enemies unnecessarily is unwise.

Especially enemies who are, y'know, criminals.

I mean, if you fuck with some dude in Nigeria it's one thing-- even if he has your name and contact information (which you presumably provided if your Craigslist ad was legit in the first place)., what's he going to do, hop on the next plane out of Lagos and come after you?

But on the other hand, if he's living in the next town over and you piss him off, the barrier for getting back at you is significantly lower.
posted by dersins at 10:31 AM on May 22 [2 favorites]

A typical scam is to offer to pay with a cashier's check for more than the asking price if the seller would forward the difference to some 3rd party. The seller deposits the cashier's check. It seemingly clears. The seller pays the 3rd party. The cashier's check unclears. The seller is out the amount paid to the 3rd part.
posted by malp at 11:23 AM on May 22

Yeah I would guess getting the sh1t kicked out of you might be a reasonable deterrent. Is it something the police would be interested in?
posted by sully75 at 11:23 AM on May 22

1) The person may not be trying to scam you, but rather just doesn't know how these sorts of transactions are done. You're a little vague there with "scammy kind of offers."

2) It's been done.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:15 PM on May 22

>I am not doing it for my amusement. I would like to educate with this

Rest assured, you will not educate anyone with this... scam baiting is primarily focused on wasting the time of the would-be scammer, in the hope that every minute he spends trying to convince you to send him money through Western Union is a minute he won't spend trying to extract money from someone who doesn't know it's a scammer, and who will actually send money.

That said, scam baiting is incredibly entertaining and arguably socially useful (NOT FLAME-BAIT-IST), and if it's something you enjoy, you should sign up over at 419eater. The first thing they'll tell you, however, is to always bait safe. A craiglist ad for a motorcycle probably means these people have your real email address, and possibly your real PayPal address. These things are both personally traceable to you, and open you to the possibility that a pissed-off scammer is going to try to come find you. Don't screw with scammers who know who you are; if you want to bait them, sign up for a new email address with a provider that strips off originating IP addresses, then have at it.
posted by Mayor West at 12:45 PM on May 22

Three possibilities:
- the scammer is actually smarter than you, and you will end up getting drawn in anyway
- your incomplete knowledge of the law and your obligations may land you in a situation where you are obliged to make a payment or cough up the goods
- the "scammer" may be a confused but legitimate party, in which case you are wasting the time of an innocent person.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:26 PM on May 22

The only reason I wouldn't do this is because you may have to exchange a real email address with this clown. If I was to engage in 419 baiting, I would make a new email address just for that purpose to minimize the chance they could find any links to me. Scammers are possibly dangerous and you are trying to make them look foolish. Have fun but play it safe.
posted by chairface at 2:37 PM on May 22

Once, when I was selling a used toolbox on CraigsList, I received email from a fellow who wanted to pay me with a check for more than the item was worth--you know, your typical 419 scam. So I began stringing the scammer along and documenting the experience, just to see how far it would go. We exchanged several emails in which I invented extravagant costs for all sorts of absurd shipping charges, insurance fees, interstate and international shipping fees, fees for U.S. Customs inspections, special USPS stamps, "hush money" for international security officials, "secret clearance" expenses, "anti-sniffing" dog-proofing measures, etc., just to see how much of it he'd accept.

Eventually, I had the scammer agreeing to send me a check for $500,000 and paying roughly $11,000 for a used toolbox (which by that time had been sold for $40), but by then I was tired of the shenanigans and the gag wasn't nearly as interesting or amusing as I thought it would be. Overall, the whole experience was a waste of time, and the humor I got out of it wasn't worth the effort. Unless you have a new and brilliant twist on the idea (like the P-P-Powerbook story), the experience won't be nearly as interesting or funny as you think it will be. Don't waste your time.
posted by mattdidthat at 3:42 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]