***scam on CL when selling your dress!! ***

Note: Not to worry, I didn't accept or send her money... see my story below

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So I've been trying to sell my dress on CL for a while now; so far no serious buyers (tons of flakers).  The latest one I received SEEMED legit; "she" even tugged on the heartstrings when she said she's in the US Army assigned in Afghanistan.  She said she'll send the money via Paypal so I gave her my email.

And that's where they get you. 

After I gave her my Paypal email, I received a Paypal Notification of Instant Payment for $1500.  I was selling my wedding dress for $950.  I get another email from her saying that I need send the $550 extra that she gave me to her "agent" via Western Union.  She also then asks for my home address & phone number.  What a scammer; I sent her an email saying I'm not dumb enough to fall for this scam & reported her to Craigslist & Paypal (I mean, really, what can you do?!)  And of course I didn't give her my home address or phone number!

Just an fyi to you ladies if you're selling your wedding gown on CL.  I'm still trying to sell mine; even have a posting in our classifieds section.

 check out the email.

From: Kelly Anderson <kllykanderson@aol.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Subject: URGENT PLZ!
To: <private>

Oh, I need to  inform you about this, just received an email from my pickup agent...They said they won't come for  the pick up of the dress and the furniture that i bought from another  lady unless I pay the agent commission fee first in order to be  able to schedule a pick up time for all my bought Goods including the gown,My pick up  agent Head Quarters is in CO and all commission  payments made for pick up from anywhere in the world is sent to their  Head Quarters in United State and the only form of payment they accept is  Money Gram/Western Union.

I have tried to pay online but they referred me to an agent location to pay by cash because of some security reasons because I don't have a credit history and can't answer their background question, and there is no Money Gram or Western Union agent in Camp!! That is why I add the agent fee to the PayPal Payment ($1500). So you are to send the agent fee of $550 added to the payment I sent through the PayPal Payment, Via Money western union.

  The Western Union Money Transfer can be made at any Post Office near to you, there are always a Money Gram or Western Union agent @ most Post Offices or you can also visit western union Outlet near to you.

Here is my pickup agent's info that you will need to send the money to through Money Gram or
Western Union Money Transfer:
Agent's Info:

Laura Richmond

Thanks for the heads up.. Honestly if that happened to me, I wouldn't know if it was a scam, because I would just be confused as to what the heck a pick up agent is and why someone would pay $550 to have someone else pick up your dress. lol. 

Actually, it says at the top of CL not to accept out of country transactions, wired money transactions, or money orders. I almost did the same crap about 2 years ago with a car. I'm so glad that you caught this! It's sad how little of conscience some people have :(

I know, right? Some poor girl is def gonna fall for their scam. They're getting really sophisticated with the scam since you get 2 emails from "paypal" (in quotes since i'm not even sure if it's from paypal or a faked paypal acct) -- one saying that I have an instant payment waiting for me... and the other one saying that I need to send $550 via western union to her "agent" so paypal can release the $1500 to me.  ooooh, those jerks are sneaky!

btw, CL also has a disclaimer about accepting cashier's checks and bank money orders since those can be faked. for something like a car purchase, how is one supposed to accept payment? go to the bank with them? lol

Damn, that sucks that people would do that. Definitly good to not accept anything like that. Thanks for posting.

wow, how low can people be??

This has been going on for years.  These people even list homes and jobs and various sites trying to scam people.   The FBI did a report on them and stated that they were African and different nationalities trying to scam Americans to change checks.  I know a friend of mine years ago when it wasn't so popular actually got a check and changed it.  The check bounce and she was locked up for 2 days.  Unbeknownst to her it was the beginning of what would be long lived scam.  The charges were dropped but she went to jail for something she had no idea about.  Great share ladies what out.  They always use western union as it is a fast way to collect money.  By the time you send it and they have already collected it, the money is gone and you cant get back what you lost. 

Sorry to hear that this happened and glad you didn't fall for it.

Unfortunately there are a TON of scammers out there and we all have to be vigilent about who we sell to and buy from online.

If I were selling something on CL I'd be adamant of only selling it a) locally or b) if they're willing to make the trip. I'm not sure why but I feel like a "cash only" policy for Craigslist is your safest bet.

Same type of email came across to me when FI and I were looking on CL for a new place to rent. The guy claimed he owned the place but lived out of state but was traveling out of country for work and if I sent the deposit via paypal he'd mail the keys to us. 

I never replied - he sent me another email and I marked him as spam. So glad you didn't go further!

OMG