Make sure you are really on Craigslist!

 

CONSUMER ALERT!

Education is best way to fight scams

Craigslist is a great service but if you deal with people you aren't meeting face to face you risk getting scammed by counterfeit check fraud and money order scams.


Craigslist is a great resource for selling things, finding apartments, locating services and meeting people. Most of the time transactions go smoothly and both seller and buyer are satisfied with the Craigslist experience. Danger awaits the unwary buyer or seller on Craigslist. Most these scams follow the same pattern you see on eBay and other online auction sites. Try posting that you have a piece of jewelry or some other easily-mailed valuable item for sale and the first response you get will probably be someone trying scam or trick you out of your money.

Nigerian Scams are just the beginning

Emails from Nigeria offering you more than your selling price if you accept their check or money order are typical. The fact that this is a scam may seem obvious but there are lots of variations on this theme that fool people every day. Don't add your name to the growing list of Craigslist fraud victims. Be smart, be aware and if in doubt ask your friends or someone with internet savvy what they think if things sound fishy. This page details a few common Craigslist scam but no list is ever complete because new versions of old scams appear all the time. Once you know the common themes these criminals use you can usually spot them a mile away and they become little more than a subject of amusement.


To help avoid these scams Craigslist suggests that you keep all transactions local and don't do business with people that live beyond your local area. You are also urged to use caution and common sense as you should with all online financial transactions. I once received an offer for a purchase where the person said they lived in California but requested that I email the item to somewhere in Oregon. Now what's wrong with this picture? Offering more than what you asked for is another odd piece of behavior. Who would make such an offer? Poor grammar and misspelled words are other clues. In the offer I mentioned earlier both Oregon and California were misspelled and English was obviously not their native language. It seems easy enough to spot these doesn't it? Yet why do so many people fall for these Craigslist scams?


Craigslist also give the following tips to anyone using their service:

* Trust your instincts
* Deal only with local buyers and sellers
* NEVER wire funds to a distant buyer, via Western Union or any other carrier
* Be wary if the other party wants to use an escrow service such as BidPay, Squaretrade, or even PayPal
* NEVER give out personal financial information (eBay or PayPal info, checking account number, SSN, etc.)
* always remember the most important rule -- BUYER BEWARE


This advice applies to online services other than Craigslist. There are three patterns that most Craigslist scams follow:

* The buyer or seller lives beyond your local area
* The buyer or seller offers to complete the transaction with a cashier's check, U.S. Postal Service money order, Western Union, or escrow service (BidPay, Squaretrade, etc.)
* Offers to meet face-to-face to complete transactions are refused


If you happen to see an item posted for sale on Craigslist that you think may be part of a scam you should send an email to "abuse@craigslist.org" and give them as much detail as you can about the listing. Make sure you include URL (or 8 digit post ID number) in your email.

Make sure you are really on Craigslist!

There some sites out there that attempt to capitalize on Craigslist's success. Some have similar domain names and the owner's hope that you will make mistake while typing in the URL and end up on their site instead of the one you intended. Sometimes you will find nothing more than advertising but a couple of these imposters are phishing scams with layouts that duplicate the real Craigslist to fool you. The real web address for Craigslist is www.craigslist.org although the www in the URL can usually be replaced with the name of the city you whose listings you wish to explore. If you go to the main address I just listed you will be able to find the local listings you're interested. Just make sure that you haven't ended up at www.craigslist.com or www.craiglist.org or some other common misspelling of the Craigslist domain. You'd be surprised at how many people type in the wrong URL and end up somewhere they didn't mean to. That's why snatching up these domains can be so lucrative. So remember, when you are looking for Craigslist don't type in craig list or craigs list or craiglist because you want to be sure you're at the right place. People often fail to realize their mistake immediately so pay attention to any clues telling you that something is "phishy" about the site. If there's any doubt, go back and re-type the URL or do a Google search for "Craigslist" to be sure.


