Sarah Thompson This was through craigslist Thought we were buying a 2007 POLARIS ATV.. never showed up. Omaha, Nebraska
We saw a good deal on craigslist to buy a 2007 Polaris Sportsman 800. We checked into it buy emailing the seller and asked questions. Never have bought anything off craigslist before. I should of known something was up when she asked to go through EBAY and didn't ask about PAYPAL. We had to Western Union first the amount of the 4 wheeler then the next day they wanted another amount for insurance. We have never done anything like this before and we totally scammed. The screens look just like EBAY totally had us fooled. We also should of known when she didn't want us to come look at it because we were only a 1 1/2 away from Omaha NE.
We are totally devastated and so mad, sad, frustrated that we didn't see anything.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
MovingForward
Wellington,Florida,
United States of America
Craigslist has disclosures all over it about that scam
#2Consumer Suggestion
Sun, February 20, 2011
When you are using Craigslist - it is for local shopping only where you "cash and carry" the item. In other words, you pay cash for the item you see when you go to the location to check the item out. No one uses paypal or ebay because it is not affliated with craigslist in any way, shape or form. That is actually your first clue that you were dealing with a scammer. Your second clue was you had to Western Union a payment - big red flag.
There is a disclosure about scams and frauds right on the first page of craigslist.
That old adage about 'If it seems to be to good to be true, it probably is' works here. The scammers only win because they are appealing to your greed. If it was such a good deal and only 1-1/2 hrs away, why didn't you see it? Oh that's right, she didn't want you to come look - another huge red flag.
Any of the red flags above should have stopped you from buying it, but you insisted on sending your money per the scammers request via Western Union. This is a lesson learned: don't part with your money so easily. Take the extra time to look at what you are buying. NEVER send money to strangers via Western Union or anything similar.
Next time you use Craigslist, use it for what it was intended for: local shopping only.