Online scams are nothing new, and Craigslist has always had its fair share. Perhaps the most insidious of the Craigslist scams are those which appear to be legitimate replies to Craigslist postings – after all, while many consumers are wary of what they read online, most can’t imagine that a scammer would take the time to personally reply to them!
This below example of a current Craigslist scam does exactly that – it’s a personal reply to a posting referencing both the actual item listed in a ‘for sale’ post to which the scammer replied, and even letting the original poster know that the scam is in the same location (referenced by name), making it seem all the more legitimate.
Here’s the scam email, which came from “twanachausse16@aim.com”:
Good Evening,
I saw that you posted an ad on Craigslist on 12/19/2009.
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First, let me start off by saying that I hope that you had good luck with your ‘ LifeGear Deluxe Inversion Table with Ankle Ratchet System – $125 (Boulder)’ post. I love using Craigslist to sell my stuff, as it almost always sells so fast, and usually for around my asking price. Although, gosh, I sure do meet some of the most, ummm, interesting people sometimes.
Anyway, the reason that I am emailing you is because I know of a website that is wanting to work with people in or around boulder, that are interested in starting their own internet business. You can do this either part-time or full-time – it’s entirely up to you.
This is perfect for you if you have absolutely no experience whatsoever with working online; no educational or special skills are required, as all training is provided for you.
This is perfect for us Craigslist users, because we obviously already know how the basics of how to use a computer, and we pretty much know our way around the internet.
I don’t want to rush you into making a decision, but this same offer is going out to all people who posted an ad on Craigslist in boulder, and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on your chance to be taught everything you need to know, completely free, to start making money online.
So, if this sounds like something you might be interested in, you can check out the site here: residualincomesite>com its 100% free! and I hope that you choose to apply. Thanks for your time,
TLP Research
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In this case, the scammers appear to be running a program which scrapes the title of the Craigslist posting and inserts it into the spam, along with the location, and sends it out. Alternatively, they may have off-shored this project and be paying actual humans (a pittance, to be sure) to manually go through Craigslist postings and reply.
Fortunately, in their ineptness, in this particular one they mangled the payload – the URL through to which they wanted their victims to click – but that doesn’t change the seriousness of the issue, and loads of other scam spam emails make it to their intended victims intact.
Of course, scam replies to classified ads have been around for decades – it’s not unique to the Internet, and it doesn’t render Internet classifieds any more or less useless than newspaper classifieds. It’s just that it’s easier to do it online – and in greater numbers.
In this case, rather than Caveat emptor, the rule of the day is Caveat venditor.
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so i just got this exact email sent to me. i think people have no live if they are going to pull things like this
I THINK THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS A DUTY PROSECUTE CRAIGSLIST NO BECAUSE PROMOTING
PROSTITUTION .
OR OTHER MATTER BECAUSE CRAIGSLIST HAS FLAGGING SYSTEM THAT UNFAIR AND INFRINGING ON PEOPLE
RIGHT TO POST AND SELL THE ON THE INTERNET .
THE PROBLEM IS VERY SERIOUSE IN CRAIG LIST MR Jim Buckmaster AND Craig Newmark TWO OF THE
PERSON IN CHARGE IGNORE THIS PROBLEM AND INFLECTING DAMAGES FOR ADVERTISERS .THE WHOLE IDEA
THAT ITS FREE. ITS DOESN’T MEAN THAT ANY ONE CAN FLAGGING YOUR POST FOR NO REASON . .ITS
MEAN
THAT SOME RESTAURANT THAT SERVE FREE FOOD CAN POISON THE PUBLIC .
THE GOVERNMENT HAS RESPONSIBILITY TO ACT AGAINST CRAIGSLIST AND CLOSE THIS CRIMINAL
COMMUNIST
Jim Buckmaster AND THE OTHER FOUNDER Craig Newmark HAS TO BE LIABLE . FOR THIS IGNORANCE
AND
DESTROYING THE PUBLIC . AS A USER OF CRAIGSLIST I CALL UPON THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE ACTION
AGAINST THIS TWO CRIMINAL COMMUNIST THAT IGNORE THE PUBLIC SAFETY AND INFLECTING DAMAGES
ON
ADVERTISER AND THE PUBLIC .
CRAIGSLIST STANDING BEHIND “TOU” ANOTHER WORD THE CAN DO WHAT EVER THE WENT . AS LONG YOU
ACCEPT THEY TERM .
HOW RIDICULOUS AND SICK THIS SYSTEM . IN MY VIEW “FTC” OR ANY OTHER GOVERNMENT HAS DUTY
TO FINE EVEN TO CLOSE CRAIGSLIST SITE. THEY IGNORING PUBLIC SAFETY AND BASIC PUBLIC NEED .
TO
HAS FREE COMMERCE AND FREE SPEECH .I AM SURE THAT MR Craig Newmark AND MR Jim Buckmaster
AND OTHER CRAIG LIST OWNER COMMUNIST STANDING BEHIND FREE SPEECH BUT NOT GIVING TO
ADVERTISER THE SAME RIGHT . WHERE AMERICA GOING NO PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHT . ITS LIKE A
THEFT .
I LIKE TO ASK ANY LAWYER TO INVESTIGATE CRAIGSLIST AND INFLICT ON THEM THE DAMAGES THAT THE
INFLECTING ON US BY MR Jim Buckmaster Craig Newmark. TWO IGNORE THAT INJURING MANY PEOPLE
.
THIS THE WAY NAZI GERMANY CAME TO POWER PEOPLE . THE IGNORE PROBLEM . NEVER STAND UP . OR
SOLVE PROBLEM IN THE RIGHT WAY .”ITS GOING TO BE OK ” THIS THE WE SOLVE PROBLEM IN USA .
“ITS GOING TO BE OK NOT WORRY ” 10 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT ISN’T A PROBLEM . YES ITS PROBLEM .
IS THE SAME EXAMPLE THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THIS SITE AND OTHER THE
SAME
what is more serious that this two communist mr Jim Buckmaster Craig Newmark new
millionaire
know about this serious problem and do nothing they don’t care about the general
advertiser.
and small business owner .
you can take CRAIGSLIST to court even they have “tou” even this two communist say its free..
.
MY NAME IS MEIR GREENFELD
how can such things be?