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[Job listing] Craigslist

James D. Macdonald

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Based on the ad, a bunch of clueless newbies bumbling around.

Give me a call when they have a name, an address, and a list.

(cashette.com is a throw-away-account email service.)
 
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writeorwrong

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Once upon a time, craigslist was a good local source for finding and getting rid of stuff you no longer had use for, or couldn't find anywhere else. Occasionally, they had a good job lead or two. Or real estate-- you could find a deal now and then. It was kind of like ebay without all the hassle. Nowadays, it's little more than a repository for scamsters who want to ply their wares. In My Very Humble Opinion.

Maybe the ad's legitimate, but I doubt it. Legit publishers don't have to go trolling for clients.
 

victoriastrauss

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writeorwrong said:
Once upon a time, craigslist was a good local source for finding and getting rid of stuff you no longer had use for, or couldn't find anywhere else. Occasionally, they had a good job lead or two. Or real estate-- you could find a deal now and then. It was kind of like ebay without all the hassle. Nowadays, it's little more than a repository for scamsters who want to ply their wares. In My Very Humble Opinion.
Mine too. I'd automatically be cautious of any purported agent or publisher who used Craigslist.

- Victoria
 

badducky

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I don't want to pass judgment on what they are until we have proof one way or another.

My suspicions led me to Bewares and Background Checks... But until we've got proof we don't truly know.

I'm still waiting on an e-mail from them. I just thought someone might recognize the proven brand of scam right away, and it could save us the trouble of the wait.

For all we know they are just a bunch of newbs, who might turn something around and be legitimate and reputable and really get off the ground. Without proof, we don't really know.
 

victoriastrauss

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badducky said:
My suspicions led me to Bewares and Background Checks... But until we've got proof we don't truly know.
Umm...yes, we do. I think I can say with 99% certainty that a publisher that advertises on Craigslist is not a publisher you want to do business with.

Not a scam, I'm guessing--just another clueless startup.

- Victoria
 

Warren

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Here's their DNS information:

Organization:
Cashette, Inc.
Leon Zuo
2450 Peralta Blvd, Suite 216
Fremont, CA 94536
US
Phone: (510) 818-9829
Fax..: (510) 744-1398
Email: **@cashette-inc.com

Registrar Name....: Register.com
Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.register.com

Domain Name: CASHETTE.COM

Created on..............: Wed, May 02, 2001
Expires on..............: Wed, May 02, 2007
Record last updated on..: Tue, May 09, 2006

Administrative Contact:
Cashette, Inc.
Leon Zuo
2450 Peralta Blvd, Suite 216
Fremont, CA 94536
US
Phone: (510) 818-9829
Fax..: (510) 744-1398
Email: **@cashette-inc.com

Technical Contact:
Cashette, Inc.
Leon Zuo
2450 Peralta Blvd, Suite 216
Fremont, CA 94536
US
Phone: (510) 818-9829
Fax..: (510) 744-1398
Email: **@cashette-inc.com

Zone Contact:
Cashette, Inc.
Leon Zuo
2450 Peralta Blvd, Suite 216
Fremont, CA 94536
US
Phone: (510) 818-9829
Fax..: (510) 744-1398
Email: **@cashette-inc.com
=============

Their web site is quite interesting. Nothing to do with publishing or writing. They offer a spam filter for email (and you pay for their service). It seems to be an ongoing business:

www.cashette.com

There seems to be some question as to Mr. Zuo's other activities. Here's a questionable casino scam (unconfirmed) about him (scroll down a little or do a Find on Zuo):

http://www.casinomeister.com/news/december2005.html

However, there is a reference to him (and others) being sponsors and supporters for a San Francisco SAGE event. SAGE is a legitimate non-profit:

http://www.sageprojectinc.org/html/about_vision.htm

What does all this add up to? Beats me. There's the good, the bad, and the questionable.

Warren
 

Warren

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James D. Macdonald said:
My guess is that cashette.com has nothing to do with the publisher. You might as well look up the DNS info on hotmail.com.

