Craigslist Scam

Craigslist Scam

So I got scammed!  Yep, me!  But for the record, the scammer didn’t get anything out of me, as fortunately, I caught on before money or merchandise was exchanged.  I want to share what happened with others so that no one falls prey to these scumbags.

First mistake I made was to put my cell phone number on Craigslist to receive text from those that were interested.  I really thought that would be an easy way to do this but that was how the scammers got me.  *Note: Only use email through Craigslist so they never really get your email address.  Also, if they refer to it as item and not rocker, etc that is a clue. (I will always BOLD item in her email so you can see). So below is how this all went down.  My response will always be in BOLD and the scammer’s response in Italics.

I listed a child’s rocker on Craigslist for $150.00.  It is really cute and I used real leather on it and it is worth what I asked for it.  Anyway, I get 2 texts asking me to email them back if the item is still for sale.  Ok no problem, I emailed them and texted them that I sent them an email.  So my first email:

June 9:

From Me: I have 3 others interested in the rocker but it is first come to get it.  

This is the email I sent to both that texted me.  The one I am communicating with is the first one to respond back.  Her name is Emily Thompson and I was like awesome, I love the name Emily (I have a daughter named Emily).  So here begins my conversations with Emily.

June 9:

From Emily: Thanks for the prompt response to text. I will be buying this item from

you,  kindly withdraw the advert from C.LIST and considered it sold.

My husband will be overnight the payment asap but he will be paying

with a certified check from his Bank and it will  deliver to you via

United Parcel Service (UPS), so  I'll need you to provide me with the

following information to facilitate the mailing of the check... And am

offering additional $50 with the original price to have this asap.

 becName to be on the payment...........

Address to mail the check to.............

Final Asking price...................

Cell phone # to contact you ................

I will make arrangements for the pick up as soon as you have your

check clear, due to my work frame and my Kids,  I will not be able to

come with the cash and pick it up myself , so my husband will mail the

check and have someone pick up the item after the check clear.,

Reference to your CL post  am completely satisfied with it  and the

payment will  be deliver within 24hours.. God Bless

How sweet, she said God Bless and offered me more than I was asking.  Big clue here is they are willing to pay more than I was asking for it. What a sucker I am here at this point, as I am so excited they loved my rocker so much to offer me more.  I also justify it by the name Emily coloring my view of this message.  She asked for info that anyone would need to come get my rocker so I didn’t think twice about giving it.  If she had asked me for my SS# or bank account #, I would have quickly caught on.  So I respond, notice I am XXXX out all personal info so as not to open myself up to more scumbags who might read this. Not that any of you are scumbags but in this internet age you never know, so please do not be offended by this. Anyways….

June 9:

From Me: It is yours!  I was hoping you would be the one to get it!  I have a daughter named Emily! :)  Do you have Paypal? If so, we could do it that way.  (*note, I read going through Paypal with them is not a safe way either.)

Name: Susan XXXXX

Address: XXXXXX

Phone: XXXXX

Yours for $200.00 then to hold until payment.

I am surprised at so many wanting it...there are now 6 other people asking for it.

~Susan

So at this point, I have heard back from the other scammer by email that sent the EXACT message as Emily.  Now I realize I am being scammed…SO DISAPPOINTED IN EMILY.  So now I am googling everything to find out what I can do, how can I get her caught (if she is even a she).  I have reported both scammers to Craigslist but that is really not good enough.  I really wanted to help the police or FBI catch them, I seriously watch too many TV detective shows. But hey, that was not going to happen so I decided to play Emily along and make her think I am totally ignorant. And please note that my husband was all for this too! Next email:

June 9:

From Emily: I got the Details to mail the check  and the payment will be sent out asap and get back to you when it is mailed, Please  keep the other buyer off and the item will be pick up from you after you have the payment

Just love how she asks me to keep the other buyer off.  Also that she refers to the rocker as the item.  

I respond:

June 9

From Me: Okay, it is yours.

(hee hee) Notice next respond is not until June 11 and she had told me her husband would be over nighting the payment.  And I am still wondering how they are going to get me to send them money.  Well…this answered that for me.

