About escrow fraud, pretending to be from Yahoo Real Estate?

Question

I have seen a few older questions about emails supposedly from Yahoo, instructing buyers/tenants to MoneyGram a deposit to a Yahoo Agent to be held for the seller/landlord. I want to let people know that I've encountered this and though I didn't go through with it I'm almost positive it's a scam. The tip off is that the "Agent" is just an individual name, w/ no info except mailing address. You don't send money to Yahoo, or a bank, or a law office, or anything official or trackable. Another clue: go to the Yahoo Real Estate website (my email was supposedly from them) and you won't find anything about escrow service. Please see the Internet Crime Complaint Center www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx, as well as www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
My question is, why doesn't Yahoo post a warning about this scam since people have been asking about it? I asked them through their Contact Us form if the email was legit; they haven't answered. But they know it's a big problem they should address.

I was not suggesting that Yahoo should monitor this User forum, but I'm sure that other people have contacted them directly, as I did, about the fact that someone is sending fraudulent emails in their name. Since they are aware that scammers are claiming to be with Yahoo Real Estate, it would be nice for them to have a warning in their own help section, along with their other tips and instructions. Yes, it's great that I could find the info I needed on craigslist and ICC so that I didn't lose money, but I had to google it myself instead of having Yahoo providing the warning. The point is that abuse _has_ been reported to them, but they are still not mentioning it.

Regardless, my real purpose was to alert others that the emails "from" Yahoo are fraudulent, because I didn't see any firm conclusion in previous forums. I just threw in the question at the end in case I had to.

Answer 1

People NEED to be aware of things that are out there and if you get anything form someone representing a company with a hotmail, yahoo, msn etc DO not send them money etc - Most ligit businesses have a username@business name.com for instance [e-mail] Know what I mean......Buyers/Sellers/Everyday ppl need to report them and also forward the mail to the US Attorney office in your state. You can do a word search of State Attorney General and go to that web site and copy and paste the e-mail address into your e-mail that you got and forward it on to the attorny general. Even the local FBI - And I believe Yahoo is understaffed for all the corruptness that is on line...

Answer 2

If you have received a solicitation from a suspicious source, you can report it to the ICC directly; there is a form on that website, and to Yahoo Customer Care. How, and if either of those agencies act on the complaint is at their discretion, and they often do not report back to complaintants on any actions taken in their investigation.

The Answers! forum is not intended to be a place where Yahoo itself posts, but for users to answer other users. At the bottom of every Answers page, there is a disclaimer: "Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content." Click here for the Full Disclaimer. http://answers.yahoo.com/info/disclaimer

As such, this section is mostly self-policed - if you see a user posting advertisements or other "prohibited" content, there is a 'REPORT ABUSE" button you can use to alert Yahoo that there is a problem so they can review and address the issue.

However, I do think the disclaimer should be more prominent. I doubt many people read it, or pay much attention.

Answer 3

Okay... I still fail to see the need for seperate sections, but whatever Fav punk drummer? can I use a post-punk drummer, cause if so, Stephen Morris of Joy Division/New Order. If not Topper Headon.

Answer 4

On craigslist they have big postings all over the place.

Advance loan scam are the rage on YA, also.