I posted a For Sale ad on craigslist, and got the email below. I’m pretty sure this is a scam, but it’s different than the usual cashier’s check scams. What’s the deal with the USPS?
It sounds as though I’d get the money order, be able to cash it and wait to ship until am sure it’s legit, yes? Oh yeah, she’s offering $81 over my asking price, which is probably the real tip off.
I was about to delete it, but hate to lose a sale if it is the real thing. Any chance it is?
Here’s the message:
Thanks for the response about your posted item.
I really need this item and I am willing to offer you $430 plus the packaging materials.
I am also going to make my payment by United State Postal Money Order, Powered by United state Postal Service because it’s safe and secure for both of us.
I should have come to see this item but you can attach the pictures of the item for me to see because it’s very weird to buy what you haven’t see with your eyes.
Therefore I will require you to send your (NAME AND ADDRESS) so that I can proceed with the payment and for the shipment I will handle that with my FedEx account… You dont need to bother yourself with the shipping and insurance.
This is how {USPS} works :
Once payment is made, both the buyer and seller will be notified by {US Postal Service} via email that the transaction has been processed and approved. After this approval confirmation, {US Postal Service} will then mail out your money order directly to your address within 3-5 business days which will arrive by speedpost.
As for the shipping of the item, it will be done through my
FedEx account, so you don’t have to pay for any shipping charges after shipment has been made. In other for me to complete this transaction through {USPS} , all i need from you is your full name,address and telephone number that you will use in receiving the approval notification confirming the payment.
Thanks and God Bless while I await your response.
United State Postal Money Order, Powered by United state Postal Service: That’s a strange thing to say {US Postal Service} will then mail out your money order directly to your address within 3-5 business days which will arrive by speedpost: I’m not familiar with the “speedpost” term, and 3-5 business days doesn’t sound too speedy to me. you don’t have to pay for any shipping charges after shipment has been made: Well, how about before the shipment has been made? name,address and telephone number that you will use in receiving the approval notification confirming the payment: … and the money order. {USPS} is going to be sending the money order to that address, right?
There is nothing on the USPS website about this procedure for money orders, and the word speedpost appears nowhere on the website. I would play along and ask for more information about this exciting new USPS program. Ask for a link to the relevant explanation on the USPS website.
The wording is pretty bad, but it sounds like a setup for an escrow scam, you place the item in escrow with her “FedEx account”, and she places the money order in escrow with the “USPS”, and when both are in place, your item gets shipped and the “USPS” disappears.
Sounds like total horsecrap to me. For a USPS money order, you (the buyer) go to the post office with cash in hand and buy the thing, then send it or spend it yourself. This crap about the “transaction being processed and approved” sounds ridiculous - the transaction is buying the money order. What’s to process and approve? Likewise the USPS mailing the money order, likewise the e-mail notification - sounds like she made the whole thing up.
Postal money orders can be - and are - forged. E-mail can be forged. My guess is that the scam is to get the seller to turn over the goods before he has cash in hand, which he will never get. There might also be some phishing going on. She doesn’t need your FULL name, but your full name, address, and phone number might be helpful in trying some identity fraud.
I think it’s a waste of time to pursue this, but if you do, don’t let go of the merchandise unless and until you have cash in hand with no chance of losing it (e.g., the USPS coming back on you for a fraudulent money order).
There are a lot of counterfeit money order scams where you deposit it in your bank, the bank shows it in your account within days, and you think it cleared. Then 30 days later it bounces and they take the money back out and you’re hosed. There is a misconception that the law requires such transactions to clear in something like 7-10 business days and many people have succumbed to that scam.
It is not obvious to me when you can know that there is no chance of having the cash taken back. Before the postal money order scam there was the certified check scam. When I was reading about them people would cash the check and have the funds available in their account. Then about 3 or so weeks later the check would be identified as bad and they would loose the money. In one of the links from FormerMarineGuy people are saying that it was about a month after they deposited the postal order at their bank that the post office came back for the money. It is pretty unreasonable to expect the seller to sit on the payment for a month or two before sending the merchandise out.
Thanks everybody, especially FormerMarineGuy for the info, and the links. Interesting that the USPS takes that long to turn in the money orders. Makes it even a better scam than the fake cashiers checks.
I should (but I won’t) write that all she has to do is stuff the cash in an envelope, mail it to me, and when I check that it is not counterfeit, I’ll send the merchandise any way she wants.
I won’t even mess with this. I use an anonymous email address, so they can’t know who I am, and I am not about to send any names or addresses. Ah well, it’s a sad world we live in now.
Notice the wording…“Thank you for your response about the posted item”
The word item is used in place of the actual thing she is supposedly interested in. That is what caught my eye. If you are so interested, you would not refer to it so impersonally. It sounds like a scam. Not only that, but the person continually explains and alludes to concepts and processes that are or should be general knowledge, like buying a money order. She stresses the safety and security of the money order, etc. Overcomplicating the issue and being extremely verbose about the process (which someone has already discounted) is also an indication that something is amiss. For instance I always know my husband isnt being completely honest with me if he starts talking too much…!
Notice the wording…“Thank you for your response about the posted item”
The word item is used in place of the actual thing she is supposedly interested in. That is what caught my eye. If you are so interested, you would not refer to it so impersonally. It sounds like a scam. Not only that, but the person continually explains and alludes to concepts and processes that are or should be general knowledge, like buying a money order. She stresses the safety and security of the money order, etc. Overcomplicating the issue and being extremely verbose anout the process (which someone has already discounted) is also an indication that something is amiss. For instance I always know my husband isnt being completely honest with me if he starts talking too much…!
There may not be such a situation. I was thinking that if one took a USPS money order to a post office and got the cash without having to leave info such as address and/or SSN, it might not be possible for the money to be reclaimed.
I wonder if you can give her a substitute name and address, so that she can enter that information into the Fedex account website or however she plans on doing it, then you can wait a day or so, call Fedex and tell them you are shipping your package, give them the name you gave her, and they will give you a label that will show her info, account number etc. Take that to the police.
Would that really work?
Interestingly, Speedpost is the name of the courier arm of the postal service in Nigeria (although the name is also used by the postal services in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and India; this is all from Wikipedia). So I think you’re right to be suspicious.
