A reader who said she placed a furniture-for-sale notice in the American Press classified section wrote to The Informer on Sunday to say that her ad had attracted the attention of some sketchy people and to pass on a warning to others about a scam.

“I have an ad and have received multiple texts from two different people (or two different phone numbers and area codes) asking to negotiate and especially wanting my name, address, and email address.

“They both claim to be hearing impaired, cannot receive calls as I have tried to call their number, and want emails and picture of furniture, and even talk lowest price,” the reader wrote.

“The first number was from a Florida area code, but after a few back and forth texts said they lived in Texas but could not come and look at the furniture as they traveled through the states for work. This person wanted to send me a certified (?) check and send a private freight truck with the reimbursement of the charges included in the check. I stopped texting that number.

“Today, Sunday, I received another text from a person with an area code from Indiana, claiming to be hearing impaired also. I stopped returning texts. I would hate to see other, more trusting people get scammed because of these pathetic humans, so I wanted to alert someone.”

Scammers purporting to be hearing impaired have over the last few years repeatedly mined online classified listings, including newspapers and Craigslist, to target consumers nationwide.

How to avoid becoming a victim of classified ad scammers:

Deal only with locals; make face-to-face deals.

Don’t accept checks that exceed the agreed-to selling price.

Don’t take money orders or cashiers’ checks.

Verify checks with the issuing financial institution.

Don’t spend on a buyer’s check until your bank verifies that the funds exist.

Confirm potential buyers’ names, addresses and phone numbers.

Don’t wire money back to buyers.

The top 10 scams for 2015, as listed by the Better Business Bureau:

1. Tax scam: You owe money to the government and you’re going to be arrested if you don’t pay now.

2. Debt collection scam: You owe money for an old debt and you’ll be sued if you don’t pay now.

3. Sweepstakes/prizes/gifts scam: You’ve won a prize and all you have to do is prepay the taxes.

4. Tech support scam: You have a computer problem but we’re from tech support and we can help.

5. Government grant scam: You qualified for a government grant; just send the processing fee first.

6. Advance fee loan scam: You’ve gotten the loan but first you need to pay a deposit or insurance.

7. Credit card scam: You can get a better interest rate; just tell us your credit card number and security code.

8. Work from home scam: You got the job, now just give us a ton of personally identifiable information.

9. Fake check/money order scam: We overpaid you, but just send us the difference (and later the check will bounce).

10. Lottery scam: You won a foreign lottery, but you have to pay upfront for taxes and fees.

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Online: www.bbb.org/top10scams.

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The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.