To many scams on Craig's List

[Lurkergirl]

Ok I love Craig's list for most things .Yard sale info ,sold one of my cars on there ,found my portable dishwasher there.
But when it comes to rentals it seems 80-90% of the time it scammers.
I saw a beautiful house for rent or so it stated in the ad ,it only had email but I thought no big deal .
So I sent them an email .
They replied that the couldn't give out the location because of vandalism and burglary .They couldn't met me in person till I did a "free credit report".
Though they said they didn't take that into consideration on if we get the place or not .
They replied to my email at 3 am
Well I saw another place there yesterday it looked different then the one I replied to several months back .
It was the same reply as I got the last time with just a few items changed .
Makes me furious because the place would have been perfect .

I guess I am stuck in my current place still .(where the landlord is behind on paying the sewer bill )
Which I have wrote about before on here.
It makes me very upset about that also .
Last time I was in there about the sewer bill I was told that x forgot to pay our but paid everyone elses .Said that x would pay it .
That was 3 weeks ago .I called them at the sewer place and nothing had been paid since January (which is by chance when I had to get on them once again to pay because they would shut off our water if they didn't)
It irks me because he lets things get behind .
anyway I am just so upset that this rental I loved is a scam again :sad:

[XUfan]

I'm so sorry that you're going through all of that. I hope you find a good place soon!

My husband buys and sells cars on Craigslist. He's gotten some oddball ones too! One guy posted a car for sale, and when my husband asked for a phone number so he could call and talk to him about it , he gave him the Pizza Hut number. So, thinking it was a typo, my husband emailed him again. This time, he gave him an auto parts store. Obviously the car (which looked great in the pics, and was a super price...red flag, right?) was not really for sale, and this guy was just having fun with a prank. But it wasn't funny to someone who buys cars to keep a roof over his family's head!

Also, my husband does heating and air work. He has an ad on Craigslist for that too. At least once a day, we get a reply to it...trying to sell advertising space in a phone book, offering a "great deal" on business cards, or telling him that they "have a job open for him right now!!"

It's just a cesspool for scammers.

[MaryMary]

Originally Posted by Lurkergirl Ok I love Craig's list for most things .Yard sale info ,sold one of my cars on there ,found my portable dishwasher there. But when it comes to rentals it seems 80-90% of the time it scammers. I saw a beautiful house for rent or so it stated in the ad ,it only had email but I thought no big deal . So I sent them an email . They replied that the couldn't give out the location because of vandalism and burglary .They couldn't met me in person till I did a "free credit report". Though they said they didn't take that into consideration on if we get the place or not . They replied to my email at 3 am Well I saw another place there yesterday it looked different then the one I replied to several months back . It was the same reply as I got the last time with just a few items changed . Makes me furious because the place would have been perfect . I guess I am stuck in my current place still .(where the landlord is behind on paying the sewer bill ) Which I have wrote about before on here. It makes me very upset about that also . Last time I was in there about the sewer bill I was told that x forgot to pay our but paid everyone elses .Said that x would pay it . That was 3 weeks ago .I called them at the sewer place and nothing had been paid since January (which is by chance when I had to get on them once again to pay because they would shut off our water if they didn't) It irks me because he lets things get behind . anyway I am just so upset that this rental I loved is a scam again :sad:

Beautiful and cheap property you cannot see before submitting your application with your SS# and everything else.. huh?
I hope you didn't give that scamsters at craglist any of your private info. Too often what looks like a duck and quacks like one is indeed a duck. That's a clear "phishing" to steal your identity.

[meems]

I have a car listed now..

Have gotten this same scam 3 times now..

Hey I just saw your ad on craiglist.. I hope you don't mind that I'm
contacting you because I'm just a really down to earth person who
loves to help others.

