Yesterday I had a response:
On Wed, 6 Oct 2010, Clarence Rose wrote:
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
--
Hello Seller,
Do you still have the item for sale? and how long have you been using it.
Rose.
I responded:
Hi Rose,The next question was as reasonable as it was predictable:
Yes the bike is for sale. I think it has about 60km of use on it, so hardly used at all.
Michael
On Wed, 6 Oct 2010, Clarence Rose wrote:
Thanks very much for the mail,I'm interested in buying it,may i know why you wanted to sell it and what's it present condition.
So I answer to the best of my ability:
Hi,
Actually the guy who bought the bike for triathalons decided he wanted a conventional road bike and gave me the frame. I have inspected it and it clearly is hardly used. It has a small scuff from transport (to the original store where it was sold) and it has accumulated some dust but it otherwise is in perfect condition.
If you would like to see the frame, it is at Biseagal (http://www.biseagal.com/welcome.htm) at 388 Carlaw Avenue (Between Dundas and Gerrard on the West side) look for the Yellow Inde-Art Design House sign Biseagal is in the same enterance down the hall on the right hand side.
http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&ll=43.666046,-79.342104&spn=0,0.001072&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=43.665961,-79.342069&panoid=jwIdvDvvzTMbDw5CvLFVCQ&cbp=12,244.88,,0,4.57
If I am not around, just ask Malcolm, the owner of Biseagal, to show you Michael's Trek frame.
Michael
Now the alarm bells started ringing:
I so much appreciate your response to my earlier mail. I wish to let you know that I'm satisfied with the condition. Like I said there's no doubt I'm gonna purchase it. Therefore I want you to consider it sold by withdrawing the advert from craigslist. Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling. My shipping company will come to your location for pick up. Kindly provide me your name and full address, so i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. Please get back to me as soon as possible.
May your troubles be less, your blessings more.
and nothing but happiness comes through your door.
I do not need to be scammed thank you, lets get some standard anti-fraud measures going:
Like I said, the frame is in the shop, see the email below for details. If a shipping company is going to retrieve the frame, how are you going to pay me? I only accept cash.
Well Rose might be in the scamming business but they are not in the very much going on between the ears business:
I'm not in town presently that is why i want to hand over this transaction to PayPal and my agent so as soon as the payment has been made then my agent can come for the necessary information.. Just get back to me with your full home address and your PayPal email address for the instant payment.
I don't have a copy of my response to this note, but it went to the effect of, "The bike is in the shop, you can see it there, you can pay me cash only I don't use paypal. Sorry."
Why do people try to scam? Who gets fooled? Such a shame, the whole damn thing.
Oh incidently, Rose's email might show up as: Clarence Rose [300000kms@gmail.com]. If you ever plan to sell anything on Craigslist, make sure to avoid this guy.
19 comments:
Thanks so much for this. I've had the same transaction with this email address and thought it was fishy so I googled the address and your blog was on top confirming my doubts.
It's a pretty smart scam though.
Hi Anonymous, I'm still not sure exactly what the scam was. (What's a guy gonna do with a $1000 bike frame. it's not like most people need a Tribike frame. Or did he plan to try to resell it after a courier picks it up maybe?)
But the whole thing was too fishy by a country mile. If I were to buy something, and wanted to make sure the seller did not sell to someone else, I'd give the seller some money first as a show of good faith. But then, as my wife often points out, I am very trusting. :P
Actually I should thank this "Clarence Rose" idiot. After seeing Anonymous's comments I noticed my blog's got more hits since I made this entry, about a week ago, then in the previous month. Most were google searches on that thrity thousand kms@ gmail ID. Good job Clarence, now if only I made money from the hits, I could just give you the damn frame. :P
Micheal, thanks again for your blog! I was surprised by the courier story for something that in my view would cost more on S&H then the real thing! I am located in the Ottawa area. She wanted to pay me with Paypal, not sure about the Paypal policy after you get the $$$.
Actually I don't think the scam is actually getting the goods, be it a bike frame or anything else. I think the scam is hacking people's Paypal accounts. (Reason number 637 why I think Paypal is about the worst thing in the world.) Likely people selling expensive stuff will have Paypal accounts worth hacking.
In related news, I've been getting some hits from Nigeria lately. Hi Rose, Clarance, whatever your name really is. Word of advice, if you want to scam people, try people who are not as smart as you are... if such people exist.
Thanks so much for posting this! Just got an email from he/she this morning.
"I really appreciate your response to my previous mail. Just to let you know that I'm satisfied with the condition of the item. Like I said I will like to buy this item so kindly withdraw the advert from Craigslist but i will not be able to look at the item or pick it up from your place because i am currently out of the state, I'm representing my company (Sun Magazine) on an official trip. You will be shipping the item to my Son just because I'm buying the item for him and i will prefer the shipment to go through USPS Global Express Mail (EMS SPEED POST), i will add extra $50 to your money so as to cover the shipping and insurance charges. And about the payment, i will prefer PayPal because it is secure and easy to send money on line. So get back to me with your PayPal email address so that i can send out the payment and as soon as you received the payment you can make the shipment,hope to hear back from you.
