What's mildly amusing you today?

[chrisinhouston]

Yesterday I foiled a scammer trying to rip me off! I had put some things up on Craigslist and my policy there is to always only accept cash and never ship items but meet face to face.

One of the items is a Canon EOS 1Ds MkII camera body. I don't use it much and am saving for other gear. It has a very low shot count which is a plus for an older camera. I routinely see these go for $800-1000 on Ebay but those ones have higher shot counts and aren't in as good a shape. And with Ebay you loose 10% if it sells. So I thought I would try it on the Houston Craigslist just to see if it got any interest and asked $1200.

Within 8 hours I get a text saying that the person is very interested. I respond that it is still available. About an hour later he responds that he can't come pick it up but would gladly pay me an additional $80 for shipping it. He plans to give it to his pastor's son as a gift!

Now I'm suspicious. Nice gift for the pastor's son indeed! I reply that his offer is appealing but I only take cash, how will he pay me? Meanwhile I Google his phone number and the first result has 2 people claiming this guy tried to scam them on Craigslist!

He responds that he will pay with Western Union which isn't secure at all. I declined and he reponded "it's just like cash!"

I wished him a nice day and never heard from him again