So I'm looking for a new apartment in the Bay Area, and naturally, I turned to Craigslist.
I have heard about certain con games regarding apartment listings on Craigslist, but hadn't run into any until yesterday. I saw an apartment listed downtown, about 4 blocks from my building. The price was $1500 a month. From the description and pictures, it seemed to be a very nice apartment. $1500 seemed awfully cheap. Too good to be true.
I thought, "what the fuck", and I answered the ad. I received a response from a person who "had to move to London suddenly for my job." She allegedly owned the apartment and was "desperate to find a good renter for it." Of course, she had the keys with her in London, so we would have to make arrangements for me to get them.
Well, of course I immediately knew this was a fucking con game. How someone can actually fall for that shit, I don't know. But apparently a lot of people do, because the con men wouldn't be posting the ads otherwise.
The pissed off at Craigslist part didn't come until later. I was looking for apartments again this morning and saw a strangely familiar ad for an apartment in Emeryville. Same ad as the San Francisco apartment. Different city. Different price. Only $1000 a month. Well, there's no way in hell you're going to rent a nice apartment in Emeryville for $1000 a month.
So, I decided to do my civic duty, and I posted my own ad on Craigslist. I basically alerted readers that this was a con job. That they would hear from someone out of the country. And that they shouldn't fall for it.
What did I get for my trouble? My post was flagged and deleted!!!!!! The con game ad is still there, but not my warning about it.
That's why I saw again, FUCK YOU CRAIGSLIST!
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