Scammers

dodge man · Sep 25, 2009

I saw an ad for a John Deere 4720 on the local area Craigslist yesterday for something like $4600. It had a end loader and backhoe on it with about 650 hours. I was pretty sure it was a scam but it kind of ticked my off so I sent an e-mail saying I was interested. They responded and said they had moved to Mulfordville Ky. and the tractor was at that location. I responded with "what a small world it was, I was born and raised in Mulfordville Ky. and was going to visit my sister this weekend. All I needed to do was bring my trailer with to pick it up."

Well guess what, it's already all sealed up and ready to ship. Then they start to talk about how the transaction has to go through e-bay because they have a contract through them. I e-mailed them back and said "the ad was on Craigslist, what does e-bay have to do with it? This isn't some sort of scam is it?"

It looks like the tractor is worth at least $25,000, probably more. I guess people don't have anything better to do other than copy an old e-bay sale and cut and paste it around hoping someone will fall for it. I imagine I will get tired of the game and stop responding.

NSBound · Sep 25, 2009

This is a case of "if it walks like a duck....".

Craigslist has lots of these up here too. It's an email mining program someone somewhere is using to collect email addresses from those who respond. I don't know what they do with them, but I wouldn't be responding or sending emails to any ads like this that look like they're too good to be true - because they are!

20 20 · Sep 25, 2009

It's a shame because there are good deals out there. The ole saying one rotten apple spoils the bunch, comes to mind. I've been selling and buying on CL and it never fails that some jack_____ has to try and scam. I have written back like you but they usually either quit or move on to the next scam.

cowboy357 · Sep 25, 2009

It beats Me that anyone would even respond to an add like that.

. But if in Doubt Copy & paste the Exact title heading in Google & do a quick search, You,ll soon find out the same ad is posted In multiple states if not countrys.

If the Impliments that come with the tractor are Worth as much or more then the whole Package that should be your first clue . Times are tough , but not that tough . Bob

kthompson · Sep 25, 2009

Even in good times many people do sell for low price and not because they don't know the price is low, cause to them they rather SELL it than deal with it.

We all have known of a person who sold something cheap just to get it gone for many different reasons. One is the person who owned or used it has passed away or divorced them or such and there is great emotional pain attached to it.

/pine · Sep 25, 2009

Anyone that is familiar with tractors and is browsing CL should flag those ads as soon as they see them...

often you will see the exact same add/pictures at many different locations throughout the US...same story...is ready or has already been shipped to a transporter etc...

Johndeere3720 · Sep 25, 2009

I found a scam add on craigslist for a JohnDeere 3320 with a FEL for like 4K. I had my mom call and get the serial number. Called the dealer which called the tractors first owner who had got into a bad accident with it. He brought it to the dealer (it was under warrenty) and got a new one. The scammer purchased the tractor and is trying to sell it as though it was new. I guess the accident made it smoke badly and other little issues. One scam ive seen many times is a JohnDeere 4310 with FEL and Backhoe. It is sad they have the same add and different email adresses. That gives them away and are immediatly flagged.

heitjer · Sep 26, 2009

Last week I came across a scam on craigslist for a 2003 New Holland with backhoe for $4200 - go figure. An immediate search for the same words brought up four other listings in other cities in craigslist.
My alarm bells went off immediately but I was intrigued how this would work. So I did send the guy an email asking when I could see the tractor. He came back quickly and said that it was in storage at his brothers work at a shipping company and he himself had moved away. At this point I assumed that this was just a way to get a list of email addresses and telefone numbers for people that are interested to buy a tractor. He further said that he would now post the tractor on eBay to ensure that eBays "safety features" and "money back" policies are enforced. So I asked him to send me the link to eBay.

When I got the email with the link everything looked OK at first, the eBay page looked like the eBay motor page with everything at its place. But the webbrowser address was not masked and it was very easy to detect that this was not an eBay address. Most links on the "eBay" page were working some did not. I looked at the source code of the page and could not find any malicious things on there. Then I clicked on "Buy Now" button and got to the "paypal" page, again this page was not the original paypal site but merely a good look alike. The source code here revealed that if someone entered the paypal data they would have been submitted to the "seller" and he would have had access to your paypal account. So that's the scam.

A word of caution - never click on links in emails that you do not trust, never just click the buttons like I did above as the code on the page can seriously damage your machine or reveal information. I did the above from a "virtual computer" and felt in control during the process. I just wanted to see how they are doing "it". The websites of the guy were hosted in the republic of Czechoslovakia.

I did send then all information to eBay and to craigslist for follow up.

I hope this posting helps someone!

woodchuckcanuck · Sep 26, 2009

This scam postings are consistent throughout the classified ads, whether it is CraigsList, Kijiji, IronSearch, AutoTrader etc etc. Most of these ads are posting sell price between $4,000-$6,000. What they are selling is a tractor and many implements. I see similar ads for skid steers with grapple bucket, bush hogs and trailer.

You know its too good to be true.

And its no sense contacting them. Just report the ad to the web site posting it and let them deal with it. For me, in the Kijiji ads I look at locally, I can see a tractor ad and report it. Within a few mintues its gone. An hour later its back. Its a cat and mouse game all day long. See it, report it, its deleted, its back, report it...and round round we go.

The scammers are looking for you to pay in full or pay a deposit on shipping etc. Just report the ad.

Johndeere3720 · Sep 29, 2009

Guess what i found on craigslist for $4000. A 2002 Johndeere 4410 with 430 FEL and R1 tires. Why do they use tractors for scams? I feel bad for the tractors. I saved the pictures but I cant find them in my files.