The paypal one is one of the worst I've seen in a while; it targets people who have probably used paypal a lot to buy things, but little experience as a seller. Since paypal is biased towards the buyer, it creates the impression that as a seller a person is similarly protected.
Check mule scams are still running wild on CL as well. I posted an ad for an appliance for $500- response came less then 2 hours after the post, never tried to haggle with price, always referred to what I was selling as "the item," asked to immediately remove the listing (so I wouldn't get another similar mail from another scammer) because he was serious about buying.
2 really long emails about how he would first send certified cashier's check and wait till it cleared, then he would have someone come pick up "the item."
What was going to happen is I would get a forged check for way over $500, he would wait till I said something, or otherwise would notify me about a "clerical error" and direct me to deposit the check and return the difference. The "movers" would be a fake shipping company probably on the Ivory Coast who would send me a mail on their own and get me to ship "the item" through a legit freight carrier to a port in the U.S. where they would supposedly pick it up from there. Then I would get another frantic email about how the shippers would only take cash and to send them some money. Since I hadn't returned the difference yet, just use some of that money to send to somewhere in W. Africa via MoneyGram...
I just replied, "cash only, local pickup," and never heard from him again, although I have a good feeling this fucker flagged my ad after the fact.
