We’ve been alerted to a scam ad in the March 2015 Observer classifieds. A reader who responded to the ad above–for a free 1987 Honda 1200 motorcycle–thought the explanation sounded “fishy,” googled, and found “ads being placed all over the US with similar stories but slightly different details.” Here’s one example we found: http://cx500forum.com/forum/off-topic-posts/3944-free-motorcycle-scam.html
A man giving his name as “Daniel James” placed the ad by email and called to give a credit card number and an address on Fountain St. After hearing from the reader, we checked with Visa, which confirmed our suspicion that neither the name or address matched those of the card’s real owner. We’ve reported the card as stolen, and will publish a warning in the next issue.
We’re sorry we fell for this! Now that we know Craigslist scammers are moving into print, we’ll be more careful in the future. If you’ve responded to the ad, please let us know at 769-3175 x 309 or hilton@aaobserver.com
