Craigslist and Buyers' Fraud: Is This Free Service Worth the Risks?

I have always utilized eBay to sell small things, such as books and CDs, but recently I had to sell a piece of furniture and chose Craigslist a try as to avoid shipping hassles and list fees. If not for the wisdom of a friend who threatened bodily injury to me if I gave in, I might have been totally taken in by a common scam.

I listed my item, a cherry wood desk and chair, on Craigslist and clearly stated that I would only accept cash from local buyers. I should have gotten a clue when the first person to respond (and the only one) was someone who was not local but wouldn't tell me where he was from. He had horrible spelling and grammar, but his email address said "Dr." He also said he wanted to send me a check. Each of these things should have been a red flag to me, but I needed the money badly and initially ignored the signs because of this.

At first the buyer told me he was going to mail me a check, with an additional $50 added on to the total, if I would remove the ad from Craig's list. I told him I would do so after I received the check. The man said he would overnight the check to me right away, and I told him that would be fine.

The next day I received an email from the man telling me his secretary had made a mistake and had written the check for $4500 instead of $450. This is when the alarm bells started going off in my head. When the man told me he wanted me to cash the check and send him the balance via Western Union, I knew something was up. I had recalled all those scam emails I'd received in the past with similar scenarios involving Western Union and money transfers and got quite suspicious.

I sent the email to a friend who confirmed my suspicions and warned me not to respond to the man. I wanted to badly to believe in the legitimacy of it all, mainly because I so desperately needed the money, that I kept coming up with reasons and excuses to get around what my friend was telling me. Thank goodness he did not let up, and I finally put together an email to the man telling him that I would not cash the check for $4500. I told him I was going to send it back to him and would expect a cashier's check or money order back from him in the amount of the purchase and no more. Only then would I be able to complete the transaction. I never heard from the buyer again.

Now that I was convinced that I had been scammed, I decided to check with the Better Business Bureau to find out about the company that the check was drawn on. The company, Stanley Supplies and Services, did exist but did not come up in the database of the BBB. The closer I looked at the check, it seemed obvious, although I cannot be 100% certain, that it was not a real check. My assumption is the man forged the check, and that although the company was real, nothing else about the check was.

After not being able to find information from the BBB, I called the local Crime Stoppers division and explained the situation. They directed me to the division of the police department that deals with this type of scam. I spoke with a police officer and as soon as I told her what had happened, she confirmed the guy was trying to pull something. She told me that because I hadn't cashed the check, it wasn't yet considered a crime. However the fact that I didn't cash the check meant that he could not obtain my information either.

Apparently, the scam works in a way that someone can write a check for any amount, whether or not they have the money to cover the check, and have someone else cash it and send them the funds. When sending it via Western Union, the person's information can then be obtained. I do not know the details of how this scam works, but a cop's confirmation is good enough for me to take it seriously.

Although Craigslist has many benefits, the fact that there is no protection to buyers from fraud is a major drawback to the service, and one that will cause me to think twice before purchasing or selling something on Craig's list again.

As a recruiter for a staffing company, I have used the site to post job ads and search resumes and have had much success with in that area and will continue to use it for this purpose. I won't use it again for buying and selling of merchandise. The risks are unfortunately just too high.