WWTBAM Bored

We're remodeling the kitchen and selling off the old appliances on Craigslist. I got an email a couple of weeks ago from someone interested in the dishwasher; she was in London on business and wanting to buy this dishwasher as a housewarming gift for her sister, and even offered to toss in an extra $50 if we'd remove the listing. Can't refuse that, right?

The deal was that she would send a money order and we were to deduct a portion to give to her mover, and she said she'd throw in another $50 for our troubles. The total amount of the money order was to be nearly $4000. Clearly a scam of some sort. I wrote back and said the deal is off and please do not contact me again.

I checked the mailbox this morning, and there was a hand-addressed letter for the Naughty Norwegian. It looked odd; just a po box addy on a sticker and the flap wasn't sealed - just tucked in. But I didn't think much of it and just set it aside.

So just now I check my emails, and there is one from the craigslist scam artist. Her courier has confirmed that I have received her money order yadda yadda. Wtf. So I'm thinking that this is what that letter was. I go check it out, and am totally surprised with what is inside.

A handwritten note on a small piece of steno pad paper.

"Hi

My name is glenn. I would like to buy your house at [address].

Please call me at...."

And that's it.

Wtf? This house was for sale for over a year with no offers. We took it off the market when we moved back, with the plan being remodel and re-list when the market improves. Either it is someone who just likes the house (sight unseen?), or knows it was listed for a long time with no sale, hoping for a deal....or could this in some way be related to the scammer?

WTF?

The money order thing is definitely a scam. I don't see anything relating the real estate offer to that.

Probably not related. Might be one of those folks whose signs you see posted on telephone poles, offering cash for your house. You could ask neighbors if they got the same type of note, or "Glenn" could have just looked for places that were on, then off the market.

gsabc wrote:Probably not related. Might be one of those folks whose signs you see posted on telephone poles, offering cash for your house. You could ask neighbors if they got the same type of note, or "Glenn" could have just looked for places that were on, then off the market.

That's what they are. Which is the reason why the address is handwritten and the return address is on a sticker. Although I think they just get the addresses from a purchased list or the property tax rolls because I've gotten them on and off for years. I've been in this house for five years, purchased from the original owner and I don't have a mortgage. Which makes it fun when I get letters purporting to be from my mortgage company (which sold off the paper as soon as the sale was closed, anyway).

A lot of those come on type schemes have switched to either handwritten or a piece of paper (usually the yellow legal kind) that looks like it was handwritten, but every letter T looks identical to all the other letter Ts. Precisely so people won't think it's a form letter sent to an address culled from a mailing list.

Making out a money order for the wrong amount and then asking the seller to just cash it and send the overage (keeping out a bit for their trouble, of course) is one of the oldest scams on ebay. And why nobody should take a money order from people they don't know that's not from the Post Office.