Yes you are the most gullible because you apparently are the only person on the internet who hasn't heard of this scam. It's all over the top of Cragslist:




Ok now that I've seen that I'm pretty sure I've become troll-bait yet again.

A few years ago before scamming like this got popular I was got taken on eBay by a guy who was in London on business, gg $2400.

you mean other than steal all your stuff?


it's not worth the hassle for 80 dollars

Beyond everything everybody has already told you about this being a well-known scam, think of it this way. Why on Earth would someone make such a simple purpose so damn complicated? Even if the guy was somehow legit, I'd decline the sale since there's bound to be someone who will come get the TV and give you $80 cash.


I got rid of a heavy TV on Craigslist a couple years ago. Now, it was different because it was broken and I decided to just give it away, but Craigslist was awesome. Within 5 minutes of my post, I had received a couple replies. Within 30 minutes, a guy came over and took the TV. It was actually kind of cool - he was an electrician who combed Craigslist every day for things to fix. He got the TV up and running within a week.

Jesus. LOL @ people accepting a cashiers check for $2,400 on top of what was asked.

Come on, people. If you've ever gotten a cashiers check you know damn well this would never happen.

I just want to point out that it seriously ****ing blows my mind that someone is capable of finding, signing up, making over 4000 posts on an internet forum, and can't see an obvious scam.

Dude, you've been on the internet for a verifiable time of at LEAST 4 years, if you can't figure this **** out for yourself, might be time to step away from the computer.

Also, don't click on any alerts that inform you that you have a virus on your computer and need to download software now.

OP - don't respond to blinden84 - it's a scam!!!

He's been reported!

I figured there was a good chance it was a scam after I got the third message, which was very fishy. Which is why I posted it here.

Is there something I should have alerted me that it was a scam before the third message? Maybe I should have shut him down when he mentioned paying by money order, but I've never used craigslist before, so I don't know if they are common (I used to get them fairly frequently when I used eBay a lot 10 years ago and never had a problem).

YOU MEAN OTHER THAN THE GIANT WARNINGS PLASTERED ALL OVER CRAIGSLIST THAT I POSTED SCREENSHOTS OF?!!? asjkldhjkqjjejkajhskjqwjhkj (money order, over the amount, not good English, overly complicated procedure, willingness to go through all this mailing crap for a heavy $80 POS old TV)

this has to be a troll

Fools and their money are soon parted. OP, good luck.

Common sense. Also, normal people don't talk like this:

It reads like the guy typed it in another language and plugged it into an English translator.

OP,

INHERITANCE FUND TRANSFER NOTIFICATION

WE HAVE TODAY THE 26TH OF JANUARY 2010 RECEIVED AN INSTRUCTION FROM THE UNITED NATION, THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY, THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE (FMF), AND THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENTS (SCFP) , TO PAY YOU YOUR CONTRACT/INHERITANCE FUND FROM OUR BANK (CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA) IN COLLABORATION WITH HSBC BANK LONDON AND THE WORLD BANK.

THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR FUND WHICH IS THE TOTAL SUM OF TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS (US$10, 500,000.00), AS YOUR CONTRACT/INHERITANCE FUND HAVE BEEN PROGRAMMED FOR IMMEDIATE PAYMENT TO YOU. AND YOUR INHERITANCE FUND PAYMENT HAS BEEN FINALIZED TO BE RELEASED TO YOU AS THE LEGITIMATE BENEFICIARY OF THE FUND, VIA ATM DEBIT CARD.

MEANWHILE, WE WANT YOU TO CLARIFY IF YOU INDEED APPROVE A WOMAN FEW DAYS AGO TO CLAIM YOUR FUND ON YOUR BEHALF, WHO NOW CLAIM THAT SHE IS YOUR ATTORNEY SENT BY YOU AS YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO RECEIVE YOUR FUND.

NOTE THAT SHE ACTUALLY TENDERED SOME VITAL DOCUMENT WHICH PROVED THAT YOU ACTUALLY SENT HER FOR THE COLLECTION OF THESE FUNDS. BELOW IS THE LIST OF THE DOCUMENTS WHICH SHE TENDERED TO BANK:

1. LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION.
2. HIGH COURT INJUNCTION.
3. ORDER TO RELEASE.

DUE TO THE NATURE OF MY JOB, I CANNOT AFFORD TO MAKE ANY MISTAKE IN RELEASING THESE FUNDS TO ANYONE EXCEPT YOU WHO IS THE RECOGNIZED TRUE BENEFICIARY TO THESE FUNDS. NOTE THAT I ASKED HER TO COME BACK NEXT WEEK SO I CAN VERIFY THIS FACT FROM YOU FIRST. KINDLY CLARIFY US ON THIS ISSUE BEFORE WE MAKE THIS PAYMENT TO HER WHOM CAME ON YOUR BEHALF.

