8 Vile Craigslist Scams to Watch Out For
Craigslist is great. Really, I love
it for buying and selling, finding services, and even posting jobs. But for the
99% of ads that are completely legit, you'll find postings designed to con you.
That's a sad reality of life, and of Craigslist, but if you know what to look
out for you can avoid the pitfalls of an otherwise awesome service.
1. Lured to a Mugging
This is a really nasty scam, and we
could all fall for it quite easily. It's also known as "robbery by
appointment."
As a Craigslist seller, you will know
that cash is the only way to go. You don't want to deal with bounced checks. Of
course, as a buyer you have to abide by those same rules. Craigslist scammers
will place an ad for something like a
car, high-end electronics, or another product of significant value.
You'll arrange to meet the seller (with a nice wad of cash in your pocket), and
that's when you'll be jumped and the money taken from you. Some people have
even been killed in the robbery attempt.
This "lure" scenario has
happened many times over the years, and as always Craigslist advises you to
meet in a safe, secure location, go with a friend (or two), and if in doubt,
back out.
2. Receiving an Overpayment on ANYTHING
Another common scam is that your prospective buyer will send you
a check (regular check, money order, or a cashier's check) that is for much
more than the agreed price. There will usually be an excuse, like "oh, I
sent a down payment for two months rent instead of one, can you wire me the
difference?" Of course, the check they have sent you is fake, but the bank
will often cash it and then discover the fraud later. By that time, you're out
of pocket, and the scammer's pockets are full of your money.
Never wire funds, always deal with
people locally, and beware of anything other than cash. Even then, cash can be
counterfeit. It doesn't hurt to have a counterfeit detector pen on hand (they're less
than $10) for larger transactions. And be wary of bills bigger than
$20; you can easily be handed a fake $100 bill, give the buyer the item and
change, and be out of pocket twice.
3. The Rental Robbery
Back in 2009 I wrote a detailed post on this scam, and it
appears it is still going on. In fact, it's more widespread than ever, and the
reason is that it is very easy to pull off, and almost impossible to track down
the scammer.
The basic premise is this. You scour
the Craigslist ads for a rental home and find one that is beautiful and very,
very affordable; almost too affordable. You contact the address in the ad and
are told that the owner had to leave the country (usually for something like
missionary work) and needs money to cover the mortgage. You then are
told to fill out a background check (which gives ID thieves a ton of personal
info) and wire them money for one month's rent and deposit. Most of us would
drop out at that point.
However, if you think "well, I'd
never send money to someone I'd never met" you should also know there is a
variant of the scam that involves people actually showing homes to you and
collecting the money there and then. They'll even give you a set of keys (not
that they'll work) and a signed agreement. They gain access to the home through
various means, including getting the keys legitimately from a home that's on
the market, and then renting it out to dozens of people in a single day. Watch
out for this one, and if you receive an email that references leaving the
country and low rent because money is needed fast, add it to your spam filter.
4. Fake or Canceled Tickets
It's bad enough that scalpers use
Craigslist, buying tickets for $50 and when the concert is sold out, selling
them to you for $200. But there are also scams involving tickets. These scams
won't just leave you paying a steep markup, but also without the tickets you
thought you were buying.
Sophisticated scammers have found ways to replicate tickets to
major events that look and feel legit. They even have holograms and watermarks.
But these tickets are worthless, and when you buy them, you'll lose out twice.
First with the money, and second when you get turned away from the event.
A similar scam involves genuine tickets that get canceled after
you buy them. A common scam involves airline tickets. You purchase the tickets
for less than face value, thinking you have a bargain. The scammer will tell
you they bought the tickets but cannot use them due to a family emergency.
However, the tickets have been canceled and cost the scammer nothing. They will
cost you dearly.
To avoid this, purchase tickets direct from the venue, from a
legitimate site like Ticketmaster, or from trusted resources like Hotwire,
Travelocity and so on. It's just not worth the risk to buy tickets off
Craigslist.
5. The Online Escrow Service
You see an ad on Craigslist for
something like a car, boat, expensive electronics, that kind of thing. When you
contact the seller, they will reply that they want to use an escrow service for
their protection and yours, and send you to a site.
However, unlike escrow.com,
which is a legitimate site endorsed by eBay, they will recommend one
that sounds just as plausible. Perhaps something like EscrowProtectionPlan.org
or EscrowPaymentGuardian.net, and ask you to set up an account. But this is a
fraudulent site set up by the seller, and as soon as you deposit the money,
you've lost it. Be wary of any seller that recommends an escrow service to you,
and if one does, take steps to verify its legitimacy.
6. The Cell Phone Swindle
This one can take a bite out of your
monthly income, and if you're not monitoring your finances closely, you may not
even notice it.
In this scam, someone will respond to
your for sale ad saying they are interested, but cannot talk right then.
Usually they're at work or otherwise indisposed. However, instead of giving an
email address or phone number, they'll ask you to put your cell phone number into a website that
"stores" information for them. In reality, it's a site that is
signing you up for a monthly charge of $10 or more per month, and there is no
way to cancel the service. The only way out, when you spot it, is to cancel
your credit card. And forget about getting a refund.
Another cell phone swindle is to
provide you with a call back number that appears to be an answering service,
but is in fact a pay-per-call number. Although you won't be out thousands of
dollars like some warnings of these numbers claim (specifically the 809 code scam),
you could be charged $25-$30 to make the call. And if enough people do it,
that's a tidy sum for the scammer.
7. The Job Bait
With unemployment as
high as it is, people out there are desperate for work. And when
jobs are in such high demand, scammers come out of the woodwork.
Here's the scam. You will see a job offer that sounds wonderful,
with great salary and benefits. But when you apply, you could face any number
of potential cons. They include: fake background check services and credit
report sites that steal your information, being reimbursed to sign up for
"free" offers, fee-based training for the potential job, and bogus
focus group and survey sites.
Your best bet is to thoroughly
research any company offering a job. Use the BBB, make sure they have a phone number you can call for
information, and run from any posting asking for fees up front.
8. Revenge of the Free Stuff
Sometimes you will see ads in the
free section that advertise a massive house clearance. Basically, the renter or
homeowner is moving out the next day (perhaps even leaving the country) and
needs everything to be gone. Seems legit, right? But often, this is a scammer
who is setting up an innocent victim to be burglarized.
There have been news reports of people returning home to discover that
their home is being stripped bare by dozens of people. The scammer is often one
of these, who will be helping himself to bigger items and blending in with the
crowd. The people who take the stuff, who are usually innocent themselves, can
be prosecuted. The victim will rarely be able to get back any of the missing
items. And the scammer gets away free and clear.
99.9% of the time, free stuff will
be put out on the curb for you to take, or somewhere else outside of
the home. If it's inviting you to just walk into the home and take whatever you
like, it's bogus.
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