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How to Spot a Scam

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Beware of Chris Marcus

Chris Marcus has emerged as a scam artist and we are actively seeking his email. If you have been contacted by him, please leave his email address in the comments section. Thanks again to the poster for forwarding the info.

I received the same identical email from "Chris Marcus" on my posting. No one should accept cashiers checks or money orders. There are too many stolen ones out there... Here's what I received:

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the checkHave a great dayI look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I received a response from Chris Marcus. The email address he gave me was

chrismarcus11@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me. Same email address and virtually the same email text.

Anonymous said...

This was my first time on Craigslist and I can't believe this is already a problem! Does this mean I'm scammed? Here is the email I received: Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris And his email is: chrismarcus75@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

got the exact email response.
His address:
chrismarcus11@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi...I didn't realize it was scam till today and I sent him my info. What should I do?

Anonymous said...

Just received this email from Chris Marcus (chris marcus (chrismarcus75@gmail.com) for an ad I placed yesterday on Craigslist . . .

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris

Unknown said...

chrismarc007@gmail.com is the one i got!

Anonymous said...

FROM CHRISMARCUS75@GMAIL.COM on 12/17/08

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris

Anonymous said...

Has anyone had any problems with their bank accounts or anything as of yet? i just received something from him earlier this week as well. now that he has my information, what do you think he will be doing with it?

This is the email I have, same as yours: chrismarcus11@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I would like someone to please let me know what I should do to report him. I am concerned that someone now has my phone number, address, and full name. Is this identity theft?

Anonymous said...

I received two emails from this Chris Marcus as well... first one was from chrismarc002@gmail.com and said...

"Hi,is the above item still available for sale in good condition?"

... I replied back to the first email he replied back again, but with a different email (chrismarcus11@gmail.com) and said...

"Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris"

I hope that helps.

Anonymous said...

I recieved the same response. I'm "playing" along with him (without my real name of course).

These are the current two email addresses he used:

chrismarcus11@gmail.com

chrismarc0013@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I just got screwed by the same guy.
I had money sent to the Bronx NY for that tricky little dick. This was his last email address: chrismarcus75@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

He sent me a check and now I m not sure if I should cash it or not... Need some advise pls

Ken Xu said...

chrismarc005@gmail.com
chrismarcus75@gmail.com

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again

Anonymous said...

I recd mails from 2 different ids.

chrismarc0018@gmail.com
chrismarcus11@gmail.com

Beware of him.

Anonymous said...

I think I found his real name and address:

Tolu Phillips
220 Barley Cir
Crittenden, KY 41030-8750

I found that on the express USPS shipping label. address seems to be real on the googlemap.

BAd check is from M&T bank 255 East Ave Rochester, NY 14604

He claimed his company is Energetix Inc
755 Brooks Ave
Rochester NY 14619

Anonymous said...

Just received an email from this guy: chrismarc0013@gmail.com.

He's not the smartest crook out there. Why keep the name the same?

Lisa Garces said...

chrismarcus13@gmail.com

This is the email I got the message from earlier today

Anonymous said...

I've been contacted by this Chris Marcus as well. he used the E-mail: chrismarcus13@gmail.com each time.... after i received my high check in the mail i looked him up and found this website. I also received this E-mail from him after the check came in the mail.....

Good morning,
the payment has been delivered to your residence this morning,do have the check cashed at your bank,remove money for the item bougth and for taking the advert off the web.The excess fund should please be sent to my mover via western union money transfer. As soon as my mover receive the details of the transfer he will be coming over for the pick up at your place.
This is all the necessary details you will need to send the excess funds to the mover via western union.
Names: Alberto Corona
City:Pflugerville
State:TX
Zipcode:7866

You will also have to deduct the western union charges from the excess funds and $20 for your running around expenses you will be sending to the mover.

Afterward i will require the following information from you........
1. The MTCN number that is the 10 digits number on the western union receipt
2. Sender 's name and address used in sending the money
3. Actual amount sent.
Thanks for your concern,
Regards,
Chris Marcus

Anonymous said...

Add Chrismarcus14@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I have a new one to add to your list based upon post for furniture:
judgemike16@gmail.com

This was my second scammer in a week!

"Thanks for the mail , i'm okay with the price , and i am comfortable
with the picture i saw. I will be making the payment via check, so i
will need your full name that will be on the check and your full
address with your phone # where you can easily receive the package via
courier and i will arrange for the pickup myself.

NOTE ....And also the payment i will be sending will be in excess
inwhich you will give to the cargo company when they contact you for
the pickup.All you need to do is to faithfully deduct your own money
as soon as you have the cash athand and send the remaining to the
cargo company through WesternUnion Money Transfer for them to come for
the pickup.please get back to me if you are okay with this and i will
implore you to remove the ads off craigslist because i really want to
purchase this asap."