Have a Great Day!"
Oh Clarence Rose. Whatever are we going to do with you?
I rarely post comments, but I felt compelled to add mine to this list. I had Clarence Rose contact me with the exact same messages as they'd sent to the people here.
Thanks so much for posting this somewhere!
Well I've still got a bike frame for sale! But I am pleased to see my Blog has been helpful for at least a few people here. Guys for the sake of some sort of head count, can everyone at least put their initials here? It is very difficult to determine how many people this blog post has actually helped, and I am curious. :)
I got the same e-mail through a sale in craigslist. Thanks for the blog - helped avoid some hassle and missing out on a real buyer.
Thanks for posting this I googled in clarence rose scam because I got a few suspicious replies from some such person
Clarence Rose is at it again. I received the same email as mentioned above and reported to Craigslist today.
Response from my email:
"I so much appreciate your response to my earlier mail. I wish to let you know that I'm satisfied with the condition. Like I said there's no doubt I'm gonna purchase it. Therefore I want you to consider it sold by withdrawing the advert from craigslist. Note that you will not be responsible for shipping and handling. My shipping company will come to your location for
pick up. Kindly provide me your name and full address, so i can forward it to the shipping company to calculate the cost of pick up for me. Please get back to me as soon as possible.
May your troubles be less, your blessings more. and nothing but happiness comes through your door."
This one entry in my blog seems to be the Clarence Rose reporting centre. (Not that I mind, I think it's kinda cool actually.) =) But what I find remarkable is that my hit counts seem to surge every week or so, as if ole' "Clarence" only sends out his scam once a week.
Not that it seems relevant any longer, but in desperation, I threw the frame, the thing I originally posted for sale on Craigslist, up on ebay. When last I checked, $127 for something I figure is worth $800 ~ $1500. :(
Yes, M. Rose is still at work on Craigslist, this time in Toronto. Used the same text and their own "shipping company". Did not give out any PayPal info (don't use it really).
Thanks so much for the blog entry :)
Yes, the email address is still at it. An email address like "300000kms@gmail" is an instant tip off: if you Google "300000 kms", you'll have to wade through all the speed of light posts and you may not find the scammer information.
I am selling an item on CraigsList and got similar cryptic answers from this person. THANKS FOR THIS BLOG POST!
I just received the same phish email but from a different email address. I got here by googling the body of the email.
Joachim Grams - lukecal100@gmail.com
--
Hello Seller,
Do you still have the item for sale? and how long have you been using it.
Joachim.
yup, thanks for PSA, michael. i've got the same thing going on here in montreal. clarence has changed his name to "joachim grams" joachim told me he couldn't come see my table i was selling because he's handicapped and it was for his daughter in new hampshire. and all seems fine to the third email and then you know it's a scam. so i googled and found his new email is lukecal100@gmail.com
I have a Chariot Jogging stroller on Reno, NV Craigslist & he is trying to pull the same scam with me....Thanks for all your posts !!! Al
i also had a recent visit from our friend.. In Vancouver Canada
it goes....
Greetings Seller,
Do you still have the item for sale?and how long have you been using it.
Joachim.
Joy to You and Me!!!
cash only.
i don't keep the bike at my home and would only be able to meet your agent after a phone call to unlock it at the storage facility where it is kept.
send your agent the cash or pay pal fist and and have them come to meet me with cash or no deal.
thank you.
PS
i do not ever give out my full real name or home address over the phone or online. ever
if you want the bike . you and your agent will find a way to meet me with the cash and make the purchase.
where in the world would you be to have have limited access to a phone but looking onliine in vancouver craigslist?
sounds funny .
sorry cash only
money talks and bullshit walks in my world
anyway I got the same story about the agent he has and pay pal.
Nothing adds up with this guy .. its some sort of ID fraud .
thank goodness for the internet
if any one else want to send some hate mail or mess with this dude it would be my pleasure to offer his mail address lukecal100@gmail.com mail the one he is using in vancouver anyway.
cheers to you Micheal,
btw- i am selling my dona downhill and an brand new brodie road bike dynamo - lol look on craigslits if any of you want to do some shopping
So he's *still* at it. Disgusting animal of a person, he's really sunk to a new low of depravity. Anyway look in the March or April (depending on when I publish the latest) 2012 section of my blog, now the name to look out for is Clifton Gemni or cliftongemni@gmail.com, alegedly a Seargent in the US Army. (Any US service personal have good questions I can ask this guy to out him?)
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