Craigslist Apartment Scam & The NYT Writer

The news of scams on Craigslist is, frankly, old news. These stories seem to go hand in hand with “use at your own risk” when it comes to a particular online classifieds site. Once again, though, another fraud has claimed another user. This time, the user was a professional travel writer for The New York Times. Seth Kugel had used the site many times in the past for similar services. This time, however, he let his guard down.
The owner of the apartment that Kugel found on Craigslist wanted Kugel to wire money directly into the owner’s British bank account. They owner didn’t allow Paypal or a credit card. Still, Kugel felt comfortable in doing this.
Then, a story about how the place was no longer available as the owner was arrested. The money was long gone.
To his credit, Kugel has learned a lesson and is willing to share what so many savvy users of the internet already practice:

• Use online classifieds and rental sites are reputable and tested. Bonqo.com is a monitored site. There is always someone on staff who manually checks out the validity of each ad before it is published on the site.
  
• Check for previous scams on the site you are about to use. Nothing is 100% these days, but there are of course sites with terrible reputations and sites with pretty clean reputations. You should go with your instinct.
  
• Use the most secure payment options possible. If a seller wants personal information, banking information or a (very) fast wire of funds directly into their account, you must know it’s a scam. It is encouraged to use cash or PayPal transactions because they are real, legit, and safer.
  

Nothing is every fool-proof, but there are always way to protect against fraud and scams. This goes for online and off. To learn more about this story and stories like it, check out this link: http://bonqo.tumblr.com/post/3032557710/automobile-scam-on-craigslist-again and http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2011/01/a_professional_travel_writer_g.html