It was only last night that I became aware of my nephew corresponding with a craigslist seller who had listed a used vehicle for sale.

Although it was listed in the Houston postings and location listed as such, it was through a series of e-mails over the past few days that the seller stated the vehicle was actually located in Georgia. They wanted to use "ebay Vehicle Protection Program" that would have my nephew send a Western Union payment of $3500 to an agent who would hold the funds.

My nephew was to have a 5 - 10 day trial period after which he would state whether or not he was satisfied with the vehicle. He could then have the "agent" release the funds to the seller.

He stated that he felt the deal seemed a bit too good to be true. It was a 2001 Cadillac with low mileage and in great condition.

I'm glad I was able to intervene as he was about to wire the $$$ today.

Details of the scam procedure are here:

http://theautoprophet.blogspot.com/2...tors-scam.html

I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time they have tried this and may have suckered some people into sending them money.

My nephew still has the original e-mails and "ebay Vehicle Protection Program" correspondences.

I should have him FFWD it all to the proper authorities although I don't know what they could do.

My nephew is age 20 and he sent them his contact info and he received this "agent's" info in return and he wanted to have them call (he gave his cell phone #), they kept communication thru e-mail. He never spoke with a live person (phone call) throughout.

=TOTAL SCAM!!!!

This is really a very, very old scam. Craigslist has had it posted on their site for years but it's good you caught it. Pretty much anything to do with Western Union is a scam as someone in Nigeria or any other country can pickup money if they know the correct numbers.

your nephew is kind of a dolt, huh?

Unfortunately there are enough dolts around to keep this scam in existence.

Damn. I delete, like, 20 of these emails daily.

That's not a very expensive lesson at 20, IMO. You should have videotaped it and put it on youtube. Or at least changed the numbers to your own account.