Having fun with an Armslist scammer

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BJG

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Nov 18, 2003
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Location
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So I wake up this morning on my day off and browse my local Armslist for any good deals. I come across a Colt LE6920 Magpul Special being offered for the incredibly awesome price of $759. I also noticed a few other "really good deals" that seemed to be offered by the same seller because of the way the ad was presented. Of course I was instantly suspicious that this was likely a scam, but I decided to find out for myself. I responded with a somewhat anonymous email account. Here's a link to the ad, which had already been flagged as a scam by other persons about an hour after I responded to it:
http://www.armslist.com/posts/1436579/dallas-texas-rifles-for-sale--colt-le6920mp-r-magpul-special--troy-rail--black-5-56mm--16--m4?preview=635012825730000000

Here's my (BJG) initial email:
Hi, I'm very interested in your Colt Model 6920. That's a really good price. When and where would you like to meet to do the transaction?

Scammer's response:
Micheal Careuthers <[email protected]>
THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST ON MY GUN I DON'T DO FTF TRANSACTION YOU JUST SEND ME YOU LOCATION AND I WILL SHIP THE GUN TO YOU....I COLLECT MY OWN MONEY THROUGH MONEY ORDER THAT IS WESTERN UNION...THE REASON WHY I SAID I DON'T LIKE THIS FTF TRANSACTION IS THAT THE ONE I DID LAST I NEARLY LOST MY LIFE THERE THE GUY I WANTED TO SELL THE GUN FOR WANTED TO KILL AND I HAVE TO RAN AWAY AND THE GUY RAN AWAY WITH MY MONEY AND MY GUN AND I REALLY FEEL SO SAD ABOUT IT SINCE THEN I HAVE MADE UP MY MIND THAT I WON'T DO IT AGAIN....

Now this is really screaming SCAM! to me, so I respond with:
You don't have to worry with me. I'm a former police detective. Your location on Armslist says you're in the Dallas area. We can meet at one of the police district stations to do the deal. It would be much simpler than shipping the rifle. Besides, I've heard of scams on Armslist where guns were listed for a good price, the buyer sent the money, but never received the gun. Of course, if something like that happened to me, I have the proper law enforcement contacts both federal and local to rectify the matter.

Scammer's response:
I CAN SEE YOU DON'T WANT TO UNDERSTAND ME...MY WIFE WON'T ALLOW ME IF YOU'RE READY TO BUY IT JUST LET DO IT THE WAY I TOLD YOU.....

Wow, this guy is either brave or stupid, or thinks that I'm bluffing about the police thing. So I respond with:
Ok, so how about I mail you a US Postal Service money order? I'd prefer to do it that way because the funds are guaranteed and it would make any type of fraud a federal crime. Since your asking price is so good, I'll even offer to pay an extra $100 if you'll let me send you the money order. Just give me your address and I'll mail it out today.

Scammer's response (looks like his caps lock key became unstuck, then stuck again):
you can send it through western union coz i will love to track it if you send the money ok......NAME:CAROLYN HAUGHT QUINN
STATE:TEXAS
CITY: DALLAS
ZIPCODE:75201
THAT'S IS MY P.A ADDRESS SHE WILL BE THE ONE TO GO AND PICK THE MONEY AND I WILL BE THE ONE TO GO AND SHIP THE GUN TO YOU OK....

Ok, he's not stupid enough to just give me his address, so I respond with:
Can you tell me which Western Union outlet that she'll be claiming the money from? As a former police detective, I just want to cover myself. I'll make sure that the video camera system is working at that location. Also, I'll have the clerk obtain a thumb print. With a fingerprint and a photograph, I'll feel more secure about this deal since you're not wanting to do it face-to-face and I'm putting forth a lot of trust on my end. It's nice having modern technology nowadays to run fingerprints through the AFIS system and using face-recognition technology for digital mug shots and DMV photos in order to positively identify someone in the event that a felony is committed.

Scammer's response:
THEY ASK HER FOR ANY QUESTION...

Ok, so I can tell that I'm finally scaring him a little bit and making him hesitant. So I respond with:
Can you give me a phone number to call you?

Scammer's response:
you can only text me...

I figure that when he mentions "text", he really means email, but I decide to play stupid and respond with:
Ok, so I'll text you. What's your cell phone number?

Well apparently, our little scammer friend has finally been scared off because I never heard back from him. So my final email to him was this:
It's been an hour and you haven't responded. What's wrong? The scammer doesn't want to play the game anymore? Haha! Do you have any idea what I could do to you once I identify who you are? If you're nice, maybe you'll get the deluxe jail cell.

I was hoping that at some point, the scammer would give me a lead to his true identity, but I also wanted to see just how brave he was with me continually referring to legal consequences of scamming and my ability to track him down if he scammed me. In all, it was a bit entertaining and I hope that nobody actually fell for his bogus ad.
 