June 11

 From Emily: Hello,

 Am sorry for the late response, My husband just informed now that the payment has been sent Via USPS with the tracking # 9470101699320015037861 and he included the shipment funds in the amount on the check for the mover to come for the pick up. And you are to deduct your money $200 as agreed and additional $50 for keeping the item for me and your running around and then give the rest balance to the mover coming for the pick up, I hope i can trust you with my money?  We have some other items around your location needed for our new apartment with the mover will be picking up everything together  but pls i will need your honest and trust and your updating to end up this transaction..because this is our first time on the list. I will get the  mover information  Tomorrow morning and get back to you so that you will know who will be coming for the pick up.

Woah! She is offering me even more money. Remember I was selling it for $150, then she offered me $50 more to hold it and now it is up to $250.00! What a sweet deal! So I go on USPS website to check out this tracking # and sure enough it is in Miami. FL, ready to send.  So I am expecting it the next day or so, but I do not respond to her so that I can keep her hanging. I also love how she states this is her first time buying on Craigslist and how she hopes I will be honest and trustworthy.  REALLY ?!!! I then get this email:

June 12

From Emily: Hello,

  I just contact the USPS now and they said you should be getting the check today and Like I said my husband sent the check to you including the (freight and hand ling's fees) to pick up  the item from you and some other items around your location

You are to get the check, have it deposited into your Account or through ATM asap. Deduct your $250 as agreed for yourself and have the rest balance send via Western Union Minutes Transfer as requested by the mover so that they can contact you for the pickup arrangement and then be at your location to pick up the item from you.

You can locate any Western Union location around you and have the rest balance transfer to the below mover agent information via Western Union Minutes Transfer: Deduct the minutes transfer fees from the rest money you are sending to the mover.

Receiver's Name :--------Keith Colby

Address:   3671 e 88th Circle 

City :-------- Thornton

State :--------Co

Zip Code :-------- 80229

Please do take care of everything asap so that the mover can contact you for the pick up arrangement  . And as soon as you are done with the transfer, You will be given a receipt so get back to me with the MTCN #, Sender name and the Exact Amount transfer after deducting the minutes transfer fees from the rest money you are sending to Keith Colby.

Thanks and God bless

Oh my, that God Bless again! I decide to wait another day before responding and then I sent this:

June 13

From Me:

Dear Emily,

Oh my, we do have a problem! When you told me that you were going to overnight your payment, I didn't even think to let you know that we were moving.  You see, we are old and all kids gone from home so we wanted to downsize.  Well, anyway, when your payment didn't come the next day or the day after, I assumed you changed your mind so I sold it to someone else.  Sweetest couple with a little baby boy. It did my heart so much good to see the little guy sit in it. You see, all 10 of our children used it at one point over the years, so I really wanted it to go to a good home.  Well, I guess I should say 9 kids used it as little Tommy, we found out, got motion sickness so rocking in it made him throw up and I mean everywhere, but no worries for the couple, as I recovered to sell it. Amazing that smell never really left it so I had to even put new foam in.

...anyway I am going down a rabbit trail as my kids say.  Comes with old age I guess, so I tell them to bear with me.  So here comes the problem, we moved and I just got your email because our internet was finally set up in the new home yesterday. The people who bought our home live in Washington State and will not be here, I think, for another month. And the problem lies in that our mailbox at that house goes directly into the house.  It is so cool and convenient especially when you go on vacation you don't have your mail stacking up in a mailbox on the street.  I am really going to miss that about my new home.  Except the yard work, yay we moved into a retirement area where we don't have to take care of the yard.  Oops..hop,hop,hop....

...okay, back to the problem about your check, I can't get it until they come here. I totally forgot to do our address change (old age excuse here) so as soon as I can, I will get it returned to you. And you can absolutely trust me with your money, just like I can trust you to be honest with me.  I too, am a first time user on Craigslist so I am new to all this. One advice I would give you is to read the ad carefully, if you would have, you would have seen that I said for local pick up only.  You did say you would have someone pick it up and I assumed since I said local pickup only, that you meant a friend or something and not a shipper.  So send me your address so that I can send your check back to you.

Sincerely,

Susan

P.S. I lost my cell phone somewhere, probably in a box that I haven't unpacked yet.  So if you need to call me you can call our home phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX. And our new address is 1001 S. XXXX Rd.

