Craigslist has been around since 1995 and is the largest online advertisement site in the world. The great feature on craigslist is its free online advertisement with sections on real estate, personals, jobs, buy and sale, resumes and even forums. Unfortunately it’s reputation is tainted over the years,partly because some people exploit vulnerabilities in craigslist to get money from unsuspecting users.
One advantage of craigslist is its popularity among many advertisers and users. It may look simple in design but lo and behold, this site should not be underestimate at all. With over 20 billion page views per month and inviting 50 million unique visitors on U.S.A. alone, Craigslist can be called an advertiser’s haven.
Maybe too much.
Several scammers choose Craigslist as their playground to perform tricks and squeeze cash from other people. This is the case we want everyone to see so that many will be informed and be knowledgeable about their modus. The scam advertisements are about rental houses / apartments for rent. Scammers will put advertisements on craigslist telling people for example, that a 2 bedroom house is available for rent at a low rate and in good neighborhood. Some people will bite this bait since they are naive of this scam.
The unsuspecting victims send money to the scammers and visit the house. To their shock, the house isn’t available for rent! In fact it is never rented and someone owns and dwells in it. We only learned about the scam recently. These craigslist scammers love to victimize people who are either out of the country or are too busy to do their due diligence and inspect the apartment.
Here is the video report about this latest Craigslist scam.
Again, please double check everything you are purchasing or in this case renting. It is never a waste of time to devote 1/2 or your whole day to check the house you like to rent. It will save you a lot of trouble, headache, embarrassment and money in the future.
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Tags: advertisement scams, craiglist rental house scammer, craigslist, craigslist free advertisement, craigslist rental house scam, craigslist scam, internet scams
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