We all know that Craigslist is extremely convenient—you can specify what you want and search for it according to price, city where it is available, description, pictures, and more. You can deal directly with dealers and thus you do not have to worry about customer service and order processing. In the same fashion, you can sell or offer services for just about anything. You can list handyman services, sell your old iPod, or offer up a room in your apartment for rent. The possibilities are endless.
However, recent events have shown that Craigslist can be deadly. Craigslist itself has links on its website with tips to protect yourself and your money. Read them! While Craigslist is extremely useful and convenient, we must treat it for what it is – doing business with strangers.As a result, we must be wary of any and every communication we have through this website.
Here are some tips from Five Point Capital to help keep you safe while perusing and using Craigslist:
First, protect yourself. Never agree to meet up with someone from Craigslist alone. In some cases, meeting face-to-face is inevitable—an interview for a new job, hiring a handyman, meeting up to trade DVDs. However, never agree to meet at ALONE or AT A HOME. Always bring a friend along and meet in public. If you are going on a job interview, make sure the interview takes place during business hours in the office, or someplace very public, like a Starbucks. If you are exchanging items, instead of meeting up, try to suggest shipping them simultaneously via FedEx. FedEx will provide you with a shipping and tracking link, which you can email to each other as proof that you sent the requested item or items. If you must meet up to exchange something, again conduct your exchange in a public place, such as Starbucks or a popular restaurant. If you are hiring someone to do work for your house (or are offering such services), say that you would feel more comfortable meeting the other person first outside of the home, and then meet in public. You can offer to buy the other person a cup of coffee as incentive for meeting up in person beforehand. When the time comes to have someone enter your house, or to enter someone’s house, make sure you are not alone. Invite a friend over for lunch while the person you hired will be there, or bring a “helper” along to carry your equipment or assist you with whatever task you have been hired for.
Second, protect your family and home. Do not give out your home address unless it is absolutely crucial for what you are selling or buying. If you are offering a room for rent, do not give the exact address until the day of the visit. Give the person looking for a room the cross streets on which your apartment or home is located, and then have them call you when they are close by. Again, never enter someone’s home or have someone else enter your home while you are alone. If you hire someone to work in your home, meet the person in a public place first, as suggested before.
Third, protect your money and your identity. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Never send cash through the mail. Never give out your bank information unless it is through a secure site like PayPal. If someone has sent you a check, cash it and make sure it clears before sending the product. Never send money through Western Union or other similar sites, and never send money overseas. If you are looking for an apartment and someone emails you saying they have a place, but they happen to be abroad at the moment, and if you’ll just send the deposit via Western Union they will happily FedEx you the key to the place—it’s a scam. Trust us. Just delete the email and move on.
Finally, protect your integrity. There are warnings all over Craigslist to never post any discriminatory ads, but still people do so without thinking. You have a right to choose whomever you want as a roommate or to live in your home, but you are NOT allowed to say that you are limiting who can look at the room for reasons such as age, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or occupation. So posting an ad offering a room that says “we are looking for another female, about our age (20-30), with a steady job,” may seem typical and harmless, but it can actually result in legal penalties and huge fines.
Try to follow these simple rules and always use your common sense in order to avoid becoming a victim of a scam or crime. Remember, no matter what you are trying to buy or sell, it is not worth your life or your security. Here’s to keeping safe, from your friends at Five Point Capital.
Tags: 5 point capital, 5pointcapital, craigslist, fedex, five point capital, fivepointcapital, markoff, paypal, scams, starbucks, western union
