I got the same type of message about a wedding dress I was selling on craigslist from a guy who now calls himself Gordon Maxwell with an email address of
[email protected] and look out for his "shipping agent payment department" Penny Atterton
[email protected]. after receiving a tracking number from Gordon, I followed it on UPS. It was intercepeted and re-routed to another address on the day it was supposed to arrive. I let Gordon know I didn't receive the check and it was re-routed to another address. I advised him since I did not receive the money I was relisting the dress. I did not hear anything back from him but the fake cashier's check from Citizens Bank came 6 days later than he claimed it would and was for $1,200 over the selling price of the actual dress. I had been very suspicious and googled - cost courier service pick up wedding dress - to see if I could find out how much a courier service would actually cost to pick up a wedding dress and found this website. Thank you all for sharing your stories as well. What a life saver it has been! Also, thinking why on earth would someone pay more for a courier than the actual dress costs. Besides, someone could have bought the dress brand new right from a bridal shop for less than this person was paying for the dress and the courier. What a scam. Seller Beware! Sell only to locals on craigslist.
Below are some of his emails just in case you received something similar.
"Hello,
I am interested in the Wedding Dress you posted on the classified ad and I will be glad to purchase the Wedding Dress from you and I hope you will love to sell it for me. I am gordon maxwell and I'm interested in buying the Wedding Dress for my daughter that is why I am searching through the Classified ad and I cam across your Wedding Dress and I find it lovely, I hope to hear back from you if you are interested in selling the Wedding Dress.
Gordon"
More notes from the fake Gordon Maxwell....
"Hello,
Glad it is your first posting and I would love to buy the dress and thanks for the reply to the interest I have in the dress and I am glad it is still available, I am very much interested in it. How much do you want to sell it and what is the present condition of the dress? I will love to have some more details of the dress too. How many times is it worn? What is the length and size?
Gordon"
Another.......
"Hello,
I had concluded with my daughter on buying the wedding gown. The link of your ads had been sent to her but I will like you to send me more picture as well as details of the wedding dress and she really likes the wedding dress. I'm interested in buying this gorgeous wedding dress for her wedding ceremony and we are in a top gear of preparations, Which means buying a wedding dress, is very important to her. She is very okay with the price, size,and the designs. Sending more picture will be awesome. I am satisfied with the amount I saw on the classifed ad website. I would have been happy to travel down for the pickup and take a glance on the wedding dress or pay via paypal, but I'm kind of busy with a project that was awarded to me. and I'm out of home for the past few weeks and some other preparation for the wedding ceremony because I'm a single parent. We both really like the dress and I'll instruct on sending payment via certified united postal money order {which I purchased from the post office}or a certified cashier check . I would had love you to send the dress via a courier service but my daughter insist and she gave an instruction that she wanted someone ! I mean a picker to come for the pick up from your location or a public place of your choice so that the picker can handle it with care and do some other things on the dress with dry cleaning. The Money order that will be sent will include your payment for the wedding dress and for the picker.
After Money orders clear your bank. An agent will be picking the item up from your location. Excess funds for the shipment will be sent to the agent. I'll email her contact to you as soon as you received the payment via FedEx/UPS. How should your name appear on the Money order and what full home address should I mail it to and your phone Number I should be able to contact you, I mean With your valid phone number. Kindly consider the wedding dress sold to me.
Cheers and God Bless
Gordon Maxwell"
Another........
"Hello
How are you doing today and I hope you have removed the ads from the classified website. I will be glad to hear from you.
Gordon."
Another............
"Hello
I am sorry I did not write you. I sent out your payment on Saturday as we have discussed earlier. I hope you can write me back. Here is the tracking number (). I hope to hear from you soonest.
Gordon"
Another.............
"Hello
I want to inform you that the check had been delivered to your house address today via UPS courier service and here is the tracking#() for the check package and you can check it out on www.ups.com. Contact me as soon as you receive the check, once you receive the check please cash it at your bank instantly or you will be ask to deposit the check for 24 hours and come back for the cash the next day, and then you can deduct the money for your item plus extra $50 which is a miscellaneous for you and you are to wire the remaining funds to my shipper via Western Union Transfer, so that she can be able to come and pick up the wedding dress . This fund will be used in off setting the cost of the shipment that as undertaken for me recently and they will be needing a part of that to come over to your place for the pick up. My daughter will be glad to wear the wedding dress.
Below is my shipping agent payment department to wire the remaining balance to via western union money transfer and you can contact her directly here.
[email protected].
Penny Atterton
13671 HWY 28
City: Whit well
State.Tennessee
Zip code..37397
Note: That the western union transfer fee should be deducted from the remaining balance.
As soon as you have fund send out via western union transfer, kindly get back to me with the western union transfer details on the transfer receipt as below so that my mover can schedule for the pickup of my item by tomorrow..
1}.Sender's name and address
2}.MTCN numbers {10 digits}
3}.Amount sent after deducting the transfer fee.
5}.The exact time and location that you will be available for my shipper to come for the pickup of my item at your place by tomorrow.
Please let me know at once if i can trust you to have the excess funds sent to my shipper because I have lots of goods to be picked up for me aside my transaction with you.I will be expecting your email with a confirmation on this issue at once. I will be very much glad to hear from you soon.
Thanks.
Gordon Maxwell"