» MacBook Pro Scam on Craigslist

Hey Kelly,

I almost fell for this exact scam also. I too was a bit skeptical about paying someone in the U.K… especially a large amount of money. I had replied to two different posts on craigslist and received the EXACT same reply email (pictures, words, and format) from two different email addresses. Each email claimed to be a different person, Kyle Mosson and Warren Sanders. Obviously these are total scams.

Thank you Kelly for this post, it was the first hit on google for ‘Kyle Mosson”. You certainly have saved a tight budgeted college student from a financial heartache. I hope this helps others.

Thanks again,

Phil

Glad you found it helpful. The more we can get these scams to show up in search engines, the easier it should be for people to do a quick search and not be taken in by these scams. At this time, the good folks at craigslist have taken down the scam ad. I’m happy they are able to verify and respond in a quick manner.

Oh, me. I think I got scammed on this. I sent the money to DHL and never received the package or any reply from DHL. Didn’t find your post until too late. Any advice? Bob

Oooooo, bummer Bob. I guess I would try to talk to your state attorney general or possibly federal authorities (FBI?) since the scam involved a foreign country. Perhaps there is some recourse you could take with DHL or your credit card company. Good luck!

Found the same scam. Claimed to be here me but when I contacted she “moved” to United Kingdom:

The laptop is still available and I hope you are still interested. My name is Amy and I am now in Manchester, U.K. This machine has been used for professional needs over the past 10 Months, it is in great condition and runs perfectly, and beyond evidence of normal use the laptop is in perfect shape. The warranty is good until June 2010 and it is fully transferable. One more thing, it works on US voltage so you do not need a converter. I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the laptop. Please get back to me and let me know if you like the laptop if you’re really interested in buying it.

The exact procedure is explained at http://www.freightpost-dhl.com/en_uk/webship.high.html I will also try to explain everything. First I go to DHL with the laptop and start the delivery procedure. After I give them the laptop for you, DHL will send you a notification to let you know the process has been initiated, and that they have the laptop for you and also the complete specifications of the laptop. Also, in the notification they will send you clear instructions on how to make the payment to DHL, to the DHL agent’s name. After you complete your payment, then you will notify DHL, they will collect the payment and once they have your payment, then they will deliver the laptop to you in 2 days time. After you receive the laptop you will test them to see if they are as I said. Once you receive the laptop you will have 5 days to test the laptop and if you are 100% satisfied you will keep it and at this poing notify DHL that you are keeping the computer and that they can send me the money. In the event that you do not like the laptop you will notify DHL you are not keeping the laptop and at this point the DHL people will come to your address and pick up the machine and give you a full refund of your money. So it is simple, I would say. If you agree to these terms, send me your name and address and I will go to DHL with the laptop and start the delivery procedure.

—- Scam scam scam….almost fell for it

Wow Curtis, I’m glad you didn’t get scammed. All those steps, and using DHL as an escrow service just seems very suspicious. I suppose next week it will be cheap iPhones or Wii’s or something…

I almost fell for the scam as well. Glad I found this valuable blog post before I sent my money to these sons of bitches.

Here is the original ad on Craigslist: http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/8012/macbookscamnr5.jpg

At first, I thought this was a fantastic deal, but also thought it was too good to be true. The same model is sold for $1400+ on Apple’s website. This laptop is only one year old and why would the owner sell it for only $400?

I then emailed the poster asking if the laptop was still available, I didn’t get a reply within the first two days, so I thought the laptop must already been sold. On the third day, I got the following email:

Hello,

The laptop is still available and I hope you are still interested. My name is Amy and I am now in Manchester, U.K. This machine has been used for professional needs over the past 11 Months, it is in great condition and runs perfectly, and beyond evidence of normal use the laptop is in perfect shape. The warranty is good until August 2009 and it is fully transferable. One more thing, the laptop is an US version and it works on US voltage so you do not need a converter. I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail so you can see the condition of the laptop. Please get back to me and let me know if you like the laptop if you’re really interested in buying it.

Thanks, Amy

The first thing I noticed was that the email address was kind of unusual for a personal email address. It was “Bold Dreamer amy.1979.28@hotmail.com”. Why wouldn’t she use her real name for her personal email account? And who would use more than one dot in the email address? I guess they just registered for some free webmail address using fake personal info so that it is totally untraceable.

I then emailed her asking how I could get the laptop from her and why she is asking for such an unusually low price. She replied and said:

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 DHL, 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 DHL webpage and please click on the link below to the DHL website to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the website of the company. http://www.dhl.co.uk/publish/gb/en/services/log_services/air.high.html Let me know

Amy

I noticed two things that indicated this was a scam. First, why would someone say things so formally in a personal email message?

” The solution is provided by a worldwide delivery company DHL, and they will provide assistance in hadling the payment and delivery of the laptop. “

A sentence like this must be written and edited in advance.

Secondly, she said that I could test the laptop before she receives her payment. Why would she trust me so much. I am a stranger to her. What if I cancel my payment right after I receive the laptop?

Then I realized that this might be a scam. Originally I thought that the reason why the laptop is so cheap might be that it was stolen, but then I thought it might be a scam so I started googling “macbook scam” and luckily I found this post!

I already informed Craigslist about this ad.

One thing I learned from this experience is that when something is too good to be true, google it to see if it is a scam.

Glad I just did some searching around. I go the same Amy email. She’s on the Boston Craigslist. I almost had one yesterday buying form someone locally and it fell thru, and this one came along. And after I told “Amy” I didn’t want to do the deal anymore, low and behold I get two emails from DHL tonight saying they have the computer and are awaiting my Western Union Payment, and I can’t do it online with a credit card, it has to be done in person at Western Union……. RED FLAG!!!!

Glad I didn’t fall for it. Thank jebus for the intranet.

http://logisticsdhlpost.com/en_uk/webship.high.html

western union as payment made me confirm this is a scam. why would dhl, use western union as type of payment. it is so odd.

and of course the website, if you examine it closely, it is not DHL.com, but the site looks like dhls’s own. i received the exact email from “AMY”

Use http://whois.net/ to find out who the various domains are registered to. You probably can’t get to the perpetrator (administrative contact) but you can probably get the web site removed from the server by contacting the technical contact. And don’t forget to contact the feds at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx and https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Have fun!