Often, people will ask “how’s life?” and my mind always returns back to these two elderly men who would come into my place of work to pay their phone bills. Each visit, the customer service rep would always greet them with a cheerful hello and how are you today? The two men, who moved very slowly aided by canes and always together, brightened the lobby with each visit. One of the men would always respond the same way when asked how he was;”at my age, each day above ground is a good day.” His response has always stuck in my mind and I’ve spoken often about these two men throughout my life thus far. So, when someone asks me how I am, I repeated his response but adding my own twist to it “…any day above ground is a good day…my family is here, everyone is healthy..what else can a guy ask for?…life is great.” Though, each time I say this, my mind drifts to what happens when the days comes I can no longer respond this way. It’s inevitable, that at some point in time, a loved one will face challenges, hurdles and tests of faith. Because of a past personal experience that was significant enough to make me realize life can be cut short at any time, I’ve come to realize the cute old man’s response has had quite an impact on me. And now again, I am faced with life changing news that makes my last experience seem like a mere warning shot across the bow. My doctor said, it was divine intervention that we discovered this hurdle the way we did, and I have to believe this is true. So far, everything has fallen place with the mortal side of intervention. So, tomorrow when I go in for surgery, I can only pray that I will wake, the cancer will be gone and I can still say… “any day above ground is a good day…my family is here, everyone is healthy..what else can a guy ask for?…life is great.”
Archive for July 2014
Craigslist PayPal Scams – beware!
Just a word of advice for people selling larger items on Craigslist- beware of people with the following stories. I need to make room for a new grand piano we are getting. So, decided to post my current piano on Craigslist and see what offers I get. I received various responses however, two of the responses were almost identical stories where the person claims to be purchasing the item as a surprise and they would like to keep it that way and that they will pay for the Piano via PayPal and they will make arrangements for movers to pick the piano up. Upon reading the first response, I wasn’t actually thinking SCAM. However, shortly after I get the second offer with the same exact scenario, which immediately raised the alert level
As I was writing this, I get yet another attempted SCAM:
— I just had a family emergency early this Morning but will be able to send full and direct payment through PayPal. The moment you get back to me with your PRICE and PayPal email, i will send Payment.
Peace and Blessings!
Another version of a SCAM:
–Thanks I’m just asking about it to make sure its in good condition as im buying it for my Family as a surprise gift and he doesn’t know about it, so can you assure me i will not be disappointed? also no shipment involved as i have a mover that will come for it. Im okay with the price and condition,I can only pay you via one of the fastest and secure way to pay online (PayPal).. Do you have a PayPal account? Let me know asap so i can arrange the payment through PayPal. my shipper will be coming to pick it up as soon as the payment clears into your account . So if you’re ready to move forward, just fill out the info below so I can work everything out!
PayPal Email:
Full Name:
Firm Price:
Thanks
Beware of anyone asking to utilize PayPal as form of payment on Craiglist. PayPal does not protect you with purchases outside of Ebay or to addresses other than the PayPal verified address. Plus, utilizing PayPal decreases the amount of money you are selling your item for because they will charge you their service fee! Also, you will notice in the SCAMS, the buyers do not try to negotiate price. How often does that happen on Craigslist? With that said, keep in mind the various SCAMs that follow:
You may receive a phony however very legitimate looking email from Pay Pal indicating that the money has been sent but won’t be credited to your account until you respond back with the tracking number. PayPal does NOT ask for a tracking number before crediting your account. If you log in to your real PayPal account directly and there is no money present and no copy of that email, then it’s obvious that there is no transaction.
Or perhaps the Craigslist scammer sends you a forged email from PayPal stating that the money has been sent to you with a link for you to click on to confirm the transaction. This link then takes you to an authentic “looking” PayPal site where you after you enter your log in details, the Craigslist scammer hacks your account and takes your money!
Were not done; the Craigslist scammer could also pay you with a hacked PayPal account, perhaps from scam above, the money goes in to your account, then once you send the item, the real account holder reports the theft and PayPal debits the money from your account. Now you have NO money and NO merchandise.
And of course, there’s always the, I need it send to another address scam where the scammer pays you with a real PayPal account and requests you to ship the merchandise to a different address. Once you have shipped the merchandise, the scammer files a charge-back saying that they never received the item. Here’s the sad part; even with a copy of the delivery confirmation and the email from them requesting to send the merchandise to a different address, you have no protection from PayPal because you shipped it to a non-verified PayPal address!
So my advice to you if you want to sell items on Craigslist, keep it simple, stick with it being a CASH AND CARRY service.
