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Seller’s Beware

By T. Duffy 

The American way is online. The big box stores are closing left and right, Sears, Bamberger’s, Gimbels, Wanamaker’s, ToyrUS, just to name a few. The American public has migrated to making their purchases online, but it is not without trepidation.  This trepidation is warranted. There are different levels of selling that go occur on line; from the Amazons, to Etsy, Alibaba, Craiglist, Shopify and many more.

I want to share something that happened this past week with a simple sale I tried to do on Craiglist. There is a new way that hackers are hacking. I found this to be very annoying and was angry that my time was wasted by this low life individual. I question everything, so I would not ever be caught in this kind of trap. I pushed the person in a direction to see how far they would take their shenanigan. They took it pretty far. They have now retreated to their potential cave somewhere in Middletown, PA.

So Seller’s…..Beware. Here is my story.

I decided to sell my 4-year-old Snowblower on line for $200 at the advise of some of my friends. I work no less than 100 a week at my job due to the fact they have me covering two jobs for over the past year. I work insane hours.  So, my ability to deal with shenanigans outside of work are zero. My friend have sold and purchased things on Craigslist without incident. I had trepidation, (always go with your gut is my motto), but I placed the ad up on Craiglist. I registered for the site, which was very simple. Within a few days I received an email from someone on my snowblower.

craigslist <bf2e68aa9d493965a1514b9811ce6550@reply.craigslist.org>

To:my Craigslist account

‎Oct‎ ‎28 at ‎2‎:‎15‎ ‎PM

It's looking perfect for me.so I am interested  to get it. I don't Check cl reply mail. So text me to b.larry3168@gmail.com, if it is available.

I thought this was odd that they wanted me to send a text to another email….so right there my gut said….something is not right. I did not send the text. I answered on my yahoo email, which you have to load on Craiglist. I did not get another email from b.larry3168. However, I did get an email to my yahoo account asking again a week later if the snowblower was still available. I said yes. Initially I thought this was a new person. But how who knows could have been, drilling back through all the emails and text could be b.larry3168. The email from “Keith Bills” email address; waldosandiego36@gmail.com, aka Keith Bills is below. Let the shenanigans begin.

EMAIL he sent

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Re: Snowblower is still available

People

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Remember I work insane hours, so my personal email gets read at a rate of at best……skimming. So, this email I received with the “movers funds” comment also raised another red flag for me. I knew this fool was up to no good. I played along to see what would happen.  The horrible grammar and typos were also a red flag for me. Hackers like this tend to do have this ridiculous way of communicating.

Later that same morning I received a text message from “Keith Bills:. The message said….

Hello, how are you doing today I just got a message from FEDEX that the check has been delivered to you, I need your attention here ASAP thanks

The check is for 1820 plus the move agent fee

Can anyone say SHENANIGAN!!! No doubt this moron thinks I just got off the latest model of turnip trucks that FORD is making. He has no idea who he has just pissed off. If you want to get under my skin do something that wastes my time.  All I was trying to do was sell a snowblower and now I am dealing with an ingrate who evidently stalks the web to create shenanigans to try and rip people off. He pissed the wrong person off. This is the world we live in however and everyone must always be on their toes.

I respond to the text with…..I am nowhere my home to accept any delivery (which in hindsight this was the absolute dumbest thing I could have said to this idiot) so I will have to see when I get home. Why did you write the check for $1820? The snowblower only costs $200. I’m not sure what you are talking about as it pertains to the mover agent fee. I made it clear that this was for pick up only. I am not arranging any moving of the snowblower. My understanding was you would be picking it up.

But all the while I am thinking…how did this moron get my cell phone number. Well, it was in my email signature.

FIRST THING YOU SHOULD ALL DO……REMOVE YOUR SIGNATURE IF YOU HAVE ONE IN YAHOO. I had my cell phone number in my signature that is how this idiot got my phone number. I did not list my cell as public on Craiglist.  I was scratching my head how this person got my phone and began texting me. My signature has been on my Yahoo account for DECADES! I no longer have my cell there I removed it. It just creates another pathway for hackers. The less info available online the better.

The make believe purchasers response was…..

Yes, the additional money was for the movere agent coming for the pick up

HELLO

So at this point I am very annoyed that this  make believe thief continues to compile on their lies. So my response back was…..

So, what is your expectation? That I’m paying this mover agent. I don’t even know who this person is and what he is charging to move. I do not want some surprise that some guy shows up to move something and it costs more than whatever it is that your are giving me. Please send me the invoice of what he is charging you to move the snowblower and their contact information. I want to ensure there is no issue. This was never communicated to me. I have shipped cars from Florida to NJ that didn’t cost this much. It’s just a snowblower, this does not make sense.

Mr/Mrs Make believe then responded with….

It does make sense and I would get back to you with the mover agent info when you have the funds available. Please send me a copy of the deposit ticket once you have deposited it. He is also picking up other stuffs for me and only asked to be paid at the point of pick up that is why I’m trusting you with the payment.

