Archive for the 'Scams' Category

Adoption scam on backpage

Published on June 2, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Backpage and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Scam Website Ads Offer Kids For Adoption:

In Pittsburgh a local news station turned up adoption ads on their local backpage.com site. Of course these ads are a scam designed to get prospective parents to wire money when no child actually exists.

Surprisingly backpage was quick to respond to these ads…

In an email to Team 4, a spokesman for backpage.com said, “Thanks for reaching out to us. Both postings violate our site’s terms of use. We will remove them shortly. They are both examples of an overseas wire money scam.”

Yet the sexual trafficking of children still continues unabated on backpage. Just sayin’.

Geebo.com prevents scams like this by screening all their ads.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Backpage crime post #119
Scams post #198

NC man charged with craigslist blackmail and impersonating an officer

Published on February 8, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Timothy Andrew Huffman

ONLY ON 3: Man charged with impersonating officer after posing as woman on Craigslist:

In what seems like a mash up of two recent stories 18-year-old Timothy Andrew Huffman of Brunswick County, North Carolina has not only been arrested for craigslist blackmail but has also been arrested for impersonating an officer.

Police say that Huffman would place ads on the casual encounters section posing as a female and would get men to send him explicit photos of them. When he would get the men to meet him he would threaten the victims into posting the pictures online. After searching Huffman’s computer they found that he posed as a sheriff’s deputy trying to get personal information from the victims. So it sounds like this was some kind of elaborate identity theft scheme.

Let me reiterate this for those of you who still don’t get it. THE HOT GIRL ON CRAIGSLIST DOESN’T WANT TO MEET YOU!!! Chances are that she’s not even a girl. There’s no such thing as no strings attached.

If this keeps up I may have to start a blackmail category.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1405
Scams post #197

NH man scammed women on craigslist by posing as US Marshal

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Eric Williams

Feds: Fake cop scammed dates:

Former Dedham man arrested by U.S. marshals at TGI Friday’s Norwood:

Tripped up by tall tales:

Ladies, in case you needed another reason not to date guys off of craigslist here’s a good one. He might turn out to be some sandwich making douchebag posing as a US Marshal. That’s what 28-year-old Eric Williams of New Hampshire allegedly did.

The former Subway employee, I’m sorry, ‘sandwich artist’, is accused of scamming several women that he met off of craigslist claiming that he was a US Marshal. One victim said that he would tell stories about storming into the houses of pedophiles to arrest them.

In one instance he allegedly stayed the weekend with a woman he met posing as Marshal Douche and stole a blank check of hers then cashed it at a bank using his phony Marshal’s badge. It seems he really lived it up by driving a Ford Explorer made to look like a government vehicle.

To make matters worse Williams was allegedly released by accident but was tracked down by police at a public library on a computer on craigslist once again trying to tell some woman he was a US Marshal.

The best part to me though was that after stealing thousands of dollars from his victims he was arrested at a TGI Fridays. Way to live it up Dillinger. I guess he just can’t escape that Subway mentality.

Geebo.com got rid of their personals section to avoid just such an incident.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1403
Scams post #196

SC Woman arrested in craigslist 419 scam

Published on January 15, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Nina Meads

Woman arrested in fraud scheme:

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Someone in the US was arrested for being part of the overpayment scam on craigslist.

Police in Charleston, SC arrested 55-year-old Nina Marie Meads. It seems that Meads was allegedly the go between for Nigerians committing the overpayment scam.

For those of you who don’t know how it works is that someone will post something for sale on craigslist then the seller will receive a check for more than the amount they asked for. The ‘buyer’ will say they sent that in error then ask the seller to wire them back the overpayment. After the seller wires back the difference they find out that the check was a fake and the seller is now on the hook for the money.

Police say that Meads was the go between who would get the money from the wiring service before sending it to her overlords in Nigeria.

How does one even get a job being a runner for Nigerian scammers? Do they advertise on craigslist?

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

craigslist crime post #1389
Scams post #195

I found him on Craigslist

Published on August 21, 2010 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Unprofessional contractor behavior:

No this isn’t a casual encounters story. It’s a story of a contractor who has been accused of scamming.

I received an e-mail from a reader from Southern California who claims he has been ripped off by one Ross Emmick of the Mesa, Arizona area. The article I linked to tells you the story of how one woman from Phoenix was allegedly ripped off. That was back in March and according to the e-mail Emmick moved on to California.

