Written by If you are a follower of my blog, you probably already know how I feel about scammers. If not, I invite you to go back and read my posts from Day 122 and Day 123 before you proceed.
When Steven and I joined the YMCA a few months ago, we decided it was probably time to get rid of our treadmill. Since we moved, it has been banished to a dark corner of the garage. And really, what do we need it for when we have the YMCA and all of its fancy machines and gigantic lap pool to help us get in shape.
So, I snapped a few photos of the treadmill and placed an ad on Craigslist. We were pleased to immediately begin receiving some inquiries. After answering a few emails with “Yes, the treadmill is still available”, I received the following request from a gentleman named Larry…
Here’s how this thing works. Larry gets some poor, unsuspecting, overly trusting souls to believe that he is actually interested in buying what they have for sale. Then, he sends along a fraudulent check, which the sellers promptly deposit in their bank account. The check appears to clear, and they go ahead and either ship out the item, Larry’s “assistant” comes to pick it up, or no one arrives at all, leaving the sellers scratching their heads and wondering what happened. Wondering what happened right until their bank account is suddenly overdrawn because the bank has finally figured out that the check is fraudulent. Or, Larry might also request other personal information (including address, and phone numbers) to use for other illegal purposes.
Now, my first reaction (other than fighting back the urge to vomit from the atrocious grammar) was mild annoyance. I had my my cursor poised on the delete button, and almost let Ol’ Larry off the hook by simply ignoring his asinine attempt at scamming me.
Oh, but where is the fun in that?
Instead, I am writing a little email back to Larry, just to let him know that no, I am not interested in giving him any of my information or receiving a fraudulent check, and perhaps to give him a few free grammar tips. My guess is, once he knows I’m onto him, he will crawl back into whatever cyber hole he crawled out of, lying in wait for his next victim.
But, in the meantime, I would like to invite all of you to play along and give Larry a fitting send off in the way of an overloaded email account. Feel free to send emails to Larry at lisakool20@gmail.com. Sign him up on mailing lists, or maybe just forward all of the emails in your spam folder to him. Hell, why not just write him a note to let him know what a nice guy you think he is.
Oh, and while you’re at it, go ahead and pass this blog post and Larry’s email address along to your friends and family so they can join in the fun, and tell them to pass it along to their friends and family too.
Tonight’s 365 Project entry is dedicated to stopping the dumbass Craigslist scammers like Larry, or at least annoying the hell out of him with a few thousand emails. Happy Anniversary to my hubby and I…all I want for my Anniversary this year is an email blast for my new friend Larry. Help a girl out, will you?
And if you’re interested in learning more about guys like Larry and some of the other Craigslist scams going on out there, check out this great Blogger site dedicated to Exposing Craigslist Scammers.
Lori Romano 
Thank you for posting about Larry Louis. I too received an email reply to an item I have posted on Craigslist from the Larry louis, thought it looked suspicious and googled the gmail name “lisakool20”. I came across your blog, confirmed my suspicions and replied with the local address of the FBI and told them to make a check out to “John Smith”
So glad you found my blog Dave! I would hate to hear that Larry had swindled you. I would love to know if he actually sends the check along to “John” at the FBI! Haha!
My wife dealt with this guy also. We never even agreed to the sale and he still sent a fake check from Marble Kare out of Boca Raton, FL for nearly 5 times more that what we were asking for. The check had typos on it and was signed by A. Lincoln who is dead. Called the lady at Marble Kare and she said the account number was valid but routing number was false. The guy wanted us to cash the check ASAP and send his “movers” the difference via Western Union. Even after we sent him an email telling him we know he is a fraud, he replied stating that he didn’t hear from us that he is going to send the cops to our house. Obviously that is just more bullshit.
That is crazy Patrick! Larry never sent the check along to me. You can bet there would have been one helluva follow up blog post if he did! I’m glad that you didn’t fall for the BS, and I love it that he’s the one threatening to call the cops! 🙂 Thanks for passing the word along to other people about the scam.
Wow, I am selling a dress and got this email from “Larry” Can you imagine he said he was at a Church Convention. Ha.
How should I respond??