Good one.

Glad you did it. All too often, nothing at all happens to these people. Even if they get flagged on Armslist, no real consequence to them...they just redo the email and try again.

Next time, I hope you are able to make him really think you are coming after him. Would serve them right.

Interesting English as well, I wonder if he was even in this country.

Thanks

J
ps - I sold a pistol on Armslist once. Had forgotten to add, "must have a FL CWP" and immediately got an email from a guy who wanted the gun right away. Most people would volunteer that they had a CWP. Well, his full name was in his email, so I googled him. Sure enough.....there was a nice mug shot. I sent an email with the details to the local PD...never heard from them. Oh well...
 
Thanks for the 2 out of 3 positive responses so far. There are some things I'm passionate about, and one of them is my distaste for scam artists. These guys are usually pretty slippery to catch, but I've caught my fair share in the past and built solid cases against them. I no longer am obligated to pursue bad guys anymore, but if I have the spare time and can amuse myself doing it, I'll try to trip up a scammer every now and then.
 
Nice.

Reminds me, few years ago I saw a post (now I cant remember what forum) some dude complaining that its 420 dry and his "local pharmacist" was "out of stock".

So I gave the name and cell number of a local narcotics officer
 
I did the same thing with a Craigslist scammer "selling" a car. Took the scam for a while until the scammer realized I was on to "her" and then never heard another thing.
 
Captain33036 said:
Good one.

Glad you did it. All too often, nothing at all happens to these people. Even if they get flagged on Armslist, no real consequence to them...they just redo the email and try again.

Next time, I hope you are able to make him really think you are coming after him. Would serve them right.

Interesting English as well, I wonder if he was even in this country.

Thanks

J
ps - I sold a pistol on Armslist once. Had forgotten to add, "must have a FL CWP" and immediately got an email from a guy who wanted the gun right away. Most people would volunteer that they had a CWP. Well, his full name was in his email, so I googled him. Sure enough.....there was a nice mug shot. I sent an email with the details to the local PD...never heard from them. Oh well...
Click to expand...
... you do realize that waiting periods, license requirements, and the rest don't apply to private sales in florida (as long as you practice your due diligence in verifying that the person is in fact a Florida resident, and is over 18, and you have no reason to believe they're a felon), right?
 
Oohhhh BJG the stories we could swap. Messing with scammers is a hobby of mine. I got a call the other day from the "Wold Wide Web headquarters." their tech department wanted to talk to me about some malware that they say I had downloaded.
I kept those bozos on the phone for about 15 minutes talking them in circles. The trick is to let them think they are really close to sealing the deal, and keeping them on the edge for as long as possible. Sure it wasted my valuable time (A.K.A. billable hours), but the entertainment value was worth it to me.
Oh, and apparently, the WWW is based out of Singapore. Whodathunk?:rolleyes:
 
Singapore, HA! I was just going to say it sounds like the crap emails I used to get saying a Nigerian King had left me millions of dollars, all I needed to do was send my account info to blah blah blah.
 
I did something similar to an Armslist scammer a few months back. He had stolen some images and description of a gun I had listed on Gunbroker. I tried my hardest to get their contact information but was unsuccessful in the end.
 
Nothing like having a good time at a scumbag's expense. While you were keeping him tied up trying to seal the deal, he was not able to scam anyone else. Good work! Maybe you scared him straight!
 
You'd think these scammers would at least hire someone whose first language is English to author their ads and email responses. Never seen one that didn't basically read like a free website translation.
 
Captain33036 said:
Good one.

Glad you did it. All too often, nothing at all happens to these people. Even if they get flagged on Armslist, no real consequence to them...they just redo the email and try again.

Next time, I hope you are able to make him really think you are coming after him. Would serve them right.

Interesting English as well, I wonder if he was even in this country.

Thanks

J
ps - I sold a pistol on Armslist once. Had forgotten to add, "must have a FL CWP" and immediately got an email from a guy who wanted the gun right away. Most people would volunteer that they had a CWP. Well, his full name was in his email, so I googled him. Sure enough.....there was a nice mug shot. I sent an email with the details to the local PD...never heard from them. Oh well...
Click to expand...
I believe this was "Engrish"...not "English".
 
I have a huge collection of fake money orders and checks from baiting Craigslist scammers. I actually had one call me and yell at me for not returning the "extra" money he had sent. I think I put the fear of god into him after explaining that I hade friends in Customs and ICE.
 
Toying with punks can be really fun if you're in the mood for it. Good job. It may not have detered him much, but at least you had fun.
 
There is a group in the UK whose hobby is torturing scammers. Some of the revenge they wreak is funny beyond belief.

Miss no opportunity to humiliate a scammer.
 
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