Craigslist iPad Scam / re: Craig Newmark

Can't go into much detail now, I am in between class at LBCC and am astounded at this SCAM email I got pretending to be from the Founder, wait, the Original Founder of Craigslist.

It is not really a Money Scam, it is a sign up and go through 10K hoops and buy 10-dozen things and sign up 100 people to win an iPad scam. This (person) is trying to get you sign up on using their code so HE will get an iPad.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Craig Newmark <craignewmark@ipad924.info>
Date: Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 4:41 PM
Subject: Lost Cat - Missing Since 1/31 - Yellow Tabby - See Photos (SW Albany 8th Ave - Takena - Broadway)
To: subscriber

Dear Craigslist User,

My name is Craig Newmark, I'm the original founder and creator of Craigslist. I'm very excited to tell you about a new partnership we formed with Apple Inc. that enables us to give away free Apple iPads to a few lucky Craigslist posters. Each poster getting an iPad is randomly selected using a post they recently submitted to craigslist. You have been picked as today's winner. Congratulations!! Your craigslist post "Lost Cat - Missing Since 1/31 - Yellow Tabby - See Photos (SW Albany 8th Ave - Takena - Broadway)" came up in today's random drawing and we traced it back to this email address.

We created a special web page to help each winner get their iPad, please CLICK HERE and complete a couple of simple steps to get your free iPad. After completing the steps required, an iPad will be shipped to you in 1-3 business days. After shipping your iPad we will send you a confirmation email with shipping details along with estimated arrival time.

Congratulations for being selected as today's winner!!! Your free iPad currently sells for $850 to $900. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by replying to this email and I'll get back to you within 24-48 hours. Before contacting me I strongly recommend that you visit our iPad claim page HERE so that a unit is reserved for you before we run out.

Thank you for posting on Craigslist,

Craig Newmark
Founder of Craigslist

Craigslist job scams are on the rise, Craigslist posts warnings

This is directly from Craigslist. It is nice they added this information to the job search page. Being on the career market myself, I am very tired of sending a resume to an advertisement to find out it is just a scam. I have received back a few of the below, the most common for me have been the "Background Checking Services" and "Training & Education Sites".

It is a very trying time with a bad economy and people more than ever really put hope into finding a job or career and it really stinks when you find a good advert for a job that sounds great and send your resume in hopes to get an interview only to find that it is all scam.

Good luck out there, use common sense and good judgment.


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SCAM ALERT - affiliate scammers are posting bogus ads promising (nonexistent!) employment, paid research trials, or other compensation, but then notifying repliers that they'll need to jump through a hoop first, directing them to:

* background checking services
* credit checking or reporting sites
* sites where you are instructed to enter your resume or other personal information
* sites where you are asked to sign up for a "free" trial offer
* sites offering training or education
* sites offering a "system" for making money
* survey or focus group sites
* sites designed to deliver malware or misuse your identifying information


all in hopes of earning affiliate marketing commissions or otherwise profiting at the expense of persons seeking employment.


Lots of variations on this scam, but each generally involves dangling (nonexistent!) compensation, and then directing you to a website where you are asked to sign up for something, use your credit card, or input personal information such as your email address.

Craigslist scams targeting renters desperate for affordable apartments

Note: I was interviewed for this article expecting to be quoted one time, was surprised to see that it mostly surrounded my opinion. We are ok with this article, but it seems other websites have taken this article and made changes to it quoting things that I did not say and/or state as fact. Please use caution when seeing articles that are not from the original source.

BY MATT LYSIAK
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, February 11th 2008, 4:00 AM

The apartment sounded too good to be true.

A fully furnished two-bedroom with a balcony in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, going for $950 instead of the $2,200 it would normally fetch because of the tenant's sudden job transfer.

The catch: You have to take it sight unseen - and send a security deposit.

The bogus rental was even more of a steal than unsuspecting would-be tenants thought, part of a growing number of scams cooked up to profit from gullible people desperate for affordable housing in the city, according to Internet fraud and security expert Craig Solomon.

"It is becoming more common because New York apartments have become such a hot commodity," said Solomon. "People are so desperate that they aren't always thinking clearly."

