Craigslist scams

A Craigslist-related scam has left an Oregon man without most of his belongings. According to an Associated Press report, Saturday a pair of ads popped up on Craigslist advertising that the owner of the home had been forced to leave the area and that all of his belongings were free for the taking. The second of the two ads was more specific stating that a horse that had been abandoned by the sheriff’s department was free to anyone willing to give it a good home.

Here the kicker: Robert Salisbury, the owner of the home and horse, was out of town and completely unaware of the Craigslist ads and that his house was being cleaned out.

When a woman tracked Salisbury down and called him to claim his horse Salisbury rushed home. He even stopped a truck full of his possessions on the way home. “I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back,” Salisbury to the Associated Press. “They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did.”

Deja Rip-Off

Believe it or not this is the second reported time a house has been ransacked because of a Craigslist ad. Last May a Seattle woman placed an ad on Craigslist stating: “Moving out … House being demolished. Come and take whatever you want, nothing is off limits,” without the homeowners knowledge. The house was cleaned out.

Should We Blame Craig?

Does Craigslist have a responsibility to protect people from this kind of hoax? Yes and no. I don’t think that Craigslist should be responsible for the ad going up in the first place.

Preventative measures to confirm legitimate Craigslist ads (or all print or online classified ads) would be costly, and ultimately ineffective since the phony advertiser could provide confirmation without Craigslist knowing the difference. Besides, isn’t there the old saying “don’t shoot the messenger?” But now that the scam has been revealed, I think it is Craigslist’s responsibility to help track down and turn over the one who did originally post the ad.

Craigslist provides an open service, and it needs to be prepared to deal with the consequences that such an open service can cause.

What really gets me mad though are the people who went to Salisbury’s home and took his stuff without trying to confirm the ad. How is it that only one person caught on to the fact that an ad telling people to pillage a house was too good to be true? Salisbury’s had a choice comment on the topic, “They honestly thought that because it appeared on the Internet it was true.” Now that is terrifying. Salisbury continued, “It boggles the mind.”

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