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A rather entertaining email exchange with a Craigslist scammer

by | Jun 16, 2010 | Ethics | 0 comments

Recently, we decided to list one of the extra laptops we have on Craigslist.  We quickly received three email regarding the item.  Two of the email we’re supposedly from women. Each had a local telephone number under the signture. When we probed further asto whether the sender was local; each replied with a version of the story you’ll read below. We strongly suggest that you never engage with these people. However, we decided to reply in our “Officer Jones” alias because we wanted them to feel the feelings they create in others. We wanted them to feel a little fear. We didn’t know if we could “touch” the people who “created” these automated email but based on the exchange below with one of the scammers, and the fact that we have not received anymore email, maybe we did.
Please be aware that this person uses a couple of profanities.
From: Stefani George
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:47 PM
To: sale-6vr3w-1786821510@craigslist.orgSubject: For Sale – 2010 Sony Vaio VPCF1190X, 16.4″ (1920×1080)  Laptop -$1795 (Pearl District/Downtown )
IS YOUR ITEM STILL AVAILABLE FOR SALE?
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
_________________________________________
On 6/12/10, xxxx@comcast.net> wrote:
Are you local?  Do you want to come take a look at it?
________________________________________
From: “Stefani George” <mraysmart0@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 6:43 PM
To: xxxx@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: For Sale – 2010 Sony Vaio VPCF1190X, 16.4″ (1920×1080)
Laptop – $1795 (Pearl District/Downtown )
Thanks for your quick respond ,i am located in Remsenburg city in NY but currently out of state ,i really need to buy this and send to my Cousin outside the state as a birthday gift .I have been trying to buy this on ebay but its so very stressful buying on ebay. I will offer you $1,900 for the item and $150 for shipping so as to close the auction as soon as possible.I will be paying through PAYPAL because i have a verified account with paypal.So kindly get back with your paypal email address so i can make payment into your paypal account and if you don’t have an account you can simply log on to WWW dot PAYPAL dot com and register for one.Get back to me if my approval is granted.I would like to see the pictures please
_______________________________________
On 6/12/10, xxxx@comcast.net> wrote:
Hello,
I am with Interpol Fraud Squad.  We have dropped an algorithm specifically designed to crawl data and to track back to the computer of origin.  It is a new technology that we’re beta testing.  Thank you for helping us to target your specific location.
Officer Jones
ID # 986578
________________________________________
From: “Stefani George” <mraysmart0@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 6:59 PM
To: xxxxx@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: For Sale – 2010 Sony Vaio VPCF1190X, 16.4″ (1920×1080)
Laptop – $1795 (Pearl District/Downtown )
Fuck you …Fuck The Interpool….
_________________________________________
From: xxxx@comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 7:20 PM
To: <mraysmart0@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: For Sale – 2010 Sony Vaio VPCF1190X, 16.4″ (1920×1080) Laptop – $1795 (Pearl District/Downtown )
We have a series of aliases and Craig’s List ads set up for the purpose of dropping our algorithm in email like yours….much like a cookie.  The beauty of it is how quickly it can crawl through email aliases, ISP’s, bot networks, and firewalls.  It is very successful at capturing a computers unique “footprint” in seconds.
Office Jones
ID # 986578
Interpol Station 6894
NY, NY, 01122

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