Okay, so I exaggerated a little. We really didn’t move. I am not a first time Craiglist user.  I really only had 5 kids and not one is named Tommy, though one of our daughters tried to rename her older brother to Thomas, but he would have none of that and I have a video to prove it.  And the rocker was never used by my children as it was given to me since I am an upholsterer and able to fix it up.  Also, I didn’t lose my cell phone and the new number is to Crime Stoppers and address I gave her is to the police department. Truth: we do have a mail box that goes directly into the house and I love it. I would also like to not have to do yard work. And the sweet couple is my daughter and son-in-law who have the cutest little guy that will be getting this from his grandma for his 1 year birthday. And as of this date, no check has arrived.

It is July 29 and no check ever came and never heard from ‘Emily’ again.  I was really disappointed I didn’t get that check! I really wanted to see what it looked like and have it as evidence! Oh well, it was fun to turn a somewhat scary situation into trying to scam a scammer. I mean in scary that I gave them my phone number and address. In fact, a week after my last email, we stopped getting snail mail for like 4 days. Now mind you, we get mail EVERYDAY full of junk mail.  So my mind conjured up a scenario that the scammers changed my address online to have my mail redirected to them. My mailman assured me that an online address change does not automatically happen without getting a snail mail letter of the change to both the old and new addresses.  It turned out we got a new mailman and he somehow skipped us.

So I didn’t get the scammers caught but hopefully enough people will read this to not fall prey to them.  And oldest son, Jake can relax as he told me not to mess with scammers. Well, all I got to say is “SCAMMERS, DON’T MESS WITH ME!”

I will say that I am leery of using Craigslist but may try again someday, when I have something to sell. The key is to do all communication through Craigslist, put cash only and local pickup. 

And it all started because of this cute rocker!

What's Next?

Last post was dated July 2012...what happened to us? Life has gone on and we have been busy. Each one of us has continued with our lives:
Breathing, 
Cleaning, 
Cooking,
Breathing, 
Projects,
Running our homes,
Travels,
New babies added to the family, two so far; Kruz and Eloise and another one to arrive in September.
And did I say breathing? Lots of deep breathing...in and out!

....but I think our hearts have been trying to heal. For my girls, heal from the loss of their sister and me...healing from the loss of my daughter. But maybe healing isn't the right word. We have not been sick, injured, broken, which is something that can heal or mend, we have had our Jayney taken from our lives and nothing can ever replace her; a glaring a hole.

So the Blog has lost our interest or maybe what is important to us has taken more meaning. As I said, we continued on with life but not the Blog. I tried to continue as you can see, I did blog after Jayney died. My heart was not in it.

I have never liked to journal. Seriously...NEVER! So why blog? I did it at first for a fun thing to do with my girls and to show others some of the fun things we do but NOW it is different, life is different. I have been on a new journey of a grieving process. Maybe it is only for me and no one will read this. Truly don't know why I am doing this; I do know that I have been on a journey that started on December 10, 2011. A journey that has caused me to question who I am, how to find joy in sorrow, my priorities, my mothering, where do I go from here? While my head knows that our Creator has a plan and a purpose for good in this, it is still a gut-wrenching painful hurt.  This kind of grief was so foreign to me; I did not know that it could so powerfully fill me with despair. The emotions have been innumerable and sometimes totally unexplained.

But I have the future! Everything is different without Jayney. I even know where she now resides but my motherly instincts still wants to talk to her and hold her.  Mother's Day came and each phone call from my wonderful four children blessed me, but that one missing call where I knew I would have heard her say, "Hi Mommy" in her sweet voice, was glaringly silent.  So that day, as in the past other two Mother's Day since 'that day', was bittersweet.  It is times like this that I get the gut-wrenching pain all over again.  I wonder if it will ever go away. Most days it has softened and I can honestly say, not felt unless I remind myself.

This has caused me to draw my attention more to the eternal things and about living a more meaningful life while I am still here.  So with that I say, "Lord, show me what it is you want from me."

So the title...What's Next? as I wait for the Lord's direction.

Here are the stools and table in my work room. I have been trying to spice up my space and update it. My new work table and roman shades have made a good start on it but I had this furniture that needed help.

After researching options for painting, I tried making my own chalk paint. Here is the recipe to make the paint. 1 part Plaster of Paris thinned with water to make consistency of the paint. Then after it is mixed smooth with no lumps, I added 3 parts of the paint and mixed well. I did not prime the wood but I did wash it down to get a good clean finish to it. I applied 2 coats of paint, a coat of wax, rubbed antiquing, and then stenciled, I then did a light sanding to give it that weathered look. I finished with another coat of wax. This whole project I was able to do in a day. I was really pleased with the outcome....What do you think?

