Warning to Wichita, KS area
 

I saw an ad on the Wichita Craigslist site yesterday that advertised a Handi Quilter Avante, less than a year old for only $2,000. I responded and asked about it. I was told by the seller (email) that the price was correct and all I had to do was give my name and address and he would open an account for me through an Ebay Protection Plan because that was the best way to protect me and him to pay for it. Hmmmm....too good to be true I thought, plus the reason for selling it wasn't the same reason listed in the ad. So I did an investigation with Ebay and they do not have this type of plan. Did some more checking on Scam alerts and this is one of the biggest scams going on through Craigslist. It is not Craigslist's fault. I couldn't find anywhere to alert anyone to this scam, so thought I would alert all you quilters out there about these kinds of scams and maybe help someone not to fall for them. Always remember that if it's too good to be true it probably is.

Thanks for the heads up - I am going to tell people that I know that use Craigslist.

I see that you are in Winfield, my dad's family is from Wellington and Winfield. My sisters & I were all born in Wellington - love that part of Kansas.

OH I saw the same ad on the Louisville craigslist- SCAMMER! And I was thinking "what a great deal!"

I hope you let Craig's List know so the ad can be pulled.

Thanks for this post. It reminds me that you have to be so carefully when doing any type of transaction online.

Did you think to call a radio station or TV news station?? That would have really put the word out.

Thanks so much for this info and also about not giving name or address seems to be getting worse and sometimes we forget all precautions

You can flag a Craig's list ad....I've done it numerous times for fake high-end sewing machine scams with prices too good to be true, with person not in my area so can't view, but willing to ship! Definitely beware...I've also flagged some Ebay listings for sewing machine listings that were scams (pirating someone else's account and putting their own add within the listing.."must e-mail me directly" type wording. Have to be careful everywhere.

Thanks for letting us know. I use Craig's List sometimes. You have to be really careful and check things like you did.

Thank you-I sent this info to my son, he does a lot of on line buying. Hearing things like this just reaffirms my decision not to shop on line, or put my personal info on the computer.

I have some high dollar items listed on Craig's list right now, and am getting all kinds of scammers. Really be careful when you are listing or buying from there anymore

You can report these people back to Ebay. I had a similar situation when I was trying to sell my sit down quilter. My husband reported them to Ebay & they took care of it.

Not sure if I am telling this in the right place but Sun. while in church our neighbor had her car window broken and her purse, car registration and garage door opener stolen and yesterday when she came home there was a strange guy in her house no one was hurt he ran away but still under investigation but does sounds like there is getting to be quite a bit of stealing garage door openers and addesses so one cannot be careful enough

Thanks for the heads up. I use craigslist quite often to buy things.

It happened right here in Fla...I was selling a Featherweight and was contacted thru CL just like u described but I got curious as to why he really didn't ask question about the machine but preferred to send me a money order with no mention of how/where to send machine. Then I played it out some more with inquiries...few days later I get a text (I supidtly had ph # listed) that his assistant sent too much and could he trust me to send the differences back? I then contacted the postal service and they informed me it was indeed a scam called Nigerian Scam! That money order was for more than triple what I selling machine for! I edited my CL to read cash and carry only w/o my phone # and to be contacted only thru that listing. Talk about a close call !!

Sounds like the same thing they were trying to pull on ebay last year. But, they wanted you to go to Walmart and buy some kind of debit card, forward it to an out of country address and they would mail the machine to you. So long money.

Never ever give any information about yourself online!

Thank you for letting us know.

The ad is on Craigslist in Dallas as well as a number of other cities like Salina, OKC, Stillwater, Tulsa, etc.

Michelle

Yes, I just checked local CL and it is showing up in Catskill NY as well. This one has a story about how "his wife just had to have this machine and hasn't even done a baby quilt and how he is taking a big lose (sic) on it" The price is $2,010

I just flagged it as a scam.

Thanks for the warning...That is why I do not buy from Craigs List or Ebay...

Bumping this because the scammer is back with the same ad on the Dallas area Craigslist. I would report it, but don't know how (I don't have a CL account).

Michelle

There seems to be the same one posted in Central Houston. Didn't reply to it though.

Is this the same one you saw?

http://houston.craigslist.org/ard/5371451745.html

Exactly. I'll bet it's on many more Craig's List locations as well. The wording is identical to the June scam (which showed up in multiple states)

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/ard/5371478677.html

He's trolling all over Florida. I answered knowing it was a scam, but he didn't reply to me.I just wanted to know what he would say.

He has also posted it here in Canada because I saw the same ad on Kijiji which is the same as Craigslist but for Canadians...

I'll stay away from that one.