# Name this (Craigslist; car related) scam. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945 "2012-09-27T00:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/21 "2012-09-27T14:23:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > He’s supposedly bringing it to the fast food place near us at 10am, with the title. We’re not holding our breath; we’ve got a couple of others we’re going to look at today. If this one falls into place today, great. But we’re no longer going out of our way to pursue the deal. Don’t show up for the meeting. If, by some miracle, he’s actually there this time, perhaps he’ll call you and ask why you weren’t there. So perhaps you can string him along a few times. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/22 "2012-09-27T14:34:05Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Don’t show up for the meeting. If, by some miracle, he’s actually there this time, perhaps he’ll call you and ask why you weren’t there. So perhaps you can string him along a few times. Brilliant. I’ll see if I can get him to go to the Walgreens down the street. Then the grocery store 4 blocks over. Then the post office. Then… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/23 "2012-09-27T16:22:42Z")
Well, it’s already past 10 but my suggestion would be that if you show up and deal seems suspicious, blow him off but don’t head straight home. Duck into the restaurant for a few mintues until he leaves. You don’t want this weirdo to know where you live. Also, make him send you the VIN so you can run it on carfax. Other than that, I was going to suggest standing him up, too. What a fuckwit. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/24 "2012-09-27T16:27:13Z")
I know you’ll all be shocked - SHOCKED - that we haven’t received a call or text. Fuckwit, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/25 "2012-09-27T16:39:26Z")
I would flag all his CL ads as a scam, too. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/26 "2012-09-27T16:40:44Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > I would flag all his CL ads as a scam, too. I will suggest it to my partner; he’s the Craigslister in the household. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/27 "2012-09-27T16:41:11Z")
If it only happened a couple of times, I’d say the first time was so that he could follow you home and see where you live. Then the second time would be to get you out of the house while he burglarizes it. I’m not sure why he’d do it repeatedly. As others have said, I wouldn’t pursue it at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/28 "2012-09-27T16:49:02Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > He may know my cell phone carrier, that’s all. All he/they had to do was follow you home after the first missed meeting. Then, they get you out of the house the next day, and rob your shit blind! If they _wanted to know_ where you live, they already do. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/29 "2012-09-27T16:53:16Z")
It seems to me there are much simpler ways of finding victims to burglarize. This seems like an awfully (and comically) convoluted scheme for just a simple B&E and burglary. Does this guy’s voice happen to in any way resemble Joe Pesci or Daniel Stern? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/30 "2012-09-27T16:53:48Z")
Could they have been doing it repeatedly waiting for the one time when you show up with your whole family (indicating an empty house)? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/31 "2012-09-27T17:14:19Z")
This “rob you blind” angle doesn’t seem to bear out, seeing as he didn’t call today to get us out of the house, and nothing was stolen last night when we walked to the fast food place. I’m going to go with illegal car dealer who was going to try to scam us with an invalid title/salvage car/swapped VIN or something hinky, and when I told him last night to “bring the title if you’re serious” realized we weren’t going to be the easy mark he’d hoped. The run around could have been some sort of mindfuck “test” to see how suggestible we are, and maybe to increase our desire to “get the deal done”. (Hmm…we scored a 4/7…apparently too low to complete the scam.) But yes, we’re done. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/32 "2012-09-27T17:21:05Z")
This guy better watch out, if he does this to you another five to six times, you might not buy the car. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/33 "2012-09-27T17:29:39Z")
Don’t ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence. I sold a car on craigslist, a beatup old POS. Turned into the most ridiculous runaround you ever heard of to unload a sub $1,000 car. Not because the guy was trying to scam me, but because he was an idiot who lost the title of the car he paid cash for. Dude was lucky I wasn’t a scam artist. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/34 "2012-09-27T17:47:24Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I would strongly advise against letting this specimen have your home address. Meeting at your or your other half’s place of work or other public area, yeah. Letting someone this flaky/suspicious know where you live? IMO, not a good idea. Get you out of the house for an hour snipe chasing … no way. I agree have this slime meet you somewhere neutral. Don’t hand out your home address, or make sure they know that you have a housefull of guests if you already did - Gee, my son and his rugby team are having their post game season party/graduated State Police School and are having a bit of a graduation party and it is way too loud there to even hear myself think … lets meet at X instead. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/35 "2012-09-27T17:53:39Z")
Would this warrant a note to the police department? I know that no crime has been committed yet, but this is very odd. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/36 "2012-09-27T18:13:36Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > This guy better watch out, if he does this to you another five to six times, you might not buy the car. 😃 > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Don’t ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence. Very true. I don’t want y’all to think I’m expending a whole lot of energy over this. I mean, we did drive around for about an hour yesterday, and took a nice 5 minute walk last night. But other than that, it’s just some texting from the couch. It’s just…WEIRD! And, I’m a curious cat. So, being me, I decided to share it with you other (weird) curious cats to see if anyone had a notion what might be going on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/37 "2012-09-27T19:29:05Z")
I’m guessing he just likes jerking people around and has nothing better to do with his time. And no, I’d never want to meet him in person. This is not normal behavior, let alone respectful or even funny; it borders on sociopathic, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/38 "2012-09-29T01:13:27Z")
I think I had something similar but not as complex. Selling my car and there are not many of these cars on craigslist. He wanted pictures, more information, back and forth. I couldn’t close the deal immediately as the garage held on to our other car a little longer than expected. So today I said we could meet and take care of everything and his reply was he just bought one yesterday \ I mean I guess its possible that a week was a little too long and I lost out to another seller but there’s just something a little off about the whole thing. I think some people on craigslist that enjoy fucking with people although your guy has taken it to a whole new level. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/39 "2012-09-29T01:47:15Z")
Apparently my partner is even more forgiving than I am…he met The Guy with the vehicle today while I was at work. Twice the mileage we were told, and scraped up paint and damage all down the right side. _sigh_ Ah, well. Guess it was Flakeypants, not Evil Mastermind. Guess we’re still not buying his vehicle, though! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945/41 "2012-11-20T15:35:10Z")
Reported. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-craigslist-car-related-scam/635945.md?page=1)