One Person's trash is another Woman's treasure!

My curb find as I was driving down our street. Ugly right? Looks like junk? To me this is a treasure to restore.

Car shirts

My daughter-in-law gave me a picture of a cute shirt that held matchbox cars. She wanted me to make one for grandson Creed for Christmas which I also did for grandson Ryker. This was so easy to make and were a big hit with the two grandsons Creed and Ryker. It was fun watching them wear their shirts and put their little cars in the pockets.



Here is Creed with his pockets full of cars!

Apple Pie Baked in Apples

I made these fun little apple pies with the help of my grandsons. It turned out to be fun and very delicious too!

Preheat oven 350 degrees.
5-6 apples (depending on how many you need)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1 T. brown sugar
Pie crust (home made or store bought)

I cut off the tops of 6 apples (that's how many people I was feeding.) I cut out the core the best I could. Then I used a melon baller to scoop out the rest of the apple, being careful not to puncture through the peel.

Take the scooped out apple and cut any big pieces into small chunks and add the cinnamon and sugars to it. Spoon into the hollowed out apples. If you do not have enough apple chunks for filling, cut up another apple to make enough. I had plenty to fill up what I hollowed out from my 6 apples.


I then made my own pie crust using a recipe for one single crust. I cut the lattice strips using this fun cutter that my daughter-in-law had. (I was cooking in her kitchen) I think it might be a cheese cutter but it made a great ruffle look to the edges.


Here is one very excited little boy helping his grandma make these little pies. He enjoyed helping me with every step of the process, especially cutting the lattice pieces.

We then wove the pie crust strips over the apples and placed in a pan. Fill the pan with water, just enough to cover the bottom. Then place foil over the top. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes then remove foil and cook for another 20 min. or until the crust is golden brown.


Can be served warm or cold, whatever you prefer. I thought it would have been delicious to put a scoop of ice cream on top of the hot pies but atlas we had none. When I voiced that, my grandson, Curtis ran and got a can of whip cream which was a perfect addition to our little pies.

All four grandsons and my own son thought these were so delicious!! It was also a fun dessert and especially fun to make together. And forks did not work as well as using our fingers!!!

Roman shades from old mini blinds

Here are my old broken, dirty mini blinds in my basement/work room. They look ready for the trash but thanks to my new favorite site, Pinterest, I got the idea to make them into Roman shades.






You will need fabric, mini blinds, and fabric glue/hot glue gun. Lay out the fabric and cut it the size needed. I measured the size of window and mini blind and added 2 inches to the width and 5 inches to the length. My shades were 55" long by 35" wide so I cut a rectangle that was 60" long by 37" wide.




Take the old mini shade and take the bottom clips off and untie the strings. Then clip the strings that hold the slats in place.


Remove all the slats and the bottom end. Lay the top and bottom of shade out to the length you want. Take the amount of slats needed to glue to shade. As you can see, my slats were dirty so I cleaned the ones that I needed and trashed the others.


I first serge all sides of my rectangle and then I sewed a one inch hem on the width sides. It is not necessary to hem the top or bottom of fabric if you serge it. Another option if you do not have a sewing machine is to use the iron on hem tape to finish the edges.


Lay out fabric and glue top part of shade to top of fabric using the fabric glue. I then hot glued the edge of fabric around the top. Measure from the top the distance that you want the slats. I put mine 10" apart using 5 slats but you might want to divide the length of your fabric by how many slats/folds you want on your shade. Put the pull strings through the holes on the slat before you glue to fabric. Attach the pull strings to the bottom end of shade and tie to correct length and insert the clips that you had removed.




Spread glue with brush to make it smooth then lay on fabric and press down. Make sure that you do not put glue over the holes so that the strings will be glued too. I found the glue dried quickly. When all slats are glued on, glue the end of shade to the bottom with fabric glue and then hot glue the edges up. They are now ready to hang!

The finished shades!

They pull up so nice and look great.

They pull down great too! I love them and my work room is starting to look really awesome. Now to paint!

Two year old shirt!

Ryker turned TWO!! Woo Hoo! So gave me another chance to make a special shirt for this cute little grandson. I looked everywhere for a plain long sleeve shirt and could not find one. They all had writing and pictures on the long sleeve shirts. When I was about to give up and do a short sleeve shirt, I ran across this cute shirt from Carter's with a bear. There was room to put the 2 and his name. Since the bear set the theme, I went with a brown and white zebra striped fabric for the two.



