Bus error: Jake Billo’s weblog

I’ve been trying to sell my MacBook on Craigslist and Kijiji and had an inquiry. After searching for the obviously Nigerian-style phrases in the second message, I sure wasn’t going to wait around to find out how you can get scammed by PayPal.

(Messages posted in reverse order for your reading pleasure. I’m posting this to hopefully keyword Google with this alias.)

> From: Katty weatherly <katty.weatherly01@gmail.com>
> To: sale-742868246@craigslist.org
> Sent: Sunday, July 6, 2008 12:54:06 PM
> Subject: DO YOU STILL HAVE IT AVAILABLE F:S 13.3″ MacBook - white, 2GHz, 2GB
> RAM, 80GB - $1000 (Waterloo - near UW/Laurier)
>
> ** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY — AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
> ** Avoid:  wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
> ** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
> ** More Info:  http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
>
> DO YOU STILL HAVE IT AVAILABLE F:S
>
>
> ——————————————————————
> this message was remailed to you via: sale-742868246@craigslist.org
> ——————————————————————

—

On 7/7/08, Jake Billo wrote:
> Yes, the MacBook is still available for sale.
>
> Thanks,
> Jake

—

From: Katty Weatherly
To: Jake Billo
Sent: Monday, July 7, 2008 4:43:07 AM
Subject: Re: DO YOU STILL HAVE IT AVAILABLE F:S 13.3″ MacBook - white, 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 80GB - $1000 (Waterloo - near UW/Laurier)

Thanks for the reply, the price is okay by me I will add $100.00 USD
for the shipping cost….making $1100.and i am ready to purchase from
you immediately which am buying this item to someone else,the payment
will be made via paypal cos is very secure and fast way to receive
money online and i don’t want you to look for any other buyer.i would
have love to come down for the pickup.But am not chanced to do that
now but am satisfy with your description of the item .I will like to
read from you concerning this moving arrangement before processing
and sending the payment out to you. i will like you to give me your
paypal account email id or send me an invoice for me to send your
payment.i will expect your mail.asap
Thanks in advance.
Hope to hear from you………………
Katty…………

—

Quit trying to scam people.

http://www.computerforum.com/124259-paypal-scam.html

I suppose you’re located in Italy for a conference as well?

http://www.netlinkaccess.com/Cost-Accounting/25790.htm

Die in a fire.

Regards,
Jake

Gmail’s FAQ doesn’t even give a way to try and get the account pulled, only to report phishing through my own Gmail account. The full message headers are useless and only claim that the original message was sent through HTTP. I’ve reported the account using this page, which I found in the support forums.