Craig's List

I have had problems with it. I get the emails stating that I do not need to sell my items. That there is a better way to make money. I would try contacting the local consignment stores.

They have lots of scams on there. The best thing to do is when you post say "Pick up only, Cash only!" The first time I posted on there I didn't know and I got three of those scams. I reposted and said the above and got a real buyer within two days. I'm on their all the time and have found great deals and sold things for more money than if I had a garage sale. You just have to be very specific that it's local only. Good luck!

Yes-this is a scam. Not everyone is scamming on Craigs List, but in your ad, put CASH ONLY, and stick to that! Scammers will still try to "get you", but accept only local offers. This will reduce the scams! Also any FBI e-mail is also an Identity scam trying to get your personal information, which you may think that real law enforcement is trying to help you or catch the scammers, but that too is a scam! I checked with my local FBI office; and they had NOT tried to contact me! So be very careful! Craigs List also has a section about online scammers and how to spot them. There Are honest people looking for a good deal, but the crooks are there also. Caution and wording works well together! Good Luck! PS: I was told not to cash the check and just throw it out! Rule of thumb, never cash anything where some one wants you to refund the difference in a REAL money order.. All scams! May God bless you-always!
Kathy N.

There are scammers galore, not just on craigslist but everyone in the online shopping community and even in real life. Beware of people offering other services in exchange for your item, providing you with website links (which may be virulent or just a big waste of time), or trying to pay you with a check. These are all red flags, especially if they try offering to pay you a higher amount than what the item is worth. This is pretty common and similar to the Nigerian email scams, which is probably where they got the idea. The check they send you never has funds but by the time it clears, you're out the balance. Only accept cash and only pay attention to emails of people wanting to come see the item or meeting you somewhere, as this proves they are local. Only local people check craigslist, so getting an out of state response should raise a red flag. You can sell your pool table on eBay but there are listing fees (though minimal) and they will take a percentage out of the sale price once the auction ends. You'd also have to worry about shipping and sticking the pool table in a box, not so convenient, for a large item like a pool table, is it? As bad as your experience was, I'd stick with craigslist and just be more skeptical of people. Screen them VERY carefully, and take the time to read the following craigslist link about selling on their site: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams. This will give you clues as to what to watch for and how to educate yourself against spammers. Also, I advise you to read this link once you've found a potential buyer: http://www.craigslist.org/about/safety. There's also kijiji.com, oodle.com or backpage.com but honestly, craigslist's the most popular and the most likely to yield you a hit.

-An experienced craigslist seller

i actually had a very similiar problem and the police told me a good rule of thumb with craigslist is only sell local. nothing else. don't give out your address. meet in public places. and if you have to have them come to your house because its a big pc of furniture or something, ALWAYS have someone there for your protection. i use craigslist alot. but there are alot of scary people out there. so be careful. good luck!

You local cops are lazy or just ignorant. Call the Florida Attorney General's office ... BUT IN FACT, a better group to call would be the FBI or US Attorney's Office. This is fraud on several levels (wire, bank, mail) ... or at least consipiracy to commit fraud since you didn't cash the check (thank goodness!) . These criminals used the internet & the website, which uses phone lines (wire fraud), sent a fraudulent or stolen check (bank fraud) via US Mail (separate charge of using the US mail to commit a crime). These are all FEDERAL crimes and then you got a threatning email on top of it?? Intimidation?? Ugh! Some people!!!!

My suggestion is - - Don't delete anything and don't shred the check. Keep everything and call the US Attorney's Office in Tampa @ ###-###-#### or the FBI office in Tampa ###-###-####. (Tampa is the closest field office that I know of to Plant City). Maybe you can nail these people and keep them from perpetrating the same crime on someone else.

Best of luck to you.

I am glad you did not take the bait, because this is becoming an old trick and the scammers need to come up a new one. I posted on Craig's List, and got some weird replies from all over the place. You have to remember that Sharks get crazy when they smell blood, and the internet is full of sharks. You can tell that they are using form letters, because you will get a reply from a male when you specfically advertised for a female. What is the point in giving a check for $3,570.00 for an item that is being sold for $500? You have greedy individuals, and they want something for nothing so they get scammed big times. Craig's List is great, and it provides a necessary service in the community. You need to be extremely careful, because a couple who advertised to sell a $1000.00 were victims of a home invasion and the husband was killed trying to defend his 14 years old. The wife, and the children got beat up pretty bad. A man lost his life over 1 G, and left his wife with three fatherless children. You might want to use Pay Pal for money transactions, and listen to your heart.