I am one of many scammed on Craigslist. Having been burned and now I’m taking a/ closer look, doing what everyone should do – due diligence -I now realize I am by far not alone. Small consolation, I’d rather have my money back frankly. So here is our story; We met someone selling discounted Murphy beds on Craigslist. He drives from His home in Mesa, Arizona and sells Murphy/wall beds all over Southern California. We only only found out later that he does this because some of the locals are already on to him so it’s time to move onto greener pastures.

Here is a link to a news story about this guy, Ross Paul Emmick, who rips people off on Murphy beds via Craigslist. You gotta love how the piece starts: “I met hm on Craigslist”:

Our experience was very similar to hers. All around an incredibly bad experience for us. We’re out $1900 and we’ve had to deal with in addition to being the worst manufacturer of Murphy beds in the world this intimidating, rage-alholic, incredibly dangerous and dysfunctional personality. So consider yourselves warned. I do this merely to warn others, I wish I had known in advance and I’m ashamed to admit it but a simple 10-second Google search would have sufficed to have protected us from this guy.

A Google search is great but if you want to go more in depth you may want to check with the Better Business Bureau as well. There are also paid sites where you can see if other people have had similar good or bad experiences with contractors.

Stay tuned Monday for the next chance to win your own craigscrimelist t-shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1301
Scams post #193

AK man arrested in fake check scam

Published on August 7, 2010 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Anchorage man facing counterfeiting charges:

33-year-old Bradley Blodgett of Anchorage, Alaska has been charged with making counterfeit checks that are used in the craigslist fake check scam.

Blodgett was allegedly employed by the Nigerians to print out the fake checks and send them to the scam victims.

He’s looking at 25 years. Too bad we can’t get the Nigerians in charge of these scams.

To help educate people on these scams you can win a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1281
Scam post #192

Fake check puppy scam

Published on August 6, 2010 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Brighton woman’s Craigslist puppy sale goes awry:

A woman from Brighton, Colorado could no longer care for her puppy so she sold it on craigslist. A woman paid her $150 by check. Not only was the check a fake but the ‘buyer’ turned around and was trying to sell the dog on craigslist.

I love animals and I know how hard it is to give away one of your pets. I couldn’t imagine the horror I would go through if I knew the pet that I had loved was being used for a craigslist scam.

I know that some people would want to recoup their ‘losses’ when trying to find a pert a new home but I would recommend trying to find an adoption shelter in your area instead.

While not as good as a puppy you can win a free CCL T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1277
Scam post #191

The craigslist daycare scam

Published on August 4, 2010 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Woman falls victim to Craigslist check fraud:

This reminds me a lot of the tutor scam but both is a variation of the fake check scam.

Anyway what happened is that a woman in Clarksville, Tennessee was scammed out of $2,950. She had posted an ad on craigslist for her daycare service. The scam artist claimed to be from the UK and that he would be there on business and would pay $600. The scammer sent a check for $3,600 and asked the overage to be returned.

No wiring this time as the scammer met the victim in person. The victim had cashed the check and had given the scammer the money. Of course the check was fake.

However an arrest has been made. Police arrested 26-year-old Tarrance Kerry Freeman who allegedly tried to fake a seizure at the time of his arrest.

Remember people, a check for over the asking amount is fake.

But you can win a very real CCL t-shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1273
Scam post #190

Illinois Army National Guard craigslist scam

Published on August 2, 2010 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Scammers Claim To Be Deploying Illinois National Guard Soldier:

Law enforcement in the state of Illinois, where their motto is ‘the s is silent’, are warning residents about a craigslist scam claiming that the seller is in the Illinois Army National Guard and is deploying to Iraq. The point of the scam is to gain your personal information and steal your identity.

Much like the African Christian Missionaries if we had as many deploying National Guard were actually deploying as the scammers claim then there would be peace in the Middle East by now.

It is possible to screen ads so that things like this are far less likely to happen. Try Geebo.com, where they screen all their ads before they are ever posted on their site.

Win a free t-shirt, Scam Free.

Craigslist crime post #1270
Scam post #189

CFL tickets scam on Kijiji

Published on July 31, 2010 by Trench Reynolds in Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Ticket Fraud:

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are my favorite Canadian Football team. I’ve never actually seen a CFL game but I like them just for the fact that they’re in Saskatchewan which was made famous in a Bugs Bunny cartoon (Open Saskatchewan?) Anyway now that CFL games are being shown in the US I’ll be sure to catch a game.

Anyway I bring up the Roughriders because phony Roughrider tickets are showing up on Kijiji. In this case the scam artist asks the money top be wired before sending the tickets. Of course the tickets don’t actually exist.

And I’ll be more than happy to trade someone a craigscrimelist t-shirt for a Saskatchewan Roughriders t-shirt.

Kijiji crime post #21
Scam post #188