Sorry for my late response. i was having a busy schedule.once again i got your response and i am glad the item is still up for sale. My preferable mode of payment is with a Money Order / Check ,I am ready to issue out a Money Order / Check to you. You can count on me for the pickup i will have everything taken care of because i have an account with a shipping company i will have them take care of the packaging & pickup.. Pickup will only commence once the check is received & cashed by you. The payment will be issued out to you by my personal assistant due to the fact that i am presently away for church convention.Therefore my personal assistant will be needing your mailing detail where he’s going to send the payment : He’ll be needing your
FULL NAME ( Name to issue the payment to. ),
HOME OR OFFICE Address ( No P.O Box Address Please ),
CITY,
STATE,
ZIP CODE/POSTAL CODE,
PHONE NUMBERS.
Kindly tell other buyers the item has been sold because i am offering you an extra $60 for holding it for me and please take the posting off Craigslist and consider me as the last buyer.I will be awaiting your mailing details so that the payment can be issued out today.
Thanks so much & I’ll be awaiting your urgent response.
God Bless You.
Oh Larry! He’s back at it again! Do not give him any of your personal information, as he can use anything you give him to try and steal you identity. There are several things you can do though…
1. Simply ignore him.
2. Give him a fake name and the contact info (address & phone #) of your local police department or FBI office. That way, he will issue the fraudulent check and send it there.
Whatever you decide to do, definitely pass along the information to any of your family/friends that might be selling items on Craigslist so they can avoid this scam. And thank you for posting your story and commenting here on my blog! So glad you found out about the scam before you gave this scumbag any information.
My husband got the same email… almost verbatim…
Thanks for commenting Jennifer. Was it a reply to a Craigslist ad? Guys like Larry give Craigslist a bad name!
thanks I think will give him the police number. Why oh Why are there people like this in the world? Now I will always be on guard when dealing with transactions over the internet.
Thanks for your advice.
It’s always a good idea to be wary when dealing with people online. It’s just so much easier to fall victim to a scammer when you are not dealing with someone face-to-face. I think what gets me the most is that if guys like Larry put half as much effort into actually working for the things they want instead of trying to make a quick buck stealing from others, they would probably be making a pretty good living. Unfortunately, there are people who just don’t want to work for the things they want, so instead they prey on people who trust them.
we got the same exact message but my overtrusting wife sent him our name phone number and address. do you have any suggestions for what we should do?
Ugh! So sorry Larry got to you too! I don’t know exactly how much damage these scammers can do with just your name, phone number, and address, but it would be a good idea to keep an eye on your accounts and your credit report, just to make sure he doesn’t try to open any accounts or sign up for anything in your name. Also, be on the lookout for the fraudulent check to arrive in the mail. If it does, try contacting your local police department and give them all of the information you have on this guy–copies of the emails, the check, the envelope it was sent in, etc. I’m not sure how far they will go trying to chase him down, but at least you tried. Definitely do not try to cash or deposit the check!
I just checked your site out. I had put some stuff on CL for my grandfather. This A-hole got me. Something didn’t sit right so I search the email and came here. I have reported him to FBI. And I have warned my Grandfather about him. I hate this, I want to email him and give him a piece of my mind. How dare he use God that way. What a A-hole!
So sorry you had to deal with Larry too! I’m just glad you trusted your gut and searched his email before you got swindled out of your (and your grandfather’s) money!
I just another email from an “John Cole” i believe its the same person, they wanted me wired them money that was for someone else, I laughed it off. Also, I believe that it is an thief ring. Once they get someones info, then they would use that for wired transfers etc.
There are so many of these scammers out there. It’s hard to know if the two are the same person, or even know of each other. Just be very careful doing business on Craigslist, and make sure you always deal in cash.
Thanks for posting about Larry. I work for a homeless shelter and we were trying to sell some old equipment to help pay for some much needed renovations, and Larry responded with an email much like the one you received. A quick google search of Larry Louis Craigslist brought me here, and saved me from possibly setting our renovations back even more.
So glad you followed that gut instinct and did a google search on Larry Louis before he got a chance to rob you! Unfortunately, there are a lot more scammers out there like Larry, so be very careful when you deal on Craigslist, trust those instincts, and only deal in cash and in person.