Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last couple of years, you’re probably familiar with Craigslist.org. It’s the website that has revolutionized placing classified ads, finding jobs, houses, dates, anything you could possibly want you can generally find on Craigslist. While this free market is an amazing resource for the average user, it’s also the perfect opportunity for affiliate marketers to completely disregard the rules and abuse the system to participate in unethical marketing practices. Affiliate marketing in itself is a thriving and very legitimate business for those marketers who use ethical methods to promote their products and offers. Affiliate marketing is essentially promoting an online product or service in order to earn commissions by referring customers or leads to other businesses.
Below are a few examples of some of the more common marketing scams that you may find on Craigslist.
THE DATING TRICK
If there’s an easy sell in this world, it’s the illusion of a potential hot date to a young single male. That’s what makes this underhanded marketing practice so powerful for affiliates. The scam basically works like this. The affiliate goes into the personals section of Craigslist. They place an ad in the singles section pretending to be an attractive young single female. They may post a picture of a cute girl in the ad, and say to reply to the post in order to make contact. The email tied to the account is set up with an auto responder, and when an interested male replies to the ad, they’ll automatically receive an email trying to entice them into signing up for the dating site the marketer is affiliated with. Marketers can get extremely creative here, but some of the more common replies will be something similar to this:
“Hi, thanks for contacting me! I’ve just moved here for school, and I really don’t know anyone in town, so I’m just trying to meet some new people (guys in particular) I’ve been receiving way more replies than I thought I would from this ad, so it’s hard for me to contact each and every one of you. I decided to set up an account on this site (it’s free to sign up!) so that you can find out more about me and see some of my sexier pictures. You should sign up, my profile is JennyXOXO, come find me and send me a picture of yourself! I hope to hear from you soon!”
Now, why is this underhanded marketing, as opposed to just smart marketing? The first victim is the poor unsuspecting guy who thinks he’s going to score a hot date, only to sign up and find out that “JennyXOXO” doesn’t even exist.
In terms of financial damages though, the dating sites are the victims. They are paying the marketer to drive in legitimate leads who are interested in joining their website. If you are a guy, and you’re tricked into signing up for a dating site to meet a girl who doesn’t exist, would you remain a loyal member to the dating site? Most likely not. That’s why this type of marketing is damaging. The dating sites are losing money paying for fraudulent leads, which hurts the affiliate marketing business and it’s reputation as a whole.
OTHER COMMON MARKETING SCAMS
Craigslist really is a haven for the creative marketer who lacks any moral or business ethics. There are affiliate programs for literally any product that you can think of. A few that come to mind are business opportunities, pay day loans, insurance leads, and mortgage leads. First of all promoting these types of offers on Craigslist goes against the websites terms of use. But secondly, and the more dangerous aspect to consumers, is that in most instances these affiliates don’t have any clue about the quality of the product they’re promoting. An example, say I was an affiliate and I decided to promote a business opportunity program. So I post an ad, something like the example below:
Work From Home Opportunity
We are currently trying to fill 4 work from home positions.
All training is provided. Income potential is performance based.
Our new employees earn $6,000 on average within their first 30 days,
with our top employees currently averaging $40,000 per month.
This is a real opportunity to make REAL money.
When an interested prospect replies to the post, they’ll receive an email or a link to a website with a high pressure sales pitch on why they need to take advantage of the work at home opportunity. So what’s wrong with this picture? First of all, the affiliate most likely has no clue what the opportunity actually is. These business opportunities are normally MLM marketing companies or in many cases an outright scam to separate people from their money. Second, the affiliate has no idea how much money, if any, that people can make with these specific programs. So making false promises of $6,000-$40,000 per month is just a blatant lie. Fraudulent marketing at it’s finest. There are too many variations of these deceptive marketing practices to cover in a single article. Here are some tips that you can use to protect yourself though:
- Always look for the hidden motive. Generally speaking, if they are taking you to an outside website offering a product for sale, they have a hidden agenda.
- Follow the advice that Craigslist offers. Deal locally. Avoid scams.
CONCLUSION
Craigslist is constantly refining itself and putting systems in place to prevent this kind of marketing from happening. The deceptive marketers are always a step ahead of the system. They will go to great lengths in order to post multiple ads across multiple categories and cities, trick unsuspecting consumers, and do whatever they can to put as much money as possible in their own pockets, with complete disregard for the people they deceive. The best defense against this is to do your part as a member of the Craigslist community. Flag suspicious ads. Community based