Another Craigslist Scam
By Rex of SB
A couple of days ago I put a basic ad on Craigslist to sell my near-mint-condition 1999 Volvo convertible, just to see if there was any local interest before placing an ad on eBay. Today I got a text from the 909 area code regarding the ad.
This is the text: "Would you please pull a vin check from vincheck.com and send it to me? You just enter your vin then get a report - Please email that to me at KatherineJonesPl@yahoo.com…Just lmk (sic) after you've pulled the report and we can make a time to meet up."
To which I replied, "Sorry, I just Googled it and it's listed as a not-safe site and the website owner is using a service to hide their identity. I'll pass, thanks."
To which, "Katherine" says, "Thanks look forward to seeing the report ;) I've had my eye on the 1999 volvo ready to buy I think!"
I reply, "Umm, no—I'm not having anything to do with Vincheck. It appears to be a total scam."
And that was the last I heard from the good Katherine. I have no idea who she or "Vincheck" are or what the hell they're up to, but I know neither is good news. If you're trying to sell a car, just be on guard. Oh yeah, and in the Google search I learned that "Vincheck" has been in business for seven (7) days.
11 Comments
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Apr 27, 2018 07:22 PMCraigslist definitely has managed somehow to prevent a lot of spamming. I used to get NO END of scammy replies to items for sale, particularly if the item price was $100 or over. That rash of scam emails miraculously stopped about a year ago. Thank you, Craigslist. But, as we all know, there are warehouses full of scammers all over the world, sitting at computers, trying on some scam or other, 24/7. Well . . .Maybe not at the Vatican, but every other country.
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Apr 28, 2018 07:22 AM@a-1524925177 No need for Vatican City to pull Craigslist scams when they already created the largest and most ridiculously obvious scam in the entire history of the world.
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Apr 27, 2018 06:19 PMvincheck.com looks legit:
$ whois vincheck.com
Domain Name: VINCHECK.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2752729_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Updated Date: 2018-01-04T10:17:59Z
Creation Date: 1997-02-04T05:00:00Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2019-02-05T05:00:00Z
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 292
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.2083895740
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Name Server: NS-D.CARFAX.COM
Name Server: NS-E.CARFAX.COM
Name Server: NS-F.CARFAX.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
That said, it's simple to add a link with _any_ text label in an email message. Can you right-click on that link in the email and copy it? If so, paste it into a text file. Then you can see what it's really pointing to.
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Apr 27, 2018 05:50 PMA good reminder. As always when dealing with strangers, you gotta have your guard up at all times. As far as Craigslist goes for me personally, I've had nothing but positive experiences as buyer and as a seller.
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Apr 27, 2018 02:16 PMTo be fair, vincheck.com is a legitimate website.
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Apr 27, 2018 09:19 PMI don't click on links sent from people I don't know. If a company name is mentioned I will google it if I don't already have the same sit bookmarked, (and make sure the URL is a match) but still then go the website (if I really want or need to) with the link that is brought up by the google search.
They can make a link showing the same name, but use a different URL to take you to an illegitimate website. With some email programs, you can 'hover' over the link with your cursor and see what the URL address really is.
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Apr 27, 2018 04:14 PMNow THAT'S strange. I just now tried to go to vincheck.com and it took me directly to the Carfax website. That is definitely not where I went yesterday when I clicked on "Katherine's" vincheck link.
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Apr 27, 2018 10:41 AMRex, I remember seeing your ad. Thank you for this information. Craigslist is getting so much worse with scammers that I hesitate to use it anymore.
D8Vanilla, I received that same message via text, but the numbers given regarding my card did not even match any of my bank cards or credit cards. Also, the text came from a number that corresponded to an 805 cell phone number, which a financial institution would not use. As a reminder to all, if you think there is an issue with your account/card, call the number on the back of the card.
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Apr 27, 2018 09:36 AMLast week, I received an urgent text message, and they were alerting me to a problem with one of my "cards". They had the first 4 digits, followed by *********. And, a phone # for me to call . I called the #, but with *67 first, which will hide MY phone # from them. There was a recorded message for me to enter my card #, at which point I hung up.... I'm fairly certain, the next recorded message, would be for me to enter my pin # .... btw - this was my bank ATM/Debit card.... which I only use at the ATM. I reported it to the bank, and they are issuing me a new card.
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Apr 27, 2018 04:38 PMD8VANILLA, I got the same text as well- but like torinomike said, the number didn’t correspond with any of my cards. I got a few really spammy texts similar to that all in a period of two or three days. Weird.
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Apr 27, 2018 08:27 AMLooks like a scam to get credit card numbers. https://www.carbuyingtips.com/articles/blog/fake-vehicle-history-report-sites-stealing-credit-cards.htm