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As a Seller

If you are selling an item on Craigslist, you will definitely encounter your share of scams email responses to your posting. Here's 5 things to look out for in response emails:

1. The sender doesn't mention specifically the item you are selling in the email.

Keep an eye open for emails saying "I'm interested in the item you are selling", or "I came across your item...". Take note if the item you're selling is mentioned anywhere in the email (besides the
subject line). If it is not mentioned, chances are high you're dealing with a scammer.

Most legit emails will say "How much for the stereo?" or "How long have you had the laptop?". Notice these mention your product.

A scammer tries to scam as many people as possible with the least amount of work, so his emails are usually generic and won't contain specifics. This way he can use that same email over and
over again without having to retype a new one each time to fit the situation.

The person is this above response is looking for contact information only. Probably to add to his spam lists. Nowhere in his response does he say what the item is. This is an example of an email I would not answer.

2. They won't leave a phone number.

This doesn't mean that anyone who doesn't leave their phone number is a scammer. But scammers don't want to be caught, so obviously won't give up information that may allow someone to trace them back to their location. I personally like when someone leaves me their
phone number in a response email. It gives me a chance to talk to them and see if they are for real. So raise a small flag if the sender is reluctant to give contact info such as a phone number.

3. The english grammar in the email is bad or terrible.

This is usually a dead giveaway. You're going to need to be very unforgiving on this one and trust that 85% of the time, if the english is very bad, you're dealing with a scammer. We all know
that there are honest non-english speaking people. But the statistics have bourne out that there is a tremendously high rate of scammers in non-english speaking countries that just cannot
write or speak english well. Usually places where laws are not as strict as the US or the UK. Places like Russia, Romania, and you guessed it, Nigeria! And they have no problem ripping us off.

These scammers often try to convert their emails into English, either by themselves or with speech conversion software. And fortunately for us, both have equally bad results.

So when you see bad, almost laughable grammar, toss that email into the recycle bin.

4. They will offer you more money than you are asking for.

Did you ever get an email offering to pay you more for your item than you asked for? Would you personally ever do that to someone? No, I didn't think so, so why would anyone do it to you unless they
are trying to pull a fast one on you. Don't get excited when you get such an email or let greed cloud your better judgement. It's going to end up being a lose-lose situation and a waste of your
time so simply put that email into the recycle bin and entertain the legitimate offers.

5. They will offer to send you a check for a larger amount and have you send them the difference.

This is a popular scam lately. The prospective buyer will offer to and may actually send you a check for more than the selling amount and request that you send him the difference. The catch is that
after you cash the check, and send him the money, it will be discovered that the check you cashed was fake and YOU are now liable for the charges. So don't fall for this one either. The banks don't let you slide on this one as well.

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