guy from Nigeria want to buy my Dell PC in NY city. how should I play him?

[rimmerchant]

I got this message in response to an ad selling a Dell celeron 2.4ghz pc in craigslist. This is the second time I got such a similiar email:
- guy want to buy my item
- guy is in business trip to
- some crap about Nigeria.

Smells like a scam where
- guy send me a "certified" check,
- bank pre approve the check ammount.
- I mail out his item thinking it's a good check
- guy gets item and resell it for$ to buy *** and animal porn
- bank hold me liable for bad check.

How should I play this guy? I was just thinking of giving him my address to send the check and then tell him. the "item is on the way" and let him wait.

how would I go about getting law enforcment involved to get this guy?


===========================
here is the content of the email:
============================
Hello,
Compliment I am LOLA SMITH I'm from Alabama and I would like to inform of my interest in buying your item to my daughter.
I am on a business trip to Holland and my daughter is having her birthday nextweek in Nigeria, i have decided to buy your item (Dell pc, 2.4ghz, 512 ram & Dell E153FP 15" lcd monitor) for her as the birthday gift since I am presently out of the state. There is no time for me going around so i have to get her the birthday gift in an online market and that is why I came on craigslist.
I will be making the payment through auction payments (money order).
I have my daughter address below and will want you to calculate the shipping cost to her address, as I will be responsible for the shipping charges. I want the gift sent to her through FEDEX as secure and safe.
I want you to do this on time because it is urgent.

NAME...OZINREGBE BABATUNDE
ADDRESS...125 EDE ROAD
CITY... ILE-IFE
STATE...OSUN STATE
ZIPCODE...234001
COUNTRY...NIGERIA
=================================

[PCJ]

check the address.

[rimmerchant]

============================================
here's another email i got with a similiar theme:
=============================================
hello
greetings to you,My name is julious,i saw your {New Dell Computer P4 2.8 ghz, 512 ram, 80gig, DVD,CDRW - $450 }placed on advert,and it suits what i have been looking for since a very long time,based on the description i have decided to buy it from you,I don't want to involve myself in a stolen property,so i will like you to give me all neccessary details about it and the last asking price .I will also like you to know that i am presently not in the country ,i am in west africa for a business trip,So i will like to ask you if you accept to be payed with a via us certifier cashier's check?If that is accepted by you,kindly mail me back .
regards juliousbrsy
===============================================

Why do all these scams involve Africa?

==================================
ohh my resonpse to the it:
===================================
$450 lowest offer cash and carry.

No offense and don't mind my email if you're really sincere

I'm a honest and legal dealer. and I have a gut feeling that you're a low life scammer.
Give me a f__king break... Out of country, west africa, cashier's check... go f__k yourself.
Are you gonna also say your' some kinda prince or wealthy business person that want to flee to the US and transfer some money for temporary safe keeping?

Go back to f__king your dog. loser.
==========================================

[richardginn]

The address might be correct, but if you want to you should say you want buyers from the USA only.

[mynameis]

just ignore it.

[Geoffreyeolson]

Originally posted by mynameis
just ignore it.

I've heard of scammers doing such stuff on craigslist from out of the country, just ignore it.

have you reported him to craigslist? They'll block his ip if you do, but these nigerian scammers are real common though.

[slavik]

remember the laptop story where the scammer got scammed???

[raider1v1]

wasnt there something to exporting computers out of the country over a certain power limit?

i remember something about that with people selling ps2's and xboxes.

[punkrunning]

I don't remember where, but you can forward this email to an email address at the FBI. A while ago, there was a really funny David Pogue column (The New York Times' Circuits) about how he was selling his house and how the deal folded at the last moment and the prospective buyer said something like "The lawyer from Nigeria said my money would be here by now."

[Timelessblur]

I think you should do this
http://p-p-p-powerbook.com/

[rock]

I had almost the exact same test when I was selling my RX-7 online. After some research, I confirmed this is bogus and some kind of scam. I kept leading them on by email, all the while forwarding each email to an FBI address I found. The guy finally stopped emailing back; I don't know if he gave up or the feds got him.

[slavik]

THAT'S THE ONE!!!

Originally posted by Timelessblur
I think you should do this
http://p-p-p-powerbook.com/

[Timelessblur]

Originally posted by slavik
THAT'S THE ONE!!!

yes http://p-p-p-powerbook.com/ is the best one. Now you just need to change it to do the same with the dell.

[stonez]

apparently no one in africa can type good english. lol. or type english well. Stick to the states. At least then you can FBI their a$$

[rimmerchant]

Originally posted by Timelessblur
yes http://p-p-p-powerbook.com/ is the best one. Now you just need to change it to do the same with the dell.

pretty funny story.

the scammer responded to me with:
==========================
Hello,
I'm still very much interested, please send me the address so it will get to her before her birthday is belated.
Hope to read from you soon.
Lola Smith
- -
genivs2 <[email protected]> wrote:

The shipping will be an extra $90 U.S. Dollars.
So the total will be $425. If you are still interested respond back and I
will give you the address and information to make the payment.
- - -
thanks
============================

I guess I'll give him my work address to mail the check. then I'm gonna tell the scammer that I miss calculated the shipping amount and that it's $30 or $40 more than expected. tell him I already deposited the check. if you want the computer faster paypal me the extra for the shipping instead of mailing me another check (which will be another 3-4 days delay)

he will probably want me to send him the computer before realizing the check is a fake (which will take the bank a few days) so he will most likely paypal me the money to get me to send the computer before the fake check gets discovered.

If he do send me paypal I'll just send him a "Dell P.C." (my version is of a "Dell P.C" is a $1 Pocket Calulator (PC) with a Dill (cucumber..for hambugers.. if u don't know what Dill is) and with a message thats say "Thanks for the transaction. Don't feel too bad, you're not screwed until you stick this dill up your a&&"

the check is probably a fake. but I'll deposite it just to make sure.
if it is indeed legit check I'll just refund all her money. with an apology letter or ship it out.. (but I"m sure it's more than $90 to fedex out a Nigeria.)