Their is a lot of Fraud on Craigslist.
Here are a few rules that I have set up to help protect me from fraud.
1) Never post your email address on Craigslist and always use the anonymous option
2) When responding to ads or replying to leads, always use a throw away email address. (meaning not your main email and something that you can throw away if you get too much spam)
3) 1st contact/reply must have a question in it that would be harder for a non-native english speaker to understand and requires a unique response. (as apposed to something that could be answered with a copy and pasted reply)
4) Never deal with anyone who is from outside of the country.
That said, I usually have someone on my staff handle responses to craigslist, that way I am further removed from scams.
Here is what the FBI says on their website http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams
Rental and Real Estate Scams
From: Julie Brent <m.longo100@gmail.com>
Happy New Year to you... My name is Julie Brent (F),I am
26yrs old,I am fun loving, personal, friendly,clean, caring,and respectful of
others.a non-smoker, don't do drugs, i drink occasionally,and drama
free. I graduated last year in France, I am single and have no
children,I do bible study.I am from Spain,specifically Murcia, I was
born in Osmond Beach in Florida,my dad is from there too but my mum is
from Spain...I went to University of Navarra in Spain. I speak both
English and Spanish fluently,am presently on research work at
Hawaii,am almost done.with that bcos its part of my prerequisite for
my masters in Microbiology.I would have
loved to call you but this is a remote area calls is hard to go
through from here and i don't want to waste much time. Am really
interested in renting from you and i do really love pets but i don't
have any at the moment. I would have loved to see it but am very
far,but with pictures,I am glad. I will also like you to tell me more
about you and if you have garage or parking space cos I will have my
own car come over, pls let me know the total payment of the place and
more over I will send your email to my dad for him to email you later
bcos he is the one that will be paying the bills but nevertheless,I
will like you to send me your Full Name and the Mailing Address, your
Phone number as well,so that my Dad will issue out the payment for the
place as soon as possible,with that you can hold on the place for me
till i come . I will be looking forward to your email soonest. Thanks
and have a nice day
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