3212001838

Original Text came from 402-870-4724.  Asked me to respond to 407-307-2251.

Transcript of communication:
From SCAMMER:  "My name is Rick Smith.  I am buying this as a surprise.  I work for Turner Construction.  We are currently working at a very rural area which makes it very hard for me to make phone calls.  I have a mover who will come for the pickup.  I will be making the payment via PayPal.  That is the only payment option.  I have some questions for you; Are you the first owner of it?  Where do you live?  Does it have anything negative about it?"

From Me:  "I am the only owner.  I bought it 3 years ago and it is in great condition.  I am moving to a new house and its too big for my game room"

From SCAMMER:  "Thanks for the details and time.  I want you get back to me with your paypal email address from me to make payment and also forward pickup address to forward to the hauler who be coming for the pickup once the payment is made and cleared."

From Me:  "Send me your email address and I will send you a Paypal invoice for the $1000 plus the service fee of $32.  Since you are using a mover, once the payment has cleared, you can give them my phone number and I will give them the address and directions".

NO RESPONSE - This is a scam that appears to be happening to quite a few people using the exact same text verbatim.  Also, I am now getting random UNKNOWN calls to my cell for various "offers".

Same dude.  Same issue.  Gave me the email rick06smith@gmail.com.  Thank you all for posting.  I reported it to the DOJ.

Well my husband Wasn't as smartto Google it he transferred money to Douglas Georgia To somebody by the name of Tracy toombs and I googled scams in that location and they have been having them this week some other lady wrote about what we posted on Craig list and sent a bad check and that's exactly what happened like seven days ago

How is this a scam?  He messaged me with same exact msg

Wow, I got the same email address from this Rick Smith. How exactly would he be able to scam me if I sent him the PayPal invoice? I simply blocked both numbers, but am curious how he would even pull off this scam.

Re: Craiglist Ad.  Received text message. Similar messages as noted above from "Karen" with Turner Construction. Luckily I googled Turner Construction Scam and this site showed up.  Karen's 1st message used 407-907-1019; she requested I respond to her personal no. 407-655-1447. Responded that was only selling local and canceling further discussion.

Ditto with identical message - Rick Smith from Turner Construction responding to a item on sale from CraigsList.  He said TEXT only and could only pay through PayPal. Phone numbers used (321) 985-4953 then said text on personal cell and used (407) 307 2251. Just happened

Yup - just got an email from Rick Smith, the scammer. Lesson learned, if the email seems too generic and doesn't name the item you're selling, move on! I feel stupid but at least we didn't get any further than emailing.

that SOB just sent me the exact same message about 20 minutes ago. Right away looked on this I had a funny feeling

My call came from 407-848-2773  email address p.poner12301@gmail.com
Here is the message I received for a Craigslist ad:
My name is Rick Smith. I am buying this as a surprise to someone very dear to me and I want to keep it that way(AS A SURPRISE) after delivery day. I work with Turner Construction,we are currently working at a very rural area which makes it very hard for me to make phone calls due to bad network reception here but you can always text me . I will not be able to view it but I have a Mover who will come for the pickup so please get back to me with more pics and also I will be making the payment via PayPal as that is the only payment option I can access from here I hope you understand.I have some questions for you;

Are you the first owner of it?
Where do you live?
Does it have anything negative i should know about?

My call came from 407-848-2773  email address p.poner12301@gmail.com

Just got the same message from Rick Smith. This is the second scam I have received today.

he text me the same message.with a731-4839661.someone needs to do something about all this scammers

Rick Smith offered to buy my Craigslist item yesterday. Same story. Today he tried to buy it as Charles but now he is in the US Army at Fort Rucker. Today he said "My name is Charles. I'm purchasing it for someone dear to me and I want to keep it a surprise till the delivery day. I work in the US Army at Fort Rucker."

Same thing but this time she works in new york in the sea as a marine engineer

I got an email message from this same Christina Bertilone for a car I am selling on Craigslist!  Thanks for posting!!!

This was my reply about my car for sale on CL:

Cristina Bertilone,
          I am so happy that you want to actually buy my car! I am sure you will get many years use out of it. As I stated in my ad, “CASH ONLY”; no pickups, checks, money transfers, etc. So, I will be happy to meet with you, or anyone you can find, to act like your agent, at MY bank with CASH! I do not do paypal or whatever that is.
          Before we do anything further, I need to verify your identity for my tax records. Accordingly, I will need your military ID number, rank, & enlistment date, then your current address & all phone numbers, since as we all know, there are a lot of scammer [***] out there. If you are out of country, your APO address will be required.
          BTW, I do not know any bank in the world that does NOT give phone OR email access to your accounts. They aren’t big on you getting into other’s accounts, though.
Thank you for your attention about my car and bringing you to our attention.
Sincerely
Name Withheld, Sergeant
Michigan State Police
"To Protect and Serve!"

Have a rare 64 Fairlane Sports Coupe (completely restored) and they want me to accept a Paypal payment and would have a private transport come pick it up.  $40K is a lot of $$.  Told them CASH ONLY.  Ohh noo can't do that they say.
Oh well.

Selling a collectible rug,

First got a text message saying "I am interested in your rug, I want you to email me with the details..." at first I thought this was just rich stuffy people talk. So I naively sent him an email with more photos. Told my BF about it, excited about the sale and he was instantly disappointed I didnt catch it as spam. I got a email back from him today. Thanks to this forum I can confirm it is a scam. Thanks internet!

Here is the email I just got:

"Thanks for getting back to me real quick my name is Bob Fisher as am really interested and buying this for an old friend who has been so nice to me as surprise package  till the  delivery day. I work for Centex Construction Group,And we are currently working out of the state in a very rural area which makes it very hard for me to make phone calls due to bad network reception here but we can always text and email I will not be able to view it which i hope you understand why but I have a Mover who will come for the pickup after payment has been made and cleared your account so kindly get back to me with more pics if available and also I will be making the payment via PayPal as that is the only payment option I can access from here and because it has been attached to my bank account  which makes it very easier to make the payment ASAP .Also I have some questions for you to answer

Are you the first owner of it?
Where do you live?
What is your final asking price ?
What is your mobile number?
Does it have anything negative i should know about?

Hope to read back from you soon.....
Regards Bob."

SCAM SCAM SCAM ---- oops!