• If you haven't done so already, please add a location to your profile. This helps when people are trying to assist you, suggest resources, etc. Thanks (Click the "X" to the top right of this message to disable it)

Craigslist Bait?

P

pentaprism

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Joined
May 7, 2013
Messages
455
Reaction score
175
There was (and still is) a Craigslist ad. The location is about 1.5 hrs from where I live.

The ad says:

Roland V-Accordion FR-4X BK black color - $2,500
Roland V-Accordion FR-4X BK black color from japan working
All my products are 100% Authentic.

3 photos in the ad show a bare black FR-4Xb with no straps, no back pad.

I responded to the ad twice, about 2 weeks apart, each time with a different email address and different name.

Me:
The photos in the ad show just the accordion. Does it come with straps & back pad & power supply & case?
CL:
Yes it does come with the straps, back pad,power supply and case. When and where would you like to meet?
Me:
If it comes with the items you mentioned, and if it works as it should, I'll take it for $2500 cash.
We can meet at a Starbucks near your place, at 11:00 - 11:30 am (depending on traffic) Tuesday Dec. 19.
Let me know.
CL:
(dead)

Me:
I'm interested. Just have some questions:
- How old is the accordion?
- Is there anything that may need attention? Is everything working as it should?
- What does it come with? Strap? Power adapter? Backpad? Case?....
- Do you take offers?
- Can we meet Thursday around 10:30 - 11:00 (this Thursday is good but next one is fine) at a Bank of America or Wells Fargo so I can withdraw the money to pay you)?
CL:
Yes it’s available how soon do you need it or do you want a shipping everything is working fine
Me:
In addition to the questions in my initial email, can you let me know how much the shipping will be to a UPS Access Point or a FedEx location in ZIP NNNNN.
Also, how would I pay?
CL:
The cost of shipping and insurance with UPS is $80 it would get to you within 5 days.
Me:
Can you let me know:
- How old is the accordion?
- What does it come with? Strap? Power adapter? Backpad? Case?....
- Do you take offers?
It's a large amount of money involved. I need to be careful. Please understand.
Me:
I’m really interested in buying the accordion. But it seems to me you’re not interested in providing the information. I can’t decide to go ahead without even knowing exactly what I’m going to get.
CL:
(dead)

Apparently there is no accordion. I just wonder about the motivation for doing such a thing.

 
pentaprism said:
There was (and still is) a Craigslist ad. The location is about 1.5 hrs from where I live.

The ad says:

Roland V-Accordion FR-4X BK black color - $2,500
Roland V-Accordion FR-4X BK black color from japan working
All my products are 100% Authentic.

3 photos in the ad show a bare black FR-4Xb with no straps, no back pad.

I responded to the ad twice, about 2 weeks apart, each time with a different email address and different name.

Me:
The photos in the ad show just the accordion. Does it come with straps & back pad & power supply & case?
CL:
Yes it does come with the straps, back pad,power supply and case. When and where would you like to meet?
Me:
If it comes with the items you mentioned, and if it works as it should, I'll take it for $2500 cash.
We can meet at a Starbucks near your place, at 11:00 - 11:30 am (depending on traffic) Tuesday Dec. 19.
Let me know.
CL:
(dead)

Me:
I'm interested. Just have some questions:
- How old is the accordion?
- Is there anything that may need attention? Is everything working as it should?
- What does it come with? Strap? Power adapter? Backpad? Case?....
- Do you take offers?
- Can we meet Thursday around 10:30 - 11:00 (this Thursday is good but next one is fine) at a Bank of America or Wells Fargo so I can withdraw the money to pay you)?
CL:
Yes it’s available how soon do you need it or do you want a shipping everything is working fine
Me:
In addition to the questions in my initial email, can you let me know how much the shipping will be to a UPS Access Point or a FedEx location in ZIP NNNNN.
Also, how would I pay?
CL:
The cost of shipping and insurance with UPS is $80 it would get to you within 5 days.
Me:
Can you let me know:
- How old is the accordion?
- What does it come with? Strap? Power adapter? Backpad? Case?....
- Do you take offers?
It's a large amount of money involved. I need to be careful. Please understand.
Me:
I’m really interested in buying the accordion. But it seems to me you’re not interested in providing the information. I can’t decide to go ahead without even knowing exactly what I’m going to get.
CL:
(dead)

Apparently there is no accordion. I just wonder about the motivation for doing such a thing.
Click to expand...
Motivation? Trying to get you to send $2500, with no intention of sending an accordion? Just saying….
 
