Thursday, September 15, 2011

You suck at Craigslist?

No, I'm not talking about the web site by that name.

Although there is one. It's pretty funny, as well: http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/

But that's not what I am writing about. I am thinking more about people on Craigslist who suck... aka, the latest scam going around.

Because we will be moving soon, we have some things listed for sale/free, on Craigslist.

In due course, a perfectly legitimate-- albeit slightly weird-- response to a listing shows up in my email box. In this case, the inquiry is: "This item-- it has been involved in any accidents?"

???

This, of course, is designed to elicit a response. As in "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about." But it's a response. Now the sender has my email address.

Next day, there is a very legitimate looking email... ostensibly from Craigslist-- citing bits and pieces about Terms Of Service (TOS) and listing items for sale, and "to please verify your Craigslist account, or your listings will be removed." Unlike many such scams, this one did NOT have typos and spelling errors. It also was more subtle than most, asking the reader "please go to the craiglist web site and log into your account to verify it (scam emails RARELY suggest this), or click on this link to do so."

This, of course is a "phish." But if you're not paying attention, you won't notice that the original sender isn't "craigslist.org," but "craigslists.org." Or something very close like that.

Anyway, you have to be really careful with craigslist... this was just a reminder. Overall, though, I love the site... and have both bought and sold many things there.




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