I've been Cragislist frauded!

I'm in dire help! what started was when i was selling my Xbox 360 to a seller on Craigslist and then i gotten this person asking for the Xbox 360 and started saying I'll pay you through with money check and i was like aren't you gonna come up and get the console first? I was like okay so I'd gave him my address and name like an idiot but this was because it was the first time it happened to me EVER from the site.

And now i actually got the check on me and i don't know what to do with it honestly, obviously i wasn't gonna check it in but and the guy kept asking that to check it till 24 hours in..

What to do in this situation?

 

you could try contacting the authorities, but the #1 top rule for craigslist is never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever accept anything but cold hard cash in your hand.

 

I couldn't agree more! lol after this mess i'm NEVER using cragislist (except for buying) ever again for now on! I'd most certainly learned my lesson!

Btw, what happens if i haven't cash the fake check in yet? I'd hadn't went to the bank at all so i'm just curious and would it be okay to rip it to shreds?

 

Cash only with CL always... Keep the check as a "proof" you never know it might be useful.

 

True! That actually what I'm planning too do in case the police or somebody comes

 

Don't use Craigslist. Full of scammers, whackos, and stealers.
You're better off using Yahoo Auctions, Amazon or Ebay.

 

or Close5 jk but with Close5 I've never ran out any issues as of yet and it's people only in the area that you live at mainly so there's a very slim chance that the cragislist issue wouldn't occur much personally.

 

I got my 980Ti for $380 on CL....

 

Too risky. I would keep my fingers of CL completely. High risk you'd probably be murdered, many people already have been.

 

I sold some stuff on CL some years ago and I never had a single problem. Always make the transaction happen inside a place with CCTV for example a starbucks or a public library. Cash only, meeting point close to your house without ever revealing your address. Don't ever let a buyer into your car. Common sense and basic safety measures are gold rules for CL. If it was today I would just avoid it though, stick with ebay...

 

no you should keep using it. its just a rare case of a terrible scum bag scammer. there are many good people out there willing to buy your gaming goodies. if there were no sellers then there wouldn't be any thing for buyers to buy.

 

I've used craigslist plenty of times and never had any issues, but I always buy or sell cars. Never done anything for video game or related things.

Always trust your gut, if someone seems odd don't deal with them.

If you deal with craigslist people, talk to them on the phone. If there's anything I've noticed about people on craigslist, people who you talk to on the phone generally don't seem fishy in person, where people who text only generally seem a bit... off when you meet them.

If you deal in larger bills, buy a counterfeit bill marker (they're about $5USD on Amazon). I use them, and I've found counterfeit bills among authentic bills before. Guy was cool about it "Well I don't think they're counterfeit, but you can just take these other ones instead" and those were legit.

 

Good point, then again I'd have been using CL for a grip so far and never had an issue (Till now) maybe i just happened to be unlucky this time around lol

Nice idea! Never heard of that till now, thanks! I'll definitely seek out for one if possible.

Btw, could that mark money checks without checking it in the bank for cautious measures?

 

The marker responds to certain dyes found in most bank notes, no idea if they're found in money orders or cashiers checks or anything of that sort.

So if the fake is a good enough fake it won't be detected, but if it's that good even if you used it at a store they wouldn't be able to tell.
Lot easier with the new strips in the new $100 bills, but I bet they're already faking those.

 

^this.

I've found that different categories generally attract buyers of different levels of quality. In my market, I've found consumer electronics to be the worst and musical instruments to be the best. Video games lie somewhere in between.

Posting a laptop for sale almost immediately generates a load of weird responses. Even the legit replies are from people with subpar communication skills. In a situation like this, I employ all the safeguards noted above...meet in daylight at a public place with a friend as backup and accept only cash (and don't have anything of significant value on your person at the time of the exchange either).

On the other hand, posting a vintage (musical) keyboard usually brings a handful of meaningful reply from fellow gearheads. Often times, I'll return a call for one of my postings like this and end up talking to the buyer for an hour just shooting the breeze. In these situations, I'm much more comfortable inviting a buyer into my home. Cash or trade is still essential, but I'm not bringing a bill marker to these kind of transactions. I've actually met some great connections this way and have kept up with several on Facebook ever since.

I hate when people give Craigslist a bad rap wholistically because I've had some great experiences with people I've met through the site. However, you do need to know how to weed out low quality buyers...lest you get hurt, physically or financially.

 

Excellent analogy, Truth to be told I've actually did meet a couple of great normal people and are pretty down to earth cool peeps.

As i said earlier, i just happened to fall victim to his/her prey on accident and something i should be more cautious next time but I'd didn't had any idea that the Video Games category trigger more scammers like that..

 

Classic scam.

Here's what he wants you to do: Get excited with check in hand, immediately send out console, attempt to cash check.

Here's what will happen if you try to cash the check: Red flags everywhere, bad check, no money, no console.

 

Exactly! and that's why i ain't following it, plus I'd haven't checked his "cash check" yet and most certainly never will but he keeps constantly texting me well technically bothering me about cashing it asap plus he's never mentioned the Xbox 360 console once ever.

So what i might do is that I'm gonna tell him that i'm moving out and changing my address so that way he won't try to send me another fake one many times.

 

you're gonna try to cash that check then get accused of trying to cash a hot check