This particular listing on Craigslist.org, the go-to site for frazzled city dwellers, featured appealing photos and a quick response to inquiries from a scam artist who used the alias "JoAnn Rinaggio" and a tale about being transferred to North Carolina.

"I will like to tell you that we are doing this based on trust and I would like you to trust me as I trust you. ... You can see the beautiful apartment in the pictures, but not in person yet," she writes, asking prospective tenants to wire a $550 security deposit and promising a return envelope with the apartment keys.

According to Solomon, "countless" victims fell for this ruse, sent money, never heard back from "Rinaggio" and learned the hard way that the address for the dream apartment, 8235 Fourth Ave., also was bogus.

Documents obtained by the Daily News show the phony name was used by a convicted serial rubber-check writer, JoAnne Smith, who was convicted nine times between 1986 and 2004 for fake checks totaling $20,000.

"Craigslist is made to sell local, and whenever anyone from out of state is involved, red flags should immediately go up," said Solomon. "Avoiding the scam is simple. Try to always do business face-to-face, and never, ever, wire money anywhere."

This is also the advice posted under "avoiding scams and fraud" by Craigslist on its Web site, which urges users not to wire money, give out personal financial information or respond to any offers requiring you to provide escrow money.

"Know that only a scammer will 'guarantee' your transaction," Craigslist warns.

Beth Ann Bovino, a senior economist at Standard & Poor's, found herself caught up in such a scam when someone posted her address and photos of it as a bargain rental.

"Rents are higher and people are in real need of an affordable place to live," said Bovino. "It is sad to say, but these kinds of scams appeal to desperation and greed."

"People need to remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Common Craigslist Scam

Within an hour of posting a personal mobile smartphone for sale on craigslist a T-Mobile SDA we got a request from a potential non-local buyer wanting to buy the phone. The first email we received asked for payment method we accepted and some general questions just to make the email sound realistic.

Since the item was advertised on a local craigslist we did not expect any long distance requests so I was suspicious, but never the less replied that we will accept all basic payment methods including credit cards, etc.

On Sunday we received a reply asking if we still have the item and would accept a Cashier’s Check from his bank? He said he wanted to pay this way so that I would ship it the next day to him FedEx and I did not have to wait for it to clear. Our reply was that we hold all checks 10-days due to fraud and fake checks. Needless to say we have not heard back from this buyer

Scam two with Craigslist, as we are liquidating our inventory and downsizing and moving our store from Second Street to Two Rivers mall, we are selling a ton of item, including a full liquidation from our old store the Relook Nook, so we have larger items including racks and fixtures for sale. One of the items is a large 3-sided mirror for a retail clothing store, we listed it under furniture.

The next day we receive an email from the buyer

Am Jackson Lapachia, How are you doing today?i saw your advert on the craigslist .I have interest in buying any funitures avaliable. please list out the available funitures and price, i just got an apartment and i have to funished it to my tastes that is why i have to mail you, i work in a fabrics company. I will be making a full payment my exboss is owning me. can you please hold the funitures for me till i come over .

I am single aged 28 .i am an easy going person, regard the payment my ex.boss will be issuing you a cheque for the payment is owning me ($4000 plus ).pls when you get it,you will have to deduct your payment, And you will have to send the balance to my travel agent here in state ... For him to get my my return ticket prepare for my coming over for the picked up of the funitures . For the payment to be send i will be needing your Full name, address state,city.zipcode,phone no. so that the check will be issue on you thanks

Please note I did not change any of the spelling to make it seem worse, this is what we got. Notice he does not say where it is, what he wants, nothing specific about the item for sale, nor does our ad really have furniture, just a mirror and clothing racks. The item is only $150 but yet he is willing to send us a check for $4k and expect us to send the balance back. I guess the next answer would be that the balance needs to be wired back to his agent. The funniest part yet is that my original email back to him includes my signature that has the KGAL logo and talks about the Scambusters Radio show.

Our concern is how may thousand of these generic emails go out, and worse yet how many reply. What a quick, fast and amazing way for people to earn a living overseas.