Received a text from a John Ruben ( 936-298-7950 ) inquiring about an item I have posted on craigslist. Requested that I contact him jruben001@gmail.com vs texting. His email stated that he was buying the item for his father for Christmas. Wanted to set up a Pay-Pal transaction and he would arrange for shipping. I replied back  with cash only and he replied mentioning how safe the pay-pal was for the seller & buyer. Leads me to believe he is a scammer. Therefore, I done more investigating via google and found others with related information. .

I just received a text message from (802) 281-4345 about my car for sale listed on Cars.com asking for me to email him (John) at jruben001@gmail.com.  After reading your post, I will not be responding to this scammer at all. Thank you for your post!

I posted my motorcycle on cycletrader.com tonight and I heard from John Ruben about an hour later. He has the same email address and phone number (802) 281-4345 as in your responses. He is eager for my PayPal info and doesn't care about test driving it etc... Here are some of his emails to me:

T o my question: "Don't you want to test drive it 1st?"

"I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up My private courier agent will come for the pick up and sign all necessary documents on my behalf after the payment have been made as they will also be coming with all the information needed, my details and transferring the name of ownership to me will be done by the pick up agent so you don't have to worry about that"

Asking if I still had the bike:
" Thanks I'm just asking about it to make sure its in good condition as im buying it for my son as a birthday surprise gift and he doesn't know about it, so can you assure me i will not be disappointed? also no shipment involved as i have a mover that will come for it. Im okay with the price and condition , I can only pay you via one of the fastest and secure way to pay online (PayPal).. Do you have a PayPal account? Let me know asap so i can arrange the payment through PayPal. my shipper will be coming to pick it up as soon as the payment clears into your account ."

This guy is an obvious scammer but I'm not sure what the scam is.

I got the exact email about it being his son's birthday surprise.