Teens caught for phony Craigslist Porsche scam
It used to be that kids did the darndest things. Lately, a lot of kids seem to be more into wacked-out-WTF things, like a 17-year-old Manhattan high-schooler in Long Island, NY who was the ringleader in a scam created to rob folks looking to buy a Porsche.
The scam was quite simple and took advantage of folks looking for the too-good-to-be-true. The ringleader would post an ad on craigslist for a used Porsche -- in one case for a 2002 Porsche Turbo for $50,000 OBO, in another case it was for a 2005 Carrera GT that the "owner" had simply "gotten too old for." The siren-goes-off part of the ads was when the owner requested that potential buyers bring $22,000 for the down payment on the car.
Turns out that folks did show up with cash in their pockets. Upon arrival, they were set upon by six male teens who tried to rob them of whatever they had. The most the teen crooks were able to get at one time was $4,000 from one couple. On another occasion, two gentlemen apparently did show up with $22,000, but only lost $50 before they were able to get away. The perps have all been caught, but next time you see an ad for a car that seems like a steal, ask a lot of questions and leave the $22,000 at home. Thanks for the tip, Kenny!
[Source: Gothamist]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
stealth 10:01AM (1/11/2008)
get owned!
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carguy 10:02AM (1/11/2008)
A scam on Craigslist? Say it ain't so!
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carguy 10:02AM (1/11/2008)
A scam on Craigslist? Say it aint so!
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Jeff 10:09AM (1/11/2008)
That's a real good way for the "youths" to end up with bullets in their chests. They were VERY lucky they didn't try to rob the wrong person. They well could have ended up dead.
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John 10:30AM (1/11/2008)
Might not have been such a bad result...
Jeff Johnson 10:52AM (1/11/2008)
agreed with the first Jeff - even if the deal was legitimate and I was walking around with $22K on myself I would have one hand in my pocket on the money, and the other hand on my SigPro .40
Thats the great thing about texas - we love guns (legal and responsible owners that is) is that you never know who is packing, or if a homeowner has them for self defense. I would have no problem shooting a bunch of teenagers (or anyone) that were "smart" enough to try to pull something like this on me. Is getting a couple of bucks worth a few hollow points to the chest?
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Mr. Oak 11:02AM (1/11/2008)
That's the thing about New York, less that 10% of all the guns here are legal, and most of that 10% is carried by cops.
Thanks to you law abiding folks from the south and west, who legally buy guns in the south and illegally sell them on the street up here.
Takeo 11:25AM (1/11/2008)
Yeah that's one of the very relevant (at least for me) downsides of living in the Democratic People's Republic of Kalifornia. Concealed carry is nearly impossible to get. I'd have a few +P .45 Hollowpoints ready for them.
Still though, a knife against 6 teenagers could still do major damage if wielded properly.
Just goes to show you, you get what you pay for.
Tod 11:57AM (1/11/2008)
Yep it makes me very sad that people in NYC are unable to legally arm themselves to protect themselves and their property. It just goes to show you that when guns are illegal, only criminals will carry them. A person with a legal carry permit is less likely to kill someone than some random guy without any gun education. It makes me sad that people in NYC are not free anymore, but are slaves to the cops and the criminals.
Tod 11:58AM (1/11/2008)
Yep it makes me very sad that people in NYC are unable to legally arm themselves to protect themselves and their property. It just goes to show you that when guns are illegal, only criminals will carry them. A person with a legal carry permit is less likely to kill someone than some random guy without any gun education. It makes me sad that people in NYC are not free anymore, but are slaves to the cops and the criminals.
Greg 11:36AM (1/11/2008)
A scam on Craigslist, incidentally related to a car, is enough to get a writeup? Come on, lets see some real news.
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R 1:46PM (1/11/2008)
If you see a CL ad that asks for a $22,000 cash down payment, you should probably avoid it.
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Matt Keller 3:04PM (1/11/2008)
They were probably from Queens. :P
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asli ozcan 3:14PM (1/11/2008)
one of the robberies happened in my town haha
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Kriegar 12:14AM (1/12/2008)
Thank god for the states left with some intelligence.
If only NYS could borrow some, perhaps we wouldn't be so owned by the cops and the criminals. More gun laws= more gun crime.
Isn't it something that a law had to be specifically written up in Florida, saying that if you are where you can legally be, doing what you can legally do, you have a legal righ to defend yourself from attack by criminals?
New York needs to borrow a page from that book, that's for sure!
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Kriegar 12:14AM (1/12/2008)
Thank god for the states left with some intelligence.
If only NYS could borrow some, perhaps we wouldn't be so owned by the cops and the criminals. More gun laws= more gun crime.
Isn't it something that a law had to be specifically written up in Florida, saying that if you are where you can legally be, doing what you can legally do, you have a legal righ to defend yourself from attack by criminals?
New York needs to borrow a page from that book, that's for sure!
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Hooper 6:16PM (1/11/2008)
"a 17-year-old Manhattan high-schooler in Long Island, NY who was the ringleader in a scam"
First of all, Manhattan isn't on Long Island. Second of all, the seventeen-year-old mentioned in the Gothamist item lives in Maspeth, which is in Queens, not Manhattan.
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