I've been the recipient of 2 scammers in the past week and another last month and just wanted to share what they are doing so that you can protect yourself.
The first one started with my website. A "woman" e-mailed me to say that she was in love with one of my fabrics, and could she buy some of it from me. She said she would like a lot of it if I had it. I responded with the yardage and my price. She then told me she lived in New Zealand (explains the late night e-mails) and asked if I could send it COD (cash on delivery) or she could just deposit the amount directly in my bank account. She knew that I'd decline the COD and was really after my bank routing information. Never, ever give out this information to anyone that approaches you online or thru e-mail.
The second one also started with my website. I received an e-mail in the middle of the night (first flag - what are they doing looking at my site in the middle of the night?) from a man who claimed to love one of my fabrics (second flag - a man likes cat fabric?)) so much that he wanted to reupholster his sofa with it. He needed a LOT of material (third flag - big purchase and high shipping cost). I didn't even respond. Let's get real here. Who in their right mind would put quilt quality cotton fabric with cat heads all over it on a sofa? Having been scammed earlier, I knew where this was heading.
The third one happened last night for an item I put up for sale on Craigslist. I had posted a china cabinet for sale for $1000. I got an e-mail from someone asking to come out and see it if it was still available. I said yes it was and when would he like to come over. He then claimed that he lived out of town and his trip was cancelled so he wouldn't be able to see it until late January. But he loved it and was a gift for his god cousin (say what?). He would send me a cashier's check for it, and send extra to have it shipped and he would get the shipping company involved. (I had red flags here, but wanted to see where he was going with it). I told him that a money order would be more appropriate, but if he insisted on a cashiers check, he would have to wait for at least 2 weeks for the bank to clear it, and that shipping would be very expensive since it would need to be crated to be shipped and it was extremely heavy. He said no worries, that he owned a shipping company and can he please have my name and address so he can mail me the check. (huge flag here, as why send me extra money to ship it when he owns the shipping company?) I ended the matter by telling him that I would take a money order for $1000, that he would arrange and pay for shipping directly. Of course he didn't respond back after that cause he knew I had figured out his game. I went out to Craigslist to read about scams and this is a classic scam played by people: out of town buyers purchasing things sight unseen, paying by cashier's checks or phony money orders with a third party (primarily shipping companies) involved. What would have happened was that I would have lost the money that I paid to the shipping company when the fraudulent check or money order bounced. In this case, shipping would have been hundreds of dollars.
Watch out for these things. If I've had 3 scams in a month - there are desperate people out there. If you are selling anything online at all, seller beware!!
The first one started with my website. A "woman" e-mailed me to say that she was in love with one of my fabrics, and could she buy some of it from me. She said she would like a lot of it if I had it. I responded with the yardage and my price. She then told me she lived in New Zealand (explains the late night e-mails) and asked if I could send it COD (cash on delivery) or she could just deposit the amount directly in my bank account. She knew that I'd decline the COD and was really after my bank routing information. Never, ever give out this information to anyone that approaches you online or thru e-mail.
The second one also started with my website. I received an e-mail in the middle of the night (first flag - what are they doing looking at my site in the middle of the night?) from a man who claimed to love one of my fabrics (second flag - a man likes cat fabric?)) so much that he wanted to reupholster his sofa with it. He needed a LOT of material (third flag - big purchase and high shipping cost). I didn't even respond. Let's get real here. Who in their right mind would put quilt quality cotton fabric with cat heads all over it on a sofa? Having been scammed earlier, I knew where this was heading.
The third one happened last night for an item I put up for sale on Craigslist. I had posted a china cabinet for sale for $1000. I got an e-mail from someone asking to come out and see it if it was still available. I said yes it was and when would he like to come over. He then claimed that he lived out of town and his trip was cancelled so he wouldn't be able to see it until late January. But he loved it and was a gift for his god cousin (say what?). He would send me a cashier's check for it, and send extra to have it shipped and he would get the shipping company involved. (I had red flags here, but wanted to see where he was going with it). I told him that a money order would be more appropriate, but if he insisted on a cashiers check, he would have to wait for at least 2 weeks for the bank to clear it, and that shipping would be very expensive since it would need to be crated to be shipped and it was extremely heavy. He said no worries, that he owned a shipping company and can he please have my name and address so he can mail me the check. (huge flag here, as why send me extra money to ship it when he owns the shipping company?) I ended the matter by telling him that I would take a money order for $1000, that he would arrange and pay for shipping directly. Of course he didn't respond back after that cause he knew I had figured out his game. I went out to Craigslist to read about scams and this is a classic scam played by people: out of town buyers purchasing things sight unseen, paying by cashier's checks or phony money orders with a third party (primarily shipping companies) involved. What would have happened was that I would have lost the money that I paid to the shipping company when the fraudulent check or money order bounced. In this case, shipping would have been hundreds of dollars.
Watch out for these things. If I've had 3 scams in a month - there are desperate people out there. If you are selling anything online at all, seller beware!!
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Feel free to start a debate thread there. 