So I respond to this moron with…..

Ok, now that makes sense.

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If I were on LSD maybe it would, make sense. Again, this moron must have thought I upgraded my turnip truck and got a Chevy turnip Durango.

One must thing, why all the pressure to deposit the check. We all know at this point it will bounce as high as the empire state building. The check will never be cashed and this asshole is getting reported to the police, Craigslist, FEDEX for this is mail fraud at the least.

So I respond to the moron…..

I am very busy and at best cannot deposit until a few days. Did you send a certified check?

The moron responds with

Yes, it’s a certified check. You cam use y our bank mobile app or any nearest ATM close to you to make it deposited.

I respond with…..

Where are you physically located as you have a 609 area code, who is the carrier you are using?

Morons responds with…..

I’m currently for some business near Camp Lejeune and I would surely get back to you with the mover agent information when you have the funds available…you do not have to worry

Continued SHENANIGAN ALERT…… “some business”…Camp Lejeune and he needs a snowblower? What an idiot. I guess he never looked up where Camp Lejeune is.

My response

What is the business and I do worry because there are so many people who do scams on people constantly. I am always very diligent. So, I need answers to these questions for if I do not get proper answers, I’m going to sell this to someone else. I’m not comfortable with this whole thing with this moving agent. I feel like I am being set up to be scammed.

Six hours later I get home from work. I see the FED EX package on my porch. It was laughable how it was shipped. I was concerned that this moron came to my home though due to the laughable nature of the FEDEX package. I checked the tracking # on the package and it said it came from Middletown, PA. however, on the label that was printed on a piece of scrap paper, and scotch taped to the manila envelope demonstrated a different address of origin, Portland Oregon. Shenanigans.

 I tried calling FEDEX at that moment to see if I could get information on the package, but no one responded due to the lateness in the day.  At this point I had received no response to my last text to the scammer. Then it hit me, his moron has been texting me from a 609 number. I set my phone to private call display and called the cell the moron was texting me from. What happened next was interesting. When I dialed the number 609 469 4621 a recording came on saying, this number does not accept incoming phone calls. Shenanigans!

Let’s talk about the “certified check” that was inside the package, again a laughable nature. The name on the check…no surprise was not Keith Bills…and the company on the check was not in NC but in Nebraska! Again, this moron must have thought I had at this point got off a fleet of turnip trucks.  Also, the name of the company, again not in NC but in Nebraska. The International Railway Journal, a publishing house, Simmons-Boardman Publishing. I bet if I were to call this company, which I have zero time to do, they would no doubt say….SAY WHAT?!

So, at this point I was beyond annoyed and somewhat concerned that this moron delivered this package to my house personally for the tracking info said it was delivered to another town, not to my home town. So, I called the police and went through this entire annoying story.  This person committed mail fraud and needed to be documented. The police and my bank confirmed the check was fake. They instructed me to not cash it. They said so many people get hit with these things. GEEZ, really? Evidently the new gig is these morons are trolling Craiglists and other entities and doing this exact thing.  They will get someone who is gullible enough to cash the check…then they are hosed. Their accounts are emptied instantly by these morons. I was traveling the next day for work and wanted to ensure my home was secure. So, the police did drive byes the next day as did my neighbors and family members.

I got a hold of FEDEX the next day. I asked them the following questions.

1.      Verify for me the address that this package tracking number was shipped to. The crazy news is….this package was shipped via FEDEX in its horrific manner. It appears possible not from FEDEX directly but a “fedex mailing spot, ie. Staples or another such entity. This actually gave me some peace of mind.

2.      Verify for me what address in Middletown, PA this package was shipped from.

FEDEX refused to share the information for #2. They said it’s a privacy matter and they cannot. That information would have to be subpoenaed. This is nonsense for why the information in my first question would be viewed as private? They shared that readily. They had no idea who I was on the other end of the phone.   I said to the supervisor, “Well, you realize this person used your service to commit a crime, FEDEX has no issue with that?”  The response will make your head swirl.  Her response was, “ We cannot stop anyone from using our service for criminal activity.”  

SAY WHAT?!!! So, is FEDEX’s mantra..CARTELS, DRUG Traffickers, MAIL FRAUDERS, Money launders, people who want to rip off the American public….we welcome you? I do believe the USPS would have an issue with this if it went via their hands. I somewhat understand FEDEX’s position for this moron mailed a check. Yet, when things like this are reported to them, I would think they would be interested to course correct and not take the position they did. Evidently, they are not interested in course correcting this. Maybe they just do not have the time because it happens so much every day.  

So……heads up people. All I wanted to do was sell a snowblower. I have now given the snowblower to a friend.  Be careful out there…….always go with your gut. I did and have a great story to share with you to keep you safe. This moron went to the lengths to pay for a FEDEX with first morning delivery; to try to make this happen. Be SAFE!

Posted by tammyduffy at 9:06 AM EST

Updated: Sunday, 11 November 2018 9:39 AM EST

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