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Scammers on craigslist - or how could I be so stupid

  • 01-12-2009 7:47am
    #1
    dawgie2009
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14 ✭


    I'm so stupid. Lost 200£ for nothing. I was desperately trying to get a ticket to the sold out John mayer concert in London. Looked everywhere, tickets were sold in about 7 to 10 times their face value (people have no shame!). Then I found this ad on craigslist - it wasn't too cheap, was just 3 times face value, so this wasn't too suspicious. But... all the signs were there and I chose to ignore:

    1. Seller said he couldn't meet as he was "working all day"
    2. Seller asked for western union money transfer - although craigslist explicitly warns against it
    3. Seller used this SquareTrade. I wasn't aware of this service, so I just played along.
    4. Monday morning, I got an email from the seller asking what's going on.

    Once the money has been transferred, obviously I never heard back from the scammer.

    Obviously I lost 200£. What could I have done differently (it's so silly that I didn't do that):
    1. If seller can't meet in person, forget about it, at least in craigslist, adverts, etc.
    2. Do a quick google search for "squaretrade scam" - this would have done the job.

    This is so ****ed up. I really wanted to buy this ticket for someone special for her b-day. And now I lost 200 quids. Damn.

    Scammers! I'm on to you!


Comments

  • #2
    Barname
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,084 ✭✭✭Barname


    while genuinely sorry for your loss I think your problem started when you went about looking for a ticket for a john mayer concert...

    john mayer ? seriously ?


  • #3
    dawgie2009
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14 ✭dawgie2009


    Honestly I have no idea who the guy is, never heard him singing. But, as I said, it was a bday present. And now I got nothing :mad:
    Barname wrote: »
    while genuinely sorry for your loss I think your problem started when you went about looking for a ticket for a john mayer concert...

    john mayer ? seriously ?


  • #4
    JJ
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,058 ✭✭✭JJ


    The mention of Western Union/Moneygram in these situations should have people running a million miles in the other direction. These services are for sending money to people you know, not to people you don't know. There's no comeback like with PayPal where the seller has to prove the item was delivered if a buyer raises a non-delivery dispute.


  • #5
    ttm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,045 ✭✭✭ttm


    JJ wrote: »
    The mention of Western Union/Moneygram in these situations should have people running a million miles in the other direction. These services are for sending money to people you know, not to people you don't know. There's no comeback like with PayPal where the seller has to prove the item was delivered if a buyer raises a non-delivery dispute.

    Good advice except you have no comeback with PayPal unless you have used them through eBay.


  • #6
    RasTa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,116 ✭✭✭✭RasTa


    Not sure how it works but did you pay him with a credit card?


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  • #7
    dawgie2009
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14 ✭dawgie2009


    No, you can't do that with western union - has to be cash - I guess that's what makes it the scammers favorite. The only thing that is important maybe is that in order to collect the money, one had to present an id. So it might have been fake one, but still.

    I wonder if there's any point in going to the police.
    RasTa wrote: »
    Not sure how it works but did you pay him with a credit card?


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