Well, if the craiglist entry says to send to [email protected], then someone at cashette.com has had to establish a mailbox for whoever it is. It could be a friend or relative of the web site owner, and any mail going to submission@... simply gets bounced to some other address. But someone at cashette.com would have had to set this up.

Agreed, it doesn't follow that the folks running cashette.com are the publishers. But it does follow that they KNOW who the publisher is.

Is that helpful? Not in itself. It's just a piece of the pie.

Seems strange to me that any legitimate publisher would "borrow" a mailbox from some other site instead of registering their own domain with their own mailbox, even if they don't have a fully functioning website. Highly unprofessional, at the very least.

[edit]

Oops! Scratch that! I see your point!

Warren
 

CaoPaux

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Lost a page, but it was agreed that Craigslist is okay for finding freelance jobs, just not publishers, agents, etc.

(And the thread was renamed "Craigslist" at some point. If anyone can find a cache of either incarnation, feel free to post it. :Hammer: )
 

JennaGlatzer

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Craigslist - certified check scam?

Not related to writing, but thought someone here might be able to help me on this.

My aunt just called to say she's trying to sell her sofa on Craigslist. She got back an odd response from someone who says she wants to buy it, and just wrote to ask if it's still available. My aunt wrote back to say yes, it's available, and she then got this odder response:

Hello,
Thank you for the prompt response to my mail enquiry am quite satisfied with the condition of the item and price.Am very much interested in buying the item from you and i would like to make an outright purchase immediately so i will advice that you withdraw the advert from the web.I will be paying with a certified check.Furthermore my mover will be coming over for the pick up am as i might not be available for the pick up myself i would have love to come and look it up but presently am not chance to do that but am OK with the information from the ad.I will need the following information details to make payment arrangement 1,Your full name to be on the Payment.2,Your postal address. 3,Your phone number both land and mobile. 4,Your postal code.
Get me the following information as soon as possible.
Regards.

---

We both agree it sounds fishy for a great many reasons:

-"the item"-- she doesn't even refer to it as a sofa. Sounds like a form letter.

-a certified check? Why? When people buy things in person, it's usually cash.

-her "mover" is going to pick it up?

-"postal code" and general language doesn't sound American, yet "the item" is in New York.

etc.

I Googled some phrases from the e-mail as well as the woman's (Yahoo) e-mail address, but came up with nothing. This look familiar to anyone? What do you suppose it is?
 
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Raiyah

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Yeah, there's a huge scam going on almost every second-hand purchasing site (ebay etc) where people want to buy something and say for example the item is for $1000, they make an excuse that they have check for $2000 and that you promptly refund 1,000 back to them. Of course, any naive person will deposit the check and return 1,000 only to find out a week later that the original check bounced and the buyer ran off with your 1,000.

This is what I've been hearing a lot from almost everyone. Just make sure whoever buys your aunt's sofa pays in cash or goes through paypal.
 

JennaGlatzer

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Yep. Raiyah, you're right... I just checked here: http://craigslist.org/about/scams.html and the letter sounds awfully like the first example letter on that page. I remember that we had once before uncovered a certified check scam here, but what threw me is that this "buyer" hadn't said anything about overpaying and needing money back. But that would probably have come next.

Gross. Glad my aunt was smart enough to check this out.

P.S. For anyone else who might try Googling this person later, the scam e-mail came from jessica baileys < [email protected] >.
 

alleycat

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Craigsist is FULL of scammers. They every try to scam people looking for roommates or to trying to rent out apartments.

Anytime someone wants you to go through some kind of odd arrangement to make the deal work, chances are it's a scam.
 
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PeeDee

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But beautiful women who contact you through Craigslist looking for true love and passionate sex are legit, right?

Right?

Oh.

We live in a dark and cruel world.
 

alleycat

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PeeDee said:
But beautiful women who contact you through Craigslist looking for true love and passionate sex are legit, right?

Right?
Oh, yes, that's okay. Some might need you to send them the money to travel to where you are, but that's to be expected. I'd suggest using Western Union--an excellent way to insure your money is used for the intended purpose.

(And yes, folks, I'm kidding.)
 

