What Craigslist scam is it when the "buyer" wants your email address?

quote:

Originally posted by sunburn:
What Craigslist scam is it when the "buyer" wants your email address?

Did you tell them you would accept PayPal? How did they contact you? If you were on the phone and they asked you for your email did you ask them why they wanted it?

They responded to a for sale ad and wanted to contact me directly instead of through CL filters.

No thanks. Send the email directly through the Craigslist software, or get bent.

That is how it was handled, curious as to intent.

Yeah, no need to accept that without some reason given. Also no way to tell what kind of scam, if any, they were going to try just based on that.

Craigslist anonymizes your email address. A buyer could want the email address to be able to contact you after the sale. The buyer could want to spam you or use your email to try to find more out about you.

As a seller I ask for peoples email if they want pix etc.
If they do not wish to comply that is their prerogative and will get them nothing from me.

quote:

Originally posted by sunburn:
That is how it was handled, curious as to intent.

I get that sometimes and I think it's just trying to harvest live email accounts to resell.
I never do that, I just respond through the normal Cl system and they usually go away.
I also don't do texts as 99.99% of the scammers operate that way.

You don't have a burner email address? It takes like 30 seconds to set one up.

I was shopping for a skid steer about a month ago and came across a couple of scammers. They always wanted my email address and I have an address strictly for buying/selling stuff. Sometimes I like to jerk their chains if I'm in a good mood:

The Scammer

The skid steer has absolutely no mechanical problems, no leaks, it is in perfect condition. I'm selling it for $10,000, shipping included.

I am selling it because my husband died and I don't need it anymore. He was the one who used it... I have a clear title on my name.

The skid steer is currently with the shipper in Austin, TX, ready to be delivered. I want to use the eBay Vehicle Purchase Protection Program and I will list it on eBay with the Buy it Now option if my sale terms are accepted. This way we are both protected by eBay, who works as a third party. is already at the shipper and they won't let you see it or pick it up until eBay confirms your deposit of $2,000. Also you should understand that I have more people who want me to do that but I can't without a deposit to eBay first.


My Response

Can I just send you the money by Western Union? For business purposes I would like to wire the entire amount plus $4,000.00 and I would like for you to buy an item of mine on EBay for $2,000.00...you make an extra $2,000.00 this way.

If this is acceptable please provide your mailing address, home address, and social security number and we can get this going

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:
If this is acceptable please provide your mailing address, home address, and social security number and we can get this going

You would need their bank routing number and account number, as well.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:
If this is acceptable please provide your mailing address, home address, and social security number and we can get this going

You would need their bank routing number and account number, as well.

I'll add that to my list of necessary items

A couple of years ago I had a 6940 for sale on A**slist and I had the same scammer (at least same name and email address) target me 3 different times within a couple of weeks....possibly multiple people use the same email address for their scams and that scammer wanted to use Western Union

It makes it easier to finish the transaction. I have a spam email account for these purposes.

It may not be a scam, it's easier to communicate by direct e-mail.