HOWEVER, NOTE THAT WE ARE WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU SHORTLY, AS YOU PROVIDE THE REQUIRED INFORMATION BELLOW TO ENABLE OUR ATM PROCESSING DEPARTMENT TO ISSUE YOUR ATM CARD TO YOU SO THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CASH YOUR TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS FROM ANY ATM MACHINE AT ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. THE REQUIRED INFORMATION IS AS STATED BELOW:

1. YOUR NAME:
2. YOUR ADDRESS:
3. YOUR TELEPHONE:
4. FAX:
5. AGE:
6. SEX:
7. YOUR OCCUPATION:

NOTE THAT THIS VISA ATM CARD WILL BE SENT TO YOU THROUGH THE COURIER SERVICE SUCH AS FEDEX, UPS OR ANY COURIER COMPANY OF YOUR CHOICE OR YOU CAN COME FOR THE COLLECTION OF YOUR ATM CARD BY YOURSELF FOR THE EASY CASHING OF YOUR CONTRACT SUM OF US$10,500,000.00.

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY, THIS REPUTABLE BANK HAS BEEN APPROVED IN COLLABORATION WITH THE HSBC BANK LONDON AND THE WORLD BANK, THEY HAS BEEN ACCREDITED TO HANDLE AND MAKE PAYMENT TO ALL FOREIGN TRANSACTION/INHERITANCE FUNDS BENEFICIARIES THIS SECOND QUARTER PAYMENT OF THE YEAR 2009/2010. THEREFORE, WE WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.

WE ARE WAITING TO HERE FROM YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

BEST REGARDS,

REV, SAMUEL UBAH
DIRECTOR ATM PAYMENT DEPT.
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN)
TEL: +234-7061186611

It's a TV. That he has to come and pick up himself. Please explain why paying you via money order makes any damned sense at all.

Did anyone on ebay ever offer to give you extra money for no reason? Or misspell their own name? Or never specifically refer to the item they were buying or how much they were going to pay for it? Or fail to show any interest in actually acquiring the item they were buying? Or purport not to have access to $80 in cash?

lol @ "Director of ATM Payment Department"

Posted a car ad about a month ago and this e-mail just sounded weird, would anyone bother replying to him?

His name was Murphy Duncan Kelly, his e-mail: allennyrylocub478@xxxxxxxx.com

These are just details, guys. Let's focus on the big picture here. Guy wants to sell his TV and another guy wants to buy it. I don't understand what's so fishy about this.

I didn't think he was offering extra money for no reason...I had told him someone had already responded, so I figured he was trying to outbid him.

But it is a good point that he never refers to the item...I didn't pick up on this at all.

I've never really understood the point of money orders at all. I guess some people don't have bank accounts and don't want to send checks in the mail? But everyone is correct that they really have no purpose here.

I wouldnt insta dismiss the enquiry just on the email belonging to someone called Allen Nyrylocub (?) and id use the standard 'protocol' for selling a car to someone like only taking cash and not letting him test drive your car alone etc.

This isnt remotely the same as OP's case where its so obvious a con its unreal.

Edit, i assume thats your only red flag, the email itself seems pretty standard to me.

Money orders or cashiers checks are more secure than a personal check. Because they are straight from an actual bank, instead of what could be a phoney personal check. Banks charge a fee for this service (which I'm assuming is insurance for the 1 out of 100 times someone gives THEM a fake personal check).

I just bought a used car with cash last summer and they demanded a cahsier check since the total was almost 12K.

I just put an offer on a home last week and was told to bring a $500 "earnest money" cahsier check to take the home off the market while I procure financing and insurance.

But yeah anyone paying for an $80 used TV wtih one of these is whack. Nobody ever uses a cahsiers check unless that happens to be the only method the seller accepts - in this case this was not true as you would accept cash.

Something seems kinda off about this. I mean it sounds like a great deal and all. But I'm just not sure.

Surely you cannot think it unreasonable that he will have his esteemed business colleague of the highest caliber arrive forthwith to take recipient of the purchased item after payment have been secured?

It's almost like they learned English business-speak from Monopoly Chance and Community Chest cards.

Block caps = serious biz.

I see no problems at all with the offer, wish i got emails like these but im just not lucky enough

One time I had a tv to sell.. I wanted about $800 or so, best offer I got was for $600. So I changed the craigslist add to say I would trade it for new microsoft software. Employees at msft get a gigantic discount so this dude ends up spending only about $240 on a couple offices and visios or something and takes away my TV. I then went and sold the software for $1200. Win/Win.