I just caught a scammer! I listed an old couch for free on Craigslist, and some guy responded right away saying he wanted it. He kept changing the pickup times (not that unusual for CL) but then said he was on his way. At the time he was supposed to arrive, he said he couldn't pick it up after all. "Hey, so we couldn’t pick this up so we ended up finding someone to pickup, just charged them a finders fee. We told them they could pay us after it’s picked up through Venmo / Zelle!" What? No. [1/2]
Andy Baio
I searched Facebook Marketplace, and sure enough, there's my couch. Copied my listing verbatim with all my photos, selling my free couch for $70. I told the guy, no, it's no longer available. 30 minutes later, a totally different guy shows up at my door in a van trying to pick up the couch he just bought off Facebook. Nope, sorry. Best part: the scammer isn't even in Oregon, he lives in Georgia. A clever arbitrage scheme that probably happens constantly, but was new to me. [2/2]