Craigslist scams?

[Dirtebiker]

I’d like your opinions and experiences.
whatare these people doing?
I see ads all the time for ridiculous low prices, and I’ve been told it’s so they can “steal” your email address or phone number.
I don’t get it. Are they compiling lists to sell to others who bombard us with ads? What about our phone numbers?
I was interested in something recently that was priced low, low enough that I thought it could be one of the phony ads. BUT I emailed anyway. A day later with no response, I texted. I got a text back asking for my email address so he could “send more pics and details”. I responded that I’d like to come see the item, then got no response. WTH?
One common “scam”(?) i was seeing for quite a while was cars and trucks for sale for not only ridiculous low prices but the prices were very odd like $1234 or $2051. I don’t get it!
I know we have to be cautious and take precautions when dealing with people we don’t know and/or meet on the internet but do we need to be afraid to simply inquire about ads on these kinds of sites?

 

[Hoosierdood]

Craigslist is full of scammers. I rarely do anything with Craigslist anymore.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Walk away.

 

[Dirtebiker]

Craigslist is full of scammers. I rarely do anything with Craigslist anymore.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Walk away.

agreed, if it’s seems to good to be true- it almost always is! But as in my case, it was a low price but not totally unbelievable.
My question is what can they do with our email address and/or phone Numbers?

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Craigslist is full of scammers. I rarely do anything with Craigslist anymore.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Walk away.

If you were selling a vehicle, and you didn't want to mess with Craigslist, how would you list it?

 

[Hoosierdood]

If you were selling a vehicle, and you didn't want to mess with Craigslist, how would you list it?

I have used Facebook Marketplace with good results. Havent sold any cars there but have sold other stuff.

 

[femurphy77]

I haven't had any problems selling several vehicles, stoves, scuba gear etc on craigslist. The scammers are pretty obvious so I ignore them. The most obvious ones simply state "I'm interested in your item", contact me at (phone number) or gmail. I don't respond to any gmail solicitations no matter how legit it seems and it's easy enough to google a phone number and you can usually discern whether it passes a smell test or not. The ones that bug me simply because they are time wasters are the "I'll take it" and then you never hear from them again.

Any time I respond to an ad, as above, if it sounds too good to be true I just flag the ad so I never see it again but when I do respond I give specifics from the ad so the seller knows that I have at least read it and have a fairly good chance of not being a scammer.

The ones that want to send a check and have a friend pick it up or any of those other scams are met with a simple reply of "Sure no problem, tell your friend to bring the cash and he can have it". That ALWAYS shuts them down!

 

[JettaKnight]

The price on the listing page may be much lower to entice you into clicking on it. Then, a different price is listed.

The correct response to that, and other red flags is to click the "prohibited" link at the top of the page.

 

[stocknup]

Whenever I post something for sale ( Craigslist or Marketplace ) I always put : " If you are seeing this ad , this item is available " " I don`t deliver " " If you are interested , send your phone number and or make arrangements to look at said item "
Any questions asking these, will be ignored .
I may miss out on a potential sell , but pretty much weeds out the scammers .

 

[Jt22453]

If you were selling a vehicle, and you didn't want to mess with Craigslist, how would you list it?

I bought my current car on offer up but it is full of scammers as well. They are usually easy to spot because the price will be super low and it will be listed in many large cities. Usually if you reply they will say they are in the military overseas and to send a Money order or online. Yeah, don’t think so. I hate that crap.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I have bought and sold many things in Craigslist. Haven’t been scammed yet. I usually talk in person with the other party on the phone. Google map the location i’m Going. And am ready to walk away if it’s not as promised. And armed, always armed.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I used Craigslist exactly once, and I won't even go to their website anymore. I posted a "want to buy" ad for a boot for a convertible top on a PT Cruiser we had at the time. Now maybe it was just a coincidence, but I got bombarded with so much spam, and even a computer virus that I just don't trust it. YMMV

 

[Vigilant]

Craigslist is the Walmart of the internet. No reason to go there except to people watch.