It is generally taken that fraudsters operating in online classified sites like Craigslist only target regular users who post ads to buy or sell things. Yet, two recent cases show that these scammers do not discriminate and may try their hand on anyone posting an ad there. The incidents were brought to light by the University of Illinois police both involving students from the university who had posted ads at Craigslist for different reasons.

The first incident involved a 20-year old male student who had posted an ad at Craigslist offering to baby-sit. His ad elicited a response from an individual who claimed to be from North Granby, Connecticut. After exchanging a few emails, perhaps, the two struck a deal and the student received a hefty check for $5150 from the Connecticut individual.

The check came together with instructions for the student to retain $1350 as his fees and to send a check for the balance to somebody in Georgia (!). Smelling a con job, the student did not post the check and instead reported the matter to the police.

The second incident happened when a female student of the university advertised on Craigslist seeking a roommate. Her ad was answered by an “Amy Christopherson from Spain”. Later, she received a check from her respondent for $3,850 as cover for rent and deposit charges. When she deposited the check, however, the student received a request from “Christopherson” to send back $3,550 from the check amount.

Naively, she did as told and became a scam victim. The check, sent by her would-be roommate, bounced. “Christopherson” went missing. The student came to be scammed out of the money she had sent across at the fraudster’s behest.

Fraudsters targeting Craigslist seem to be stockpiling a horde of fake checks. They appear to be just waiting to plug these into ANY opportunity to con, presented to them by Craigslist ad users.

Source: DailyIllini.com