Found a camera on Craigslist, smokin’ deal. Send them an email. My spidey senses start spidering when I get a response from a different non-craigslist email address: [email protected].
"Paloma" says:
Hello there,
Thank you for your interest in purchased my Canon equipment. My Canon EOS 5D Mark III comes in original box, Canon strap, LP-E6 battery, LC-E6 Battery Charger in original boxes, camera computer cable, Canon body cap. It is in excellent condition. All equipment was meticulously cared for and regular maintenance performed by Canon directly. All Canon L lenses ( Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM , Canon 16-35 f/2.8L II USM , Canon 24-105 f/4.0L IS USM and Canon Extender EF 2x II ) are in excellent working condition and appear new and comes comes with original box ,Canon pouch and Canon front and rear caps. Has only 49,000 shutter count. The price is $500. This belonged to my husband and after he passed away (due to a heart attack) I decided to sell it. Let me know if you are interested. Everything that can be seen in photos are included in price.
P.S. Attached you can find more pictures!
Thank you for your interest!
So I say:
Super interested, when and where can we meet?
Paloma:
Hi James,
Thanks for the reply. So our current situation is that my daughter and I decided to go for fresh start so we sold the house and moved to my parents in Sioux Falls, SD. We are trying to start a new life. The camera is here in Sioux Falls, stored with all the paperwork at the shipping company (Sioux Falls Shippers Center) and ready to be delivered to the new owner. I want to use their escrow and transport services as they offer 100% protection and insurance to both buyers and sellers. The best part about this is that you have 5 days to try it out prior to making any purchase and if by any reason you find something you don’t like about it, you can send it back at my expense. If you are interested in knowing more info about how it works, you can reply with your whole name and phone # so I can notify Sioux Falls Shippers Center that you are my selected buyer, and they will contact you right away with all the details, with no obligation to buy it.
God Bless!
So, confirmed scam. So I respond:
I see. That seems little weird, honestly, but if it’s through a third party company I guess that’d be okay. Do they have a website?
I also include a random name and a burner number. Paloma responds:
Yes sure, please go on the company’s site, https://www.siouxfalls-shippers-center.com/
Ok now we’re getting somewhere. Visit the site, it’s clearly sketch. So now I’m wondering, did they fabricate an entire business? Yep. They did. JTI Electrics is at the address listed on the website, and they aren’t a registered business in South Dakota.
A reverse whois didn’t turn anything up for the domain name, and their phone number just rings for a while then hangs up. So I respond to Paloma:
When are they going to call me?
Less than a minute later I get a call from 605-610-0796. Some dude asked something, but the connection is so poor I can’t tell what he’s saying. I hung up after a bit, and now I’m considering where to go from here.
Better Business Bureau, perhaps? I go to their site and search for Sioux Falls Shippers; nothing. Shippers Center? Jackpot. It brings up 9 results, 7 of which have the same name and rating of F. So I look through the reviews on several of them, and they all have one thing in common: Family member died of a heart attack, moved away to my parents with my child to start a new life. All of the reviews are from 2018, so it’s a new-ish scam. BBB also listed more phone numbers for them:
- (402) 509-7233
- (888) 243-4797
- (877) 624-5079
- (888) 288-0954
- (888) 213-8879
- (888) 829-3451
- (402) 403-0394
- (316) 444-3132
- (402) 287-4980
- (402) 385-5429
- (605) 610-0199
Dagum.
So the question now is, what next? Thoughts?
Update
I emailed again and said:
I called but the connection was really bad, could you tell them to call again?
Now to wait
Update: 11:11PM, 1/5
I decided that while I’m waiting for a response to my email, I may as well try to anonymously mess with their email… Enter mailbait.info. It’s basically an email bomb website. I set this up to run on the email they replied to me with and also the email listed as a contact on their website. 