PeeDee

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I was also joking. I was. No one ever contacts me through craiglist looking for true love. At least, none who get past my wife. This is the fifth sentence, damn it.
 

rugcat

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JennaGlatzer said:
I remember that we had once before uncovered a certified check scam here, but what threw me is that this "buyer" hadn't said anything about overpaying and needing money back. But that would probably have come next.
A lot of people believe a "Certified Check" is as good as cash. It's not; if it's a forgery, even if not your fault, you don't get to keep the money.

There is a slightly more sophisticated version of this scam where you win a Canadian "lottery" and they send you a certified check which you deposit in your bank account. You then send them a small portion of your "winnings" to cover taxes, etc. The check, of course, sometimes days later, turns out to be bogus, but there's no way to get back the money you sent. Even if the bank is so foolish as to cash the original check for you, you have to give them back the money and you're still out whatever you sent.
 

Raiyah

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Also the thing with checks is that the person who sent you it can get vital bank information once you deposit it.
 

PeeDee

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This is really interesting, actually. I didn't know about the Certified Check scam, or the Canadian lottery scam. I don't know much about any scams, actually. Nor do I particularly go on craigslist.
 

JennaGlatzer

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Thanks! Not to worry, my aunt isn't responding to the person, and I gave her the links to report this to the FTC.

Have they done any stories on this stuff on news programs?
 

Little Red Barn

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JennaGlatzer said:
Thanks! Not to worry, my aunt isn't responding to the person, and I gave her the links to report this to the FTC.

Have they done any stories on this stuff on news programs?

Jenna, these are a bunch of sick pups...who have nothing but time on their hands. I have seen people here locally not only lose their autumobiles, and other expensive possessions and huge amounts of monies through these scams...BeSt to stay away from Craigs list... Your local PD should have a computer crime lab...and hubby says to report to them. Keep this in mind also, some prisons allow their prisoners access to computers as well..
 
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benbradley

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These scams are huge on eBay as well as Craigslist, along with the millions of spam-scam emails from Nigeria and by now everywhere else, usually in all caps, from someone often operating in God's name needing to get a few million out of the country and offering you 20 percent to help in the efforts, all they need to move the money is YOUR checking account number - DON'T do it!

From what I've heard you can't even put a car ad in the local newspaper without getting a call from one of these scammers.

And for anyone who hasn't heard about it, there's an ordinary guy named Matthew Shinnick who a year ago was selling two bicycles on Craigslist, got a buyer who sent an "over the amount" check for both bikes so he was suspicious and took it to the bank it was written on, Bank of America, to see if it was good. He was told yes, so he asked to cash it, and he was arrested and taken to jail! The scammer had stolen the info from a legit account, and the bank had a flag on it for suspected illegal activity. Bank of America was shameless about the whole thing afterwards. Radio host/Consumer guru Clark Howard took on Matthew's fight. Details here:
http://clarkhoward.com/topics/boa_final_letter.html

This is what I've been hearing a lot from almost everyone. Just make sure whoever buys your aunt's sofa pays in cash or goes through paypal.

Do cash only for buyer doing local pickup, not paypal. Paypal doesn't protect you unless there is "electronic receipt" such as USPS Delivery Confirmation, and Signature Confirmation if it's over $250. Paypal has these and perhaps other hoops you have to go through to be covered by them from theft and scams. The scammers know exactly what Paypal's hoops are and pressure you to hurry up and skip them, saying they "need the item ASAP, can you ship it overnight" and such.

I've successfully done some selling on eBay (inexpensive items that usually don't attract scammers), and have read the discussion boards extensively, there have been a huge number of people ripped off by scammers. For anyone interested, here's eBay's "Seller Central:"
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=143
 

Sarashay

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I think the admonition never to use Craigslist because of potential scammers is a bit like telling people never to use email because of spam and phishing. Just tune up your bullshit detector and you'll be fine.

I sold a couch and a couple of chairs on Craigslist with no problem. I did get one funny-smelling email (it was asking questions that were clearly answered in the ad) but I just ignored it and all was well. Anybody who isn't willing to show up in person and pay cash is simply not someone you want to deal with.

Craiglist has a whole page on how to watch out for scams:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/about/scams.html