Ingenious Craigslist Scam
I was recently on the hunt for a used MacBook on Craigslist. Having searched around for a while, you start to get a sense of the price points. MacBooks, for example, fall in the $500-700 range. MacBook Pros usually start around $800.
The other day, I came across an almost-too-good-to-be-true deal:
Apple Macbook Pro Core Duo 3.06ghz 4gb - $500
The seller went on to say that it was BRAND NEW, and that they had won it in a raffle, but because they already owned a MacBook Pro they wanted to unload it for cash. Seemed like a reasonable story, so I emailed the person last night and asked if it was still available. And this morning, I got my not-so-human response:
Hey, Sorry it took me a while to respond, but I sold it already, you might want to check out BozBids I picked up 2 brand new ones for under $70. Since the holidays no one is online, no one is bidding, it's like xmas all over again. The trick is to bid only when the counter hits 4 seconds. If I can do it anyone can. Bozbids also has a Guarantee Good luck Janet
Basically, I just emailed a spammer and/or scam artist and gave them permission to contact me. I guarantee you this….I’m not about to recommend their crappy site to you people. In a way though I am impressed - it’s a rather ingenious way to induce people to visit a website that have laser-focused interest in a product and a willingness to pay. Screw them of course, but learn from it.
