Got Ripped Off on Craigslist for a Computer

No. The police are NOT going to do a full court press because you got screwed. A forensic analysis of the computer's contents and any modification to the info windows will be expensive as will a forensic examination of the surface (i.e. fingerprints). Your $250 loss would cost them 20 times that, easy.

This sounds like a misdemeanor offense. Though, in TX, it MIGHT be a felony if they can show that the seller intentionally committed fraud. but, proving that would be difficult and not at all a certainty at trial.

So, you can ASK the police if they will investigate. If they will not, you can sue ... but, you have been told how that might turn out. Understand that you cannot force the police to investigate.

In the future, stay away from Craigslist.

I mean the craigslist ad is down, I have no way of knowing his real name or real info or finding anything out, he dissapeared like a ghost:(

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Quoting Agodeveryman321

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I mean the craigslist ad is down, I have no way of knowing his real name or real info or finding anything out, he dissapeared like a ghost:(

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Well, if you didn't have bad luck, you'd have no luck at all.

Chalk it up as an expensive lesson.

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Quoting Agodeveryman321

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I mean the craigslist ad is down, I have no way of knowing his real name or real info or finding anything out, he dissapeared like a ghost:(

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Then it's pretty much over and done with.

Next time, as I and others have suggested, avoid Craigslist. I recommend Best Buy, myself. But, Walmart and Costco both have inexpensive laptops and computers available at low prices as well. With Craigslist - and even eBay - you take your chances. I can't begin to tell you the number of complaints I received over the years from ripped off consumers, first from eBay and then Craigslist as eBay cleaned up its act.

Lesson learned.

With Craigslist, and even eBay and other such sites, there's good chance of inadvertently buying a stolen item, too.

Imagine paying that money and finding out the item is stolen and you have to then surrender it.

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Quoting Agodeveryman321

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I mean the craigslist ad is down, I have no way of knowing his real name or real info or finding anything out, he dissapeared like a ghost:(

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That’s pretty much the end of the line for you on this. You can’t sue him if you don’t know who he is, and the police aren’t going to launch a big investigation to find him over what is a pretty minor thing: a dispute over the computer processor. You paid $250 for it and apparently did get a good working computer after all. As rip offs go, if that's what this was, it’s not a big one. And not worth spending much time or money to try to go after the guy for.