Florida Marine Lt. Col. Karl Trenker and his fiancee will probably think twice before posting jewelry for sale on Craigslist again. (Actually, they will probably never use Craigslist again to post a sale – at least, we wouldn’t.) It all started when his fiancee posted a gold chain for sale on Craigslist. And ended with Trenker being shot three times, and plugging the bullet holes with his fingers while waiting for help to arrive.

Online scams are nothing new, and Craigslist (named after founder Craig Newmark, hence Craig’s list) has always had its fair share. Perhaps the most insidious of the Craigslist scams are those which appear to be legitimate replies to Craigs list 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! In this particular scam, the email comes from twanachausse16@aim.com on behalf of TLP Research.

A Federal court has dismissed the prostitution lawsuit brought against Craigslist by Chicago’s Cook County Sheriff’s Department and Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart. Sheriff Dart had argued that because the Craigslist erotic services section helps to arrange meetings between hookers and johns, and steers people to places where they can pay for erotic services, Craigslist is in violation of laws against prostitution, and that it should be shut down. Dart added that “the sheer number of daily postings has made it impossible to stymie Craigslist generated prostitution.”

Craiglist has been slapped with a lawsuit by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department (Chicago) for being, in essence, the world’s biggest pimp. The lawsuit contends that Craigslist is “the single largest source of prostitution in the nation.”

Internet classifieds giant Craigslist is cracking down on advertisers who use the Craiglist “erotic services” section to pimp themselves or others.