I found a 2018 MacBook Pro for $350 on Craigslist. The seller only wants to ship and says so because of coronavirus. I told them we can meet outside and I wear an N95 mask + a surgical mask over it (which I do when I go anywhere indoors or meet strangers). They replied they see a lot of older family and relatives so they can only ship it. They sent me screenshot of the "About this Mac" which shows the OS and serial number. This seems very suspicious. This communication happened via text message as they left their number on the ad. If someone's laptop has been stolen, can something be done?
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Possible stolen MacBook Pro on Craigslist
- Thread starter OwnedByMyCat
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run don't walk away! I don't believe you can do anything with the serial number as you are not the owner. I maybe wrong on this but nevertheless I would not buy unless you meet them in your town's safe exchange place, usually at the local police station.
Ship = electronic payment = scam
also $350 for a newish Macbook? Scam!
also $350 for a newish Macbook? Scam!
I realize this is a scam, but I wanna get this person busted and the original owner to get their Mac back. Is this possible by having the serial number? Can I report them to the police? I have their phone number.
We get those kinds of scams all the time on our local Craigslist. Cars, boats, trailers, trucks, computers, jet skis, dogs....
One of the most common features of the ads is that the advertised item does not exist - at least as far as the scammer who placed the ad is concerned. They steal photos and descriptions from other legitimate ads and price them exceedingly low to try to entrap the greedy and naive prospective purchaser.
One of the plentiful and hilarious counter ads locally describes them as North Koreans in a humorous and sarcastic way, i.e., "L'il Fatty, he needs mo' nukes!" and things like that. There's no way to know exactly who places those ads. You can be certain they are crooks. Even if (as a lot of them do) they have a gmail address there's probably no practical way to get Google to act against their shenanigans.
The only slightly effective way to deal with them is to use the Craigslist "Flag" option to get the ad removed.
Sorry 'bout that,
Tom
One of the most common features of the ads is that the advertised item does not exist - at least as far as the scammer who placed the ad is concerned. They steal photos and descriptions from other legitimate ads and price them exceedingly low to try to entrap the greedy and naive prospective purchaser.
One of the plentiful and hilarious counter ads locally describes them as North Koreans in a humorous and sarcastic way, i.e., "L'il Fatty, he needs mo' nukes!" and things like that. There's no way to know exactly who places those ads. You can be certain they are crooks. Even if (as a lot of them do) they have a gmail address there's probably no practical way to get Google to act against their shenanigans.
The only slightly effective way to deal with them is to use the Craigslist "Flag" option to get the ad removed.
Sorry 'bout that,
Tom
Im sure the cops would get right on it!
but like the last post said...there is no laptop
Like I said previously I dont believe u can do anything with the serial number, since you are not the owner. You can try to contact Apple to confirm this. The phone number is useless. It will be a prepaid number with no contact info.
nat,
If you can't meet, home delivery from Walmart, Amazon etc is your best bet. Not sure how you'd do a transaction using Craigslist without some kind of meeting.
Having said that, I bought a TV using Craigslist - the seller put it in his driveway and I left the cash under a stone he put there for that purpose. If it wasn't as advertised, I'd have left it there. It was, so I bought it.
Tom
If you can't meet, home delivery from Walmart, Amazon etc is your best bet. Not sure how you'd do a transaction using Craigslist without some kind of meeting.
Having said that, I bought a TV using Craigslist - the seller put it in his driveway and I left the cash under a stone he put there for that purpose. If it wasn't as advertised, I'd have left it there. It was, so I bought it.
Tom
True. However, the funds would be needlessly frozen until PayPal finishes the investigation. It doesn’t make sense to risk that financial scenario on what looks like a scam.
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There almost certainly is no computer. The scam isn’t that a computer is stolen, it’s that they want you to send money. The ”seller” will not be shipping anything. All you can do is report the ad to Craigslist.