Anonymous said...

same scam; latest email addy
craigmark01@gmail.com

I got a $2100 check for a $100 listed item(filing cabinet) In the followup email he said Alberto Corona,
his "mover" would pick up the SOFA after I wired the excess funds.

The check was from Hoboken Wood Flooring LLC with a bogus address and a bad Wachovia routing number.

Rule of thumb. If the check cashing place won't take it, why should you?

Unknown said...

chrismarcus13@gmail.com>


Reply

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20dolls for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,and it will be over night payment .You don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
i will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris

Unknown said...

Hi,

I just got 2 emails from this guy Chris Marcus. Same email as he sent to everyone. OMG!! thanks for this Blog.

Anonymous said...

Chrismarcus13@gmail.com is the one I got today

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I received the exact e-mail as everyone else. I am shocked. I was getting ready to reply back to him with my information and I asked my daughter to google his name which led me to this blog. I just received his e-mail today. I had a dining room table on craigs list. He emailed me from:
chrismarcus133@gmail.com
Has he been reported and is he being investigated? I am so glad I found out before I replied back to him.

Anonymous said...

Just got the same message. What a smart guy to think people wouldn't start catching on. His address is now chrismarcus9@gmail.com
I hope some one catches this guy!

Anonymous said...

Hi Everyone,

I received the first email that everyone has listed. It was sent from chrismarcus9@gmail.com. You think he would at least change his name? I fell for the first one and the second e-mail was below which on other blogs I have seen he has done the same one....


"Hello,
This is to notify you that your payment has been issued out and you will have it tomorrow,but there was a slight error i guess we can handle with care which do occur, instead of the actual amount for the item,my secretary made out the check for $1750 she claim that was what i requested but she didn't get that straight.

So once you have the check please cash it at your bank and deduct the money for your goods plus $20 for taking down the advert.

The excess fund should please be sent to my mover via western union money transfer,this fund will be use in offsetting the cost of the shipment he as undertaken for me recently.

My movers information to send the excess funds will be provided as soon as you have the payment cashed.
Thanks for understanding

I BELIEVE I CAN TRUST YOU IN TAKING CARE OF THIS
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris"

Unknown said...

The exact same thing just happened to me. I have not yet received his check, however, I am glad my husband suggested I google his name. the e-mail I have is chrismarcus14@gmail.com.

Anonymous said...

Got one...

chrismarcus9@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I received the same response from Chris Marcus. Email address chrismarcus12@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Similar message

judgemike16@gmail.com

Thanks for the mail,am okay with the price and will like to tell you that am paying via money order or cashiers check and also make arrangement with the shiping company for the pick up.i will like you to get back to me with your full names and address for me to mail out the payment to you.

PLEASE NOTE......The payment i will be sending will be of excess this you will give to the shiping company for the pick up when they contact you.all you need to do is to get the money verified and faithfully deduct your own money and send the balance to the shipping company through western union.The shiping company will contact you as soon as you receive the payment.please let me know if this sounds good to you.i will be waiting to read from you soon.And the payment will get to you as soon as possible.

Anonymous said...

another scammer: Massimo Morrati
talk2massimo@gmail.com

Todd Anglin said...

Great resource! Saved me from sending any info to this scammer. My scam email came from chrismarcus11@gmail.com. Here was my reply to our friend Chris:

Hello again Chris-

Unfortunately, it appears you are a scam: http://clscambuster.blogspot.com/2008/11/beware-of-chris-marcus.html

As you can understand, I will not be doing business with you. Best of luck with your future endeavors.

-Todd

eatdiscord said...

He's going by Alberto Corona now.

alberto.corona222@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad I Google'd his name. I got the same e-mail as everyone else. This was my 1st posting on Criag's List and the transaction wasn't going as I had expected. ("I don't have time to come look at the sofa. I'll just send a check via courier" etc.) Something seemed fishy. I'm just disappointed because I thought I had sold my sofa! And for $20 more than I was asking! Oh, well. Back to square one. Thanks so much for this web site!

Unknown said...

Why is this idiot still going by Chris Marcus? I received the same email, he used two email addresses:

chrismarcus020@gmail.com
chrismarcus12@gmail.com

I google pretty much everything and everyone so thankfully came across this blog. Good job guys!

Minxy Gamine said...

chrismarc001@gmail.com

Just got an email from that address this evening.

Anonymous said...

I received the same email. Glad I googled "Alberto Corona furniture".