I'm sure you know times are tough unemployment is at an all time high
and we are all desperate for money. I was in a similar situation not
very long ago I had absolutely nothing saved and finding a job that
would fit my life style was nearly impossible. I was going to lose
everything I owned until I came across this website
http://www.****an insurance site***com When they told me they could give me
free car insurace until I could get back on my feet, I couldn't
believe it. I literaly had tears running down my face because I was so
happy..Check it out it may just turn your life around too.

[Lurkergirl]

Originally Posted by MaryMary Beautiful and cheap property you cannot see before submitting your application with your SS# and everything else.. huh? I hope you didn't give that scamsters at craglist any of your private info. Too often what looks like a duck and quacks like one is indeed a duck. That's a clear "phishing" to steal your identity.

No I didn't .The house for rent wasn't actually very cheap though .I just don't trust anyone who can't/won't see you in person without jumping through their hoops .

[chitownmelli]

I hear ya there! We have a bunch of CL scammers here, too. It's amazing how many homes are owned by the same person who is over in Nigeria welding for work .... and they just want someone to take care of the place for them ---- I finally quit using CL for house listings when I found an ad in my very own neighborhood, walked past it and they had pictured the wrong house for the ad, and then what do you know, the same person who is over seas welding owns it, huh??? Apparently they are not from around here though because certain records are public information and if you look up the actual addy, you could see that the owners of each of the houses were different people!!!!

Craigslist was a good idea. It's really too bad that some people take advantage.

[Lurkergirl]

Originally Posted by meems I have a car listed now.. Have gotten this same scam 3 times now.. Hey I just saw your ad on craiglist.. I hope you don't mind that I'm contacting you because I'm just a really down to earth person who loves to help others. I'm sure you know times are tough unemployment is at an all time high and we are all desperate for money. I was in a similar situation not very long ago I had absolutely nothing saved and finding a job that would fit my life style was nearly impossible. I was going to lose everything I owned until I came across this website http://www.****an insurance site***com When they told me they could give me free car insurace until I could get back on my feet, I couldn't believe it. I literaly had tears running down my face because I was so happy..Check it out it may just turn your life around too.

When I had our car up ,I did get those weird emails also .I was just about to give up when I decided I would re-write the ad and place 4 pics of the car .Finally I had an email which seemed legit .He then said he wanted to see the car .I said fine and he bought it the same day he came .He wanted to write me a check .He told me to feel free and call his bank to verify the check was good .He didn't give me my asking price but very close and ,and it went well .
I wish you well as you try and sell your car .

[gctattoo]

I don't go on Craigslist very often. DH found a boat on there that he ended up buying. And I sold our mattress a few months ago when we upgraded to a king. Both of the transactions were quick and easy and strictly cash.

It's pathetic that people have that much time on their hands to try to scam people on CL. If they put even half that effort into finding legitimate ways to make money, they'd be alot better off than they are now.

[leqet]

I have had great luck finding used items to purchase or for free, but never had any luck with rental homes either. I e-mailed a couple different ones and got two very similar replies. They had both had a story about moving out of the country to do missions work in West Africa. The red flag that it was a scam was that they couldn't show the property (one even said his wife was pregnant and that's why they could not travel back to the states to arrange rental of the house ) they wanted me to DRIVE BY the address and if I liked it send them a money order, then they would Fed-EX the keys to me. I looked up the public records for one of the homes and found out it had just been sold a month earlier. The scammers probably stole the pictures from a realty website.

No, I didn't fall for the scam, but I wonder how many other trusting people did, thinking they were helping out a Christian missionary family. :sad:

[MaryMary]

Originally Posted by gctattoo I don't go on Craigslist very often. DH found a boat on there that he ended up buying. And I sold our mattress a few months ago when we upgraded to a king. Both of the transactions were quick and easy and strictly cash. It's pathetic that people have that much time on their hands to try to scam people on CL. If they put even half that effort into finding legitimate ways to make money, they'd be alot better off than they are now.

But what if G-d forbid they'd have to do the actual work to make that living? Go to work <gasp>??