Craigslist hoax 7
I have been trying to find a cheap used Mac laptop for a friend on Craigslist before I go to Denmark this Xmas. I was delighted to find a $300 used iBook for sale, but when I wrote to the seller she told me she was in Manchester and would send the laptop by express mail. Already then I thought it sounded fishy. The whole point of using Craigslist instead of eBay is that you get to complete the transaction in person. But I wrote back to see what the seller, Amanda Benson, had in mind. Here’s what she wrote:
Hello
I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the laptop within 3-4 days.
Obviously we need a safe way to complete this deal that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after.
I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the laptop in less than 3 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a worldwide delivery company called TNT. TNT is similar to Fedex, DHL or UPS and they will provide assistance in hadling the payment and delivery of the laptop.
With this procedure you will have the change to test the laptop before I receive my payment.
The procedure is explained on the TNT webpage and please click on the link below to the TNT website to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the website of the company.http://expressdeliverytnt.com/index/details.html
Let me know
Amanda
Hmm, now the lure of getting a cheap laptop had me wrapped up in wishful thinking. An honest third party company is surely some form of guarantee? People please, it took one Google search of “Amanda Benson and iBook” to find several pages declaring this a hoax. For some reason the scammers haven’t thought to use different aliases. The Washington Post even did a story on it in October. The TNT website is a fake! There are posts online commenting on this as far back as June 2007. Dammit. Be careful out there.
Solana, tu eres más inteligente…a mí me hubieran cogido de pendeja.
Ouch! Glad you Googled it and realised it was a scam.
I was curious as well. What made me curious is she posted it on easternidaho,craigslist.com I am in Eastern Idaho so I figured I could run over there and pick it up. Kinda funny!! Anyhow she goes by the alias of Amanda Carter now. The goods have changed a little bit too.
Tim
I wish there was something more we could to stop them. I found an email address in a forum to a TNT representative, which I emailed the link of the fake website to – but I didn’t get any response. I emailed “Amanda Benson” back and asked to talk to her on the phone before we did the deal. Of course I haven’t heard back.
I heard back! If anything like this ever happens to you please contact whichever authority you can think of to make it harder for the crooks to do something like this to someone else.
………….
Dear Ms. Larsen:
Please review the information below. If you have further questions or
concerns, you may contact our Customer Service Call Center at 800-558-5555.
We are in receipt of your recent enquiry regarding goods or services that
were identified to you as being processed (or offered) through our company.
The content and details of your communication have been forwarded through
TNT Express Security to the relevant Law Enforcement and Regulatory
authorities who are assisting in the gathering and consolidation of
information and intelligence. An ongoing multi-agency investigation into
such incidents is in progress – clearly we would not advise you to use nor
further engage in the participation of any matters relating to requests for
payment of this nature.
We advise people who have already made a payment, or are about to do so to
report the matter to local Police as they may have been the subject of an
offence of fraud, attempted fraud and/or deception.
TNT takes this opportunity of directing you to advice contained on our
websites, and the following link will assist you :
http://www.tnt.com/country/en_generic/about/ournews/internet_fraud..html.
Additional information is also available as follows :
e-Auction or internet related matters
If you have conducted internet purchase transactions and have used eBay,
then we would also recommend that you review the information contained
in the eBay Trust and Safety Centre at http://www.ebay.com concerning the use
of payment services
Western Union also provide guidance on consumer fraud awareness, which
once again can be found on their global website http://www.westernunion.com .
Additional information on internet based fraud is available via the
Federal Trade Commission at
http://www/ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/fraud.htm
e-Lottery related matters
If you have been requested to forward an advance payment in order to
collect fraudulent lottery winnings or incidents of a similar nature,
guidance can be obtained from the following website
http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/internet/lottery.shtml
General Information
UK & Europe
Consumer Direct is the government-funded telephone and on-line service
offering information and advice on consumer issues (with the Office of
Fair Trading and Local Authority Trading Standards Services). They
provide guidance, advice and reporting services, which are available at
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk
The UK Office of Fair Trading have launched guidance and awareness,
available at http://www.oft.uk/News/Press+releases/2007/12-07.htm
USA
In the USA, the national Fraud Information Center and Internet Fraudwatch
Program maintains a website dedicated to the reporting of fraud, and has
specific information concerning internet based fraud. This is available at
http://www.fraud.org/internet/intinfo.htm and http://www.fraud.org.
Regards,
Deborah Coleman
Support Supervisor, North America
Customer Service
T : 281.885.4080
F : 281.876.0584
Deborah.Coleman@tnt.com
TNT USA Inc. http://www.tnt.com
She is advertising on the Lancaster Craigslist as well. I emailed her once, and she replied with the standard form letter, with a link to TNT. I told her that it smells like a scam, and said, “no thank you”. Then I googled her name, “Amanda Carter”. Folks, if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true.
in a nick of time!
your post just saved me 600 euros!
i had already done th moneygram but was able to cancell 15 minutes latter after reading this post and running back to mailbox etc
Thanks again!