There has been a flurry of facebook marketplace scams last year(?) where the seller would list a £2-4k accordion for ~£100-300, saying that they've inherited it and have no clue about accordions. The mo appears to have been to wait until somebody would ask them to post it instead of collecting it in person from a remote location (I guess if you're really greedy enough, you'd risk wiring a couple hundred quid hoping to get a £4k squeezebox) and then take the money and run.

Very strange, given how unpopular the accordion is, but I have to say that when you see a Super VI being offered for £200, it does get your adrenaline pumping!

In this case $2.5k is quite a lot for the same trick.
 
Hahaha.... My plan was that if I was to come to pick up the accordion (I had no interest in having it shipped), a co-worker (6'1", 250 lbs) would go with me. The money would be in the trunk of the car. Upon inspection that the accordion was good, the co-worker would stay with the seller (and the accordion) and I'd go to the car to fetch the money.
 
There are also a few scammers on Facebook who regularly post something for sale in the "Accordions for Sale" group. A notorious one calls himself "Eddie Murphy" and posts "new" accordions for sale at less than half of what these accordions should cost new. Sadly the administrator of that group is non-responsive and doesn't appear to block anyone despite being notified of the scams.
Besides such clear scams there are also fakes being posted. It happens with several brands, but fake Dallapè and Guerrini accordions are the most common.
 
pentaprism said:
Hahaha.... My plan was that if I was to come to pick up the accordion (I had no interest in having it shipped), a co-worker (6'1", 250 lbs) would go with me. The money would be in the trunk of the car. Upon inspection that the accordion was good, the co-worker would stay with the seller (and the accordion) and I'd go to the car to fetch the money.
Click to expand...
I hope that if you decide to go somewhere with cash to buy an expensive accordion you will come up with a better safety plan. A person who is 6'1", 250 lbs is at considerable risk of a heart attack during this caper. And what if the scammer is 6'3", 275 lbs and has brought a co-worker along who is 6'5", 295 lbs? Okay, these scammers are even more likely to have heart attacks. But what if the scammer is 5'9", 140 lbs and carries a gun? In the city and county where I live (in the USA), I have been able to complete high-price Craigslist transactions inside police stations. I called ahead and got the okay.
 
Jim2010 said:
I hope that if you decide to go somewhere with cash to buy an expensive accordion you will come up with a better safety plan. A person who is 6'1", 250 lbs is at considerable risk of a heart attack during this caper. And what if the scammer is 6'3", 275 lbs and has brought a co-worker along who is 6'5", 295 lbs? Okay, these scammers are even more likely to have heart attacks. But what if the scammer is 5'9", 140 lbs and carries a gun? In the city and county where I live (in the USA), I have been able to complete high-price Craigslist transactions inside police stations. I called ahead and got the okay.
Click to expand...
I never thought of completing a high-price transaction inside a police station. I have done only medium-price transactions in my office (at the uni) and at a railway station. But the police station is definitely the place to go for a high-price transaction. You can then be certain that if it's a scam the scammer will simply not turn up.
 
debra said:
I never thought of completing a high-price transaction inside a police station. I have done only medium-price transactions in my office (at the uni) and at a railway station. But the police station is definitely the place to go for a high-price transaction. You can then be certain that if it's a scam the scammer will simply not turn up.
Click to expand...
Met at a railway station to buy a laptop once. Got second thoughts and filched the hard disk (which had a new system installed but not using a low-level format) for traces of the previous owner. Wrote them an Email. No reply, so I kind of forgot about it. About a month later, I did get a reply. It took so long since the burglary did not just involve the laptop but also the desktop computer and the previous owner had consequently been locked out of their mail account. Also they had been insured and reimbursed, so the laptop was the property of the insurance company now.

I had to buy the laptop off them again (they did make it a bargain), but the seller had to pay me back in installments, and when the installments stopped prematurely, I had paid less in total than at the start. But it was a real hassle, and it took about a month until I got the laptop back from police custody.

Probably not the fault of the railway station, though.
 
oh, Kenny, our police Chief, set up a dedicated 24/7 camera and sound recorded
"trade" spot in front of the station, marked with signage and reserved parking spot.

well lit at all hours, though of course one would meet a stranger there
when the station is open as a preference, but anytime still offers some protection
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top