In the past month I fell victim to internet fraud via craigslist. Yes, I know, I was very stupid for doing so and should have read the FAQ posted there and used common sense..I've been buying and selling things online for many many years so I guess sometimes these scammers get the best of us. However, this case has become interesting so I thought I'd post it and see what I should do and if anyone has any advice..

To sum up the events:
I "purchased" an item off of craigslist from a man by the name of Jeff. I have never used craigslist in the past and had not read any of the warnings that said NEVER SEND VIA WESTERN UNION...so guess what he recommended me sending it through? Western Union. The item was only $150 and I asked for proof..such as photo with my name printed on it..etc..but he said he was ordering the item from another company so couldn't show me. I straight up told him I was suspicious and was a college student and didn't want to get ripped off..but he assured me he was legit..well...
I sent the money..came out to a bit more after western union charges. Guess what "jeff" responded back with? He wanted $80 more, told me shipping was more than expected. I told him no. He told me he couldn't send my item nor give me a refund due to him already using the money to purchase the item. It was at that point I was sure I had been scammed. I emailed western union, craigslist (they took down the auction as a "scam"), and reported it to I believe the FTC. No response from any of them. Then from our email conversations..and there were MANY..I got his Ip address from the header (he used a hotmail.com account and they have the ip embedded in a certain line). I traced it and guess what...spain. Found the ISP, emailed them the ip, told them criminal activity from that ip...no response. Not a word or auto-response or anything. I had given up on it all and wrote it off in my mind as a lost cause.

But this past wed I got an email asked me if i wanted my money back. I responded that I was in shock to hear from him and never expected to see my money again..he responded I'd see it if i worked with him. It was then that I told him no and could never make a living stealing from people..haven't heard back since.

So my question is:
1) Is there anything I can do? I have his IP address, so that means internet service provider too. But he's in spain...
But this is a criminal who has scammed people and seems like he will scam many more, and is actively searching for people to join his team. I feel like all the money stolen from me will be a loss unless we can get someone..some justice brought against him...

2) Is there any chance I will ever see my money again? I'm sure thats dependent upon question 1...

Thanks to anyone who has read this far and hope to get some responses =)

Dear jimmybob479

Thank you for the info and welcome to 419Legal.

Sorry to hear you fell for the scam.

Regret to tell but your money is gone and once it’s in scammer's possession, we can do nothing.
As you are well aware, when an unknown person sends you an email to have you retrieve the money, it IS another scam!!!

You could file a complaint with IC3 shown as below link. However usually you can not expect any replies from them.
Internet Crime Complaint Ceter (IC3) | Home

With regard to the IP address, as far as I know most of ISPs only reveal registrants info under the authorities' order or permission.
So again regret to tell but we have to give up to locate the sender.

For 419Legal forum, could you post some of your email received with fullheaders (minus your email address and name)
and any other info they gave you like address or phone number. (Please click here to post)
Sometimes others will do google search (or any other search engines) this info,
and if you have it posted on here they can find it and know that it is a scam.
Thank you for your cooperation and burden.

Other members in this forum would reply to you if they had more info about other ways how to locate the scammers.

Awareriskinc

[size=2]our company torch mainly produce SPAMMERS

@ reflowchina, As you keep posting this, it must mean that they are a fraud company and so people should NOT deal with them!

You must be aware that this forum is NOT for SPAMMING and so the company 'reflow' must be a bad company as you keep on posting in this forum about them ?

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Are you yet spamming this forum with the advertisement or doing a negative campaign to the company you refer to????
A quick search on Google shows 2,940 items poping up with your email address listed here
and visiting them, many of Forums, Blogs Site and/or Social Portal Sites have already banned you or delete your post or ignore you.
Do you want to have us take necessary counter actions against you????