Advertising in the small/free ads attracts scammers....

blue_monkey_2

I advertised some boots for sale in the Free Ads because it was - well - free.

I had a replay asking me for details, which I sent, this morning I had this reply:

Dear Mate,

Thanks for the mail, i am okay with the price of the Australia Boots (£90) and the condtion terms are also okay with me, For the shippment from your location, i have my SHIPPER that will come over for the pick up from your location as soon as we seal this Transaction from your end.

Do e-mail me your(FULL NAME ON CHEQUE, CONTACTED ADDRESS,MOBILE & LANDLINE PHONE NUMBER) For the payment arrangment, i will be paying by Cheque and i will wait for the cheque to clear before the pick up from your location.I have a CLIENT of my that is owning me some Fund in United Kingdom that will issue you the cheque (£2,000),as soon as you receive the cheque and clear from the bank, you will deduct the cost of the ADVERT and the remaining balance will be send to the Shipper through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER for the pick up from your location.If this is okay by you, do e-mail me the following detail

FULL NAME ON CHEQUE
CONTACTED ADDRESS
MOBILE & LANDLINE PHONE NUMBER

for the cheque to be made out to you. Hope to read from you soonest.
Thanks..

NB:- I will wait for the cheque to clear before the pick up. I will compensate you with £50 pounds for you to remove the advert from the site and consider it has been sold for me

Obviously I have heard of scams like these but never figured that they would be targeting the small ads. I just really wanted to let people know in case they have friends or relatives advertising that might also fall prey to these people. I did reply teling them they had no hope in hell.... I am going to remove the add though as I do not want anyone else send me details to them spam my email address.

oldagetraveller

No doubt these scams are still lucrative and people are still falling for them. Otherwise they wouldn't try it on. I've had similar with a car sale in the past and the "buyer" indicated they were in Switzerland. No, I didn't succumb.
I'm fed up of this sort of stuff being sent to my hotmail e-mail address every day. Mostly an inheritance or lottery win!