Here's the email address: alberto.corona01@gmail.com

The email:
Hi,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will love to make an instant purchase,so please do withdraw the advert from Craigslist.I dont mind adding an extra $50 dollars for you to take the advert down from criagslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I will also like you to know that i will be paying via cashiers check,and it will be an over night payment due to the distance .You dont need to bother your self with the shippment ok,I will take care of
that.So I will need you to provide me with the following information to
facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name.
2.Your mailing address,must be residential
3..Your phone number.
**Once again ,I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping.
I will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check**
Do Have a nice day,
My Warmest Regard
Alberto Corona

Anonymous said...

Here's what I got from him (at chrismarc009@gmail.com):


Hello,
i will like to know if the above item is still available for sale.

I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris

wrong girl said...

On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 2:18 PM, chris marcus wrote:


Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20 for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,you don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address
3.Your phone number.
I will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a great day
Chris

You are not that bright Chris. Why would anyone offer me more money than I was asking for and then tell me that they are paying by check? To anyone who is using Craigs List, rule of thumb, cash only and item must be picked up. This is not ebay and people are not tracked or rated. Protect yourselves!! Chris, how you are not behind bars yet is beyond me. I will be contacting the FBI now. I suggest that everyone on this website do the same. Chris has been in action for over a year now. Why?? New email Chrismarcus024@gmail.com

-Amy

Anonymous said...

chrismarc002@gmail.com

Something smelled wrong about his response because I got TWO emails from him minutes apart that said:

--
Hello,
i will like to know if the above item is still available for sale.

I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you again
Chris

Email is chris marc [mailto:chrismarc002@gmail.com]


***Instead of just blogging about it (which does help since I found this with Google)... why don't ALL OF US file a police report and get the FBI on his ass.

Set him up. PRETEND to play the game - do a sting operation.

Guys like him need their balls in a sling.

Anonymous said...

Newest email: chrismarcus024@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Thank God for this blog! Don't get me wrong, I'm not stupid and would have called the bank on the check before I even thought about cashing it. I received the same EXACT emails as everyone above. I told him to call me to discuss and did Not give him my personal information. It seemed very odd that he didn't want to come see my chairs that I have for sale.

I'm sure I won't be getting a phone call from him and he WON'T be scamming me today!

The loser used chrismarcus024@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Chris Marcus contacted me today with the same story. His email is chrismarcus006 (1st message) and chrismarcus020 (2nd message).

Anonymous said...

Just got the same e-mail from chrismarcus020@gmail.com. Thought it was fishy, so I thought I'd check it out.

Thanks for posting this information!

Anonymous said...

This one was from judgemike16@gmail.com
This person is a real POS dirtbag.

I appreciate your prompt response towards my enquiries. This is to inform you that am pleased with the pics and willing to pay the asking price for this item. I'll be making payment for this item via check, so you'll need to provide me with details in which the check can be mailout to. Details should include: your full name, visible home or office address where you can easily recieve package via courier service and phone #.
N:B Am responsible for the pickup arrangement, thereby i'll be sending you an excess payment which will cover the shipping cost but all required of you after recieving the payment is to deduct the amount for the item then you send the remaining balance to the mover via westernunion money transfer/moneygramm in cash, then they come for the pickup there after. Let me know if you're satisfied with this arrangement. if you're, i will implore you to take off the ads on craigslist and consider we have a deal on. Regards

SCAMMER

Anonymous said...

I received this initial email;
Hello,
i need to know if the item is still available for sale?

Chris
from - Anthony Romero" Add sender to Contacts

After my response, i received;

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20 for you to take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I will be paying via cashier's check,you don't need to bother your self with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address
3.Your phone number.
I will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check
Have a blessed day
Chris

from email - chris marcus" <chrismarcus020@gmail.com

obviously this sounds like a scam.

Anonymous said...

He's at it again. Received similar emails and said he would send a check after providing info. Emails he used were:

chrismarc004@gmail.com
chrismarc009@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I have a man calling himself Marcus Jones requesting money and wanting me to take a cashiers check. Says his assistant accidently paid me to much for the chair and if i could wire him back the over payment.

Anonymous said...

fromchris marc chrismarc004@gmail.com

dateTue, Aug 9, 2011 at 10:36 AM
subjectRe: black leather sofas/couches/loveseats - $300 (Bunkerhill)
mailed-bygmail.com
signed-bygmail.com
Important mainly because it was sent directly to you.

hide details 10:36 AM (12 minutes ago)


Hello,
Thanks for the prompt response and i will like you to withdraw the
advert from Craigslist,i don't mind adding an extra $20 for you to
take the advert down from craigslist so that i can be rest assured
that am in hand of the item.I don't have time to come take a look. I
will be paying via cashier's check,you don't need to bother your self
with the shipment Ok,i will take care of that.So i will need you to
provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of
the check.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address
3.Your phone number.
I will have my mover come over as soon as you have the check

Have a blessed day