Is this a scam?

[Mamaposaune]

https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/msg/ ... 35929.html

Hoping this CNJ Craigslist link comes through - sounds too good to be true, and maybe it is.
I contacted the seller, turns out he is not in NYC (map shows Manhatten in the area of Central Park, an hour's train ride from me) but in MA. He sent additional pics, as I requested, the horn looks new! (I need to downsize, not add to my collection, but I have been eager to try a horn with a cut bell based on the reviews here on the chat; and I love my Courtois bass.)
There are a few red flags, besides the location.
*He has been pressuring me for payment (I had to insist on PayPal, not zelle like he wanted so he sent me a PayPal address under a different name.)
*I offered to have my son, who travels to the Boston area at times as a member of the USCG, pick it up. When he ignored that several times, only asking when I was going to send payment, he declined saying he was too busy.

At this point I am going to pass. Perhaps someone here who is in the Boston area can do an in-person meet-up and get this horn for a great price.
However, if anyone else is considering purchasing and having it shipped, please be cautious!

[Gfunk]

This definitely seems like a scam. It is a recycled ad for a horn that was posted here and on Facebook. The wording is the exact same and I can guarantee it’s not the same horn, because I picked it up. Glad you backed out, it doesn’t seem to be legit.

[hyperbolica]

There is a similar ad with some of the same text listed in the Poconos (Albrightsville), but with a different listed price. And at that price, it's almost surely a scam. And I see now that Craigslist has flagged the post for removal.

[dbwhitaker]

That definitely sounds like a scam to me. (There are definitely people trying scams that involve offering trombones for sale on craigslist. I had a humorous email exchange with someone who listed a "Marcus Bonna trombone" for sale on craigslist in San Francisco. Of course he was too busy to ever meet in person. The photos he used were taken from someone else's ad.) I would never send money to someone on craigslist that refused to meet me in person and let me see what I was buying. If it was me I would just stop communicating with the "seller".

[Mamaposaune]

Thanks, everyone. I thought this smelled fishy. The only thing that made me pause was that he sent numerous additional pictures, but he probably recycled the same ones from the ad that Gfunk responded to.

[biggiesmalls]

FWIW these types of Craigslist scams are almost always listed in multiple cities across the country.

To confirm a Craigslist scam, go to the aggregation site www.searchtempest.com. and enter search words from the title of the ad in question. Enter your zip code, set distance to "any distance" then click on the individual results for "West" "Central" and "East."

If it's a scam, you will usually see multiples of the same ad posted in various cities across the US. While you're at it, you can flag the scam ads to increase the likelihood that the Craigslist algorithms will remove them.

[Mamaposaune]

Good to know. Thanks, biggiesmalls.

[officermayo]

[biggiesmalls]

Another tip: using Google Lens to search for the photos in the suspect ad on the www will often reveal the original ad the scammer is mimicking (see images).