OMG. I haven't had that problem. The problem I've had is people sending me emails (usually acting interested) then they tell me not to use CL, that they've found another way to sell things and earn money.....or something along those lines. I was so tired of it that the last time someone sent me an email with interest, my immediate msg back to them was that if they were truely interested, send me another email, but if they were going to tell me about not using CL for the reasons I mentioned above, then don't bother responding.
I'm glad you didn't fall for the scam you got the msg about! I've heard of that scam, but from people receiving it in the mail, not from CL.

call the post office (post master)about the check that you recieved.

I agree with Cari, if you still have the emails and check, contact the FBI or US Attorney's office. That info can help the authorities track this scum down!!!

Also, Crystal's idea..."Pick up only, Cash only!" is very good. That should weed out most, if not all, of the slimeballs.

CL has warnings posted all over the site, to watch out for these types of scammers!

My MIL passed away last year, and we needed to rent her house out. I posted on CL, as well as every free classified site I could find.....probably 8-10 different sites. CL was the ONLY place I got any responses from. It's still the best place to list things, because of the sheer number of people who go there looking for specific items. I had the house rented within two weeks, had several other inquiries in the meantime, including one family that wanted it, but couldn't quite commit at the moment...and were heartbroken when they missed it by a day!

My advice, use CL for best response....but proceed with caution.

That's pretty typical from my experience. You have to weed out the scams to find true buyers.

The local radio station today had people calling in about bad/weird Craig's List problems. Besides the suggestions you've already gotten, someone on the radio mentioned not using your home phone number for the listing; she had people show up... no phone call.. and start taking apart the swing set she had listed... while she was home! There was another story about a couple of teenagers who showed up high and tried to rob the sellers by threatening them with a knife (the teenagers were surprised when they had a gun pulled on them by a former marine). So whatever you do, be careful and use common sense.

This is why I only use Ebay. Yes, Ebay charges fees, but it's safer. You could try posting something at your local grocery store. I'm sorry I don't have any other advice/suggestions.

I have been using craigslist for years and never had a problem until now. Lately I keep getting spam emails in response to my posts. Everyday I get at least 5 if not more. Another thing I received was an email saying that my post was flagged and they had a link to go into craigslist to sign in (which looks just like the real sign in screen) but then they apparently steal your id/psswd once you enter it. So never use their link to go into craigslist. I don't even know how to put a complaint in to craigslist b/c it is all just forums. I have not seen a phone # to call, have you? As far as other free classifieds-I googled free classifieds for my state (FL) and there are a few listed. One is: ClassifiedAds.com.
Hope you sell your pool.
J.
Avon Indep. Sales Rep.
www.youravon.com/jfreire

I post things for sale on Craigslist all the time, and I get these type of scam emails very frequently. I used to respond and tell them to go to he**, but when you respond they have your email address and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but why bother - now I just ignore those. I would not take the listing off Craigslist, that's not great advice - just weed out the scam emails and ignore them and hopefully eventually you'll get a legit buyer.

Just this weekend I was showing my sister how to list on Craigslist and I told her to always remember these rules: If you can (probably not with a 28' pool!), meet buyers away from home in a public place. Accept cash only - no exceptions. If you must have someone come to your house, make sure your husband is there or a neighbor or friend can come be with you - power in numbers!

Hope this helps. Good luck! Craigslist has been pretty slow for me lately, but I sold my George Foreman grill for $22 a couple of days ago! I'm selling a great Pottery Barn canvas schoolhouse playhouse tent if anyone's interested...

I'm so sorry someone tried to scam you! That's so sad that people are doing this. I have a friend who does direct sales and had a similar scam attempt through her website. Fortunately she realized it was a scam, but only after many emails exchanged.

Anyway, I use Ebay to sell. Yes, they charge a fee, but its fairly small and you get seen by a lot of potential buyers!

Good luck!