And here is the birthday boy, Ryker! Happy 2nd birthday to my little man!

Work Table

I love Pinterest! I am getting so many neat ideas from the site but it also motivates me to do them. I have been in need of a work table for years. Since I have my own upholstery business, I really needed one. I had designed one in my head but never got around to doing it. Then I saw a work table on Pinterest that motivated me to make one. Well, I should say, get my husband to make me one! He is a busy man, so the best way to get one was to tell him that I wanted one for Christmas.

The table on Pinterest used book shelves as the end bases and then the table top was made out of doors. I bought 4 shelving units from Menards; two have cubbyholes and two have straight shelves

Here is my sweet husband putting the shelving together.


He then screwed the units together and put two 30" doors for the top. He anchored the doors to the units to make it sturdy.
Here is the end with the book shelf units. I also ordered a cutting mat to fit the top. I ordered the size 5' X 8' and then we had to cut it down to fit.

Here is the other end with the cubbyhole units.



I had him add a lower shelf between the two ends so I would have a place to store all my rolls of fabric. The pinterest table was made with shorter shelving but I really like it tall. I am only 5'4" but I can either just sit on the bar stools or when I am standing and measuring/cutting fabric, I do not have to lean over so really saves on my back.



The final touch was adding a grid under the cutting mat. It is AWESOME! It is so easy to measure and cut when I have this grid. I used permanent marker to write measurements so it is easy to measure out my fabric.



And here it is! I LOVE IT! I can't even begin to tell you how fun it is to do projects on it. I will be blogging about the Roman shades I made (another Pinterest idea) and let me tell you, doing it on this work table was a joy!

Snowmen Cookies

I love Pinterest! There are so many great ideas on it and here is one. It is snowmen cookies and here is the site to go to on how to make them: http://www.crazydomestic.com/2010/12/melted-snowman-cookies.html

I used store bought sugar cookie dough as one site recommended to do which made it so easy. I shaped them into balls and flattened down and into a shape to resemble a puddle.

This is royal frosting that I made to give the melting snow effect; bought the Wilton Meringue power mix at Hobby Lobby to make the royal frosting.

Once the frosting is on, microwave large marshmallows for about 20 seconds or just until they start to puff up. Make sure you use lots of shortening on the wax paper that you put the marshmallows on. Also, use a lot on your hands as you pick up the marshmallows to put on the cookies. Decorate with frosting and here they are! Turned out so cute and they are tasty too!

Heavenly Potatoes

Another Pinterest success!! These potatoes were a huge hit all around. I just used a regular baking potato, sliced it in thin strips, making sure not to cut all the way through. This makes the accordion shape. I then put butter between each slice, topped with olive oil - to give the skin that nice crunch, added garlic salt, pepper, and topped with coarse sea salt. They were put in the oven at 425 for over an hour. Delicious!!!

Sheets in a Pillowcase

I must confess. I am addicted to Pinterest!!! I could spend hours just scrolling through all the wonderful ideas and pictures that are out there. My husband was a little less than enthused with my new hobby, that is until I made one of the recipes that I found on that incredible little sight, which I will post about later. :) All of a sudden, even he was a huge fan.

Anyways, one of the ideas that I found and tried was the folding sheets and putting them in one of the pillow cases. I have never liked the way a fitted sheet looks when folded. Even if I do all the tricks to make it look like it's flat partner, it just has a messy feel.

So I tried the sheets in pillowcase thing last time I washed my sheets and I have to say, I love it! It looks even better in my linen closet. Also, I don't have to worry if I have all the pieces to the sheet set when I go to make the bed, because they are neatly contained in the pillow case. Thanks Pinterest!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Madelyn

Emily wanted a birthday shirt for Maddy's 2nd birthday which is coming up on Nov. 22. I found a cute skirt on the 75% off rack at The Children's Place that ended up only costing $6.00. I bought two skirts so that I would have one to cut up to use in the applique. Here is her 2 yr. old shirt.

And now the total outfit with the cute corduroy skirt.

I decided to do another shirt that was not personalized so later her baby sister will get to wear it. Also, thought that she would wear the skirt more if it had a neutral shirt to go with it. I also took some extra material and made rosettes for her hair that I hot glued hair clips to them.