I was looking for used MacBook, found several on Craigslist in New Orleans and found one, apparently a great deal. Email exchange as follows:
From: Susan McNaughton [mailto: [email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 05 6:32 AM
To: xxxxxxxx
Subject: the MacBook PRO from craigslist $475
Hello
I still have the laptop.
I have attached some pics with the laptop to this e-mail. I am now in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.
Since I can't meet you and make the exchange, I would like to use a service that will help us with that. Please go here to see the procedure: http://www.shiptnt.net/tnt.express.wolverhampton.depot.overseas.transactions/
TNT is a worldwide delivery company (like Fedex, DHL or UPS). You can see from their procedure that you will be able to check the laptop before I receive the payment. If you are in a hurry, I will use 2 day delivery (shipping is on me).
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Susan
(MY EMAIL BACK: essentially, OK, let's do it)
From: Susan McNaughton [mailto: [email protected]]
Sent: Monday, December 08 12:14 PM
To: xxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: the MacBook PRO from craigslist $475
Hi
I will sell you the laptop for $475 with everything in the pictures included, I will use 2 day delivery and allow you 5 days to inspect it. Shipping is on me. Your total price will be the $475 for the laptop a fee ($40) when sending the money to TNT. So, do we have a deal? At this point I need your name and address to start the deal.
Thanks,
Susan
(I emailed my contact info)
From: Susan McNaughton [mailto: [email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 09 2:34 PM
To: xxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: the MacBook PRO from craigslist $475
Hi
I went to TNT today. The guys from TNT told me that they will send the laptop to their technical department for inspection and then they will notify you. They will also notify you with the instructions you need to complete your end of the deal. Please complete your end as soon as you can and keep me posted.
Thanks,
Susan
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At this point I received two very official looking emails from [email protected] describing the payment procedure and the details of the computer shipped. The tipoff (among other things) was that the recipient of the money was in no way affiliated with TNT - not a true escrow arrangement. That's when I remembered my beloved usaconsumercomplaints.com and here I am. The main trick they play is that, in the official looking email from "TNT", the tracking link takes you to a fake tracking site that looks very official: http://www.shiptnt.net/tnt.express.wolverhampton.depot.overseas.transactions/tracking.html
and when you enter the tracking number you get a nice answer:
Sender's Name
Susan McNaughton
Sender's Address
21 Maplewood Circle, Wolverhampton, S31 3GT, United Kingdom
Receiver's Name
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Receiver's Address
yyyyyyyyyyyy
Details
Package
1 x Apple MacBook Pro Computer
Amount of money
USD $475.00
TNT Payment Agent
Andrew Spellos, 214 Bowery Street, Wolverhampton, S22 1TF, United Kingdom
Status
Awaiting Payment Information
Delivery Date Pending
Of course, when you put this number into the real tracking site for TNT at: http://www.tnt.com/express/en_us/site/home.html you get:
consignment reference destination pick up date status
xxxxxxxxxx Not Found
So, need to remember that this is not a scam run by TNT but by scammers - ya know, total scum of the earth.
Thank God for complaint!
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