Hi there, I am writing this article because I recently found another scammer on Craigslist and almost got me, I hope others doesn't fall for that if they find this. I am a pinball machine colector and I saw this Twilight Pinball Machine by Bally which was awsome and the price was unbelieveble. So I contacted the seller and got this reply:
"Thanks for your email, I still have it and it's ready for sale.
1st of all I won't go down with the price, $ 1900 , that's anyway by far the cheapest on CL.
I've been through a very hard divorce and after 2 years in the US and many failed business attempts i'm back in Canada.
But don't worry, we can still have a safe deal and you can still get the Pinball for inspection at your home before I see any money.
After the Divorce Settlement i received the Pinball and some other stuff and i went with them to CoOperative Yard Sales. I think you know how these work.
I left all of them there and they will handle the sale for me. You imagine i couldn't take them to Canada... the shipping and the duty fees alone are more then these are worth...
Anyway, if you are still interested please let me know and i will explain you how we can do the transaction safe and fast.
Thanks,
Eddie!"
.....then I said I am still interested and this is what I got:
"Excellent, you are still interested. Now let me explain how CoOperative Yard Sales works. Their website is www.cooperativeyardsales.co.cc. They sell on Craigslist and eBay and are the best sellers out there. You will see on their website a registration page but you must NOT register, you must send your shipping details to me, i will forward them to cooperative Yard Sales and they will send you an invoice. They will instruct you to send the payment to me, you will have my address and all the details you need in order to send the payment to me. After i receive the payment, i will contact them and tell them that everything is OK and after they have the confirmation from me they will ship you the Pinball. When you receive the pinball you can inspect if for a few days and if you don`t like it you can return it and i will send you your money back, i am registered with them and verified by them so you can be sure that i will send you your money back. I hope you agree with this because i want to sell this fast. If you do agree, please send me your full name, shipping address so i can send them to cooperative yard sales and they will send you the invoice.
Thank you in advance
Eddie!"
I sent him some phony address and I received an "invoice" from "Cooperative Yard Sales" but the email it came from was cooperativeyardsales@consultant.com which is a www.mail.com domain and it's a free email address. Also their website is a free domain from www.co.cc.
I read some reviews on the internet and I saw some warnings from other people and then I found the real Cooperative Yard Sales website and went to their Secirity Page where I finally realised that this Eddie guy was a scam. I contacted their customer support and they confirmed that that was a 100% scam and they asked me to forward them his emails and everything so they can start an investigation.
So BEWARE of this guys because they almost got me and I was lucky, but who know how many they ripped off out of their money.