Craigslist's New York apartment classifieds are a con artist favorite

Fraud in New York City's Craigslist classifieds has become so pervasive that Craigslist has considered charging a fee for its ads. Their hope is that by putting a charge in place, they will discourage phony listings. Most of these fraudulent postings are common bait and switch schemes. However, some of the cases reported involved more elaborate schemes run by professional criminals. These scam artists have managed to bilk apartment seekers for thousands of dollars. Everyone knows how competitive the New York apartment market is, with too many people looking for far too few apartments. Some bold con artists have capitalized on this situation and used it to their advantage. In one of the worst cases we found a woman who promised a small studio apartment to several dozen different people. She collected enough money from each hopeful tenant in the form of rent and security deposits to make off with over $60,000. This may not be the most common apartment scam on Craigslist but it's not unique. People sub-renting the same apartment to multiple people and making off with their money are numerous enough that anyone using Craigslist or any other online service should thoroughly check out their landlord before handing over their money.


Phony Money Orders and Bad Check Scams on Craigslist

There are some things that should immediately raise red flags for anyone buying or selling on Craigslist. A few of these are buyers wanting to pay by money order, the buyers is from another country or continent such as Nigeria in Africa, the inclusion of "business partners" in what should be a relatively simple sale and finally over-complicated payment and shipping processes which end up with you shipping the item for sale first and them paying later. There are many variations on this theme and many will involve official looking packing slips and money orders or checks from institutions you trust such as Western Union. Many times the wording of the emails sent to you will seem odd and the grammar poor. That's because they are little more than form letters with terms and language designed to suck you in, confuse you or put you at ease with what is nothing more than an old fashioned Nigerian 419 scam. Sometimes you will actually receive a money order first but make sure the money order clears at the bank before you send anything! These money orders will often bounce or be counterfeits and if you ship your goods to the buyer right after you drop the payment you received off at the bank you may be in for a rude surprise. If someone wants what you are selling so badly that they want it shipped halfway around the world then they can probably wait a few more days for it to be shipped. Don't be swayed by threats if the buyer starts using them on you. Insuring that someone's payment is valid is quite fair. Most reasonable people will understand this. So if the person wanting to purchase something from you appears too demanding you should wonder if it's because your savvy is ruining their crime. This is not necessarily the case because some people are just impatient or rude. Most people would rather weather a few rude emails than get ripped off.


Phony Escrow Service Site Scams on Craigslist

This popular Craigslist scam will work a lot like the bad check and counterfeit money order scams now rampant on Craigslist with a few minor twists. What makes this scam different is that the person running the scam is selling the item rather than buying it. Their Craigslist listing will probably be something relatively expensive like a car or expensive tool. The more expensive an item for sale on the internet is the more paranoid all parties involved in the sale are likely to become. Many people like to use escrow services which are trustworthy third parties who pay the seller once an item has been received. This is a perfectly normal method of doing business on the web or elsewhere as long as the escrow service is legitimate. Some things to watch out for are sellers who insist on an escrow company that you've never heard of especially if it's abroad. Do not get tricked into using Western Union thinking that it's perfectly safe because it's a name you know and trust. Savvy online shoppers know to steer clear of buyers wanting you to transfer money to them via Western Union or engage in currency transfers or try to get you to allow money to be drawn directly from your bank account. Never let "phishy" sounding escrow sites take money right out of your account or you could find that you've paid a lot more for an item on Craigslist than you expected.


Craigslist Purchase Protection Program

Some Craigslist users have reported something called the Craigslist Purchase Protection scam. What happens is that after you email someone about an item you get an email that has text to the effect of:


Craigslist Transaction Confirmed! Purchase Protection Granted!

Per your request, we have verified all the details of this transaction. We concluded that they are accurate. Please follow our instructions to complete the transaction safely.


Craigslist Transaction Confirmed!
Current status: Payment pending


Here would be some details about the Craigslist purchase you supposedly made


Complete your Craigslist transaction in 5 easy steps:

* Craigslist accepts the transaction and offers purchase protection to the buyer


And what follows could look an awfully lot like an invoice. Only it's not real. This is another Craigslist scam. There is no official Craigslist buyer or purchase protection program.


Craigslist is not in the business of officially backing any transaction. Making sure that everything is on the up and up is your job. You should be suspicious about any email from a program that you have never signed up for or requested. Pay attention to those alert boxes at the top of Craigslist postings because they are there for your benefit and warn about this and many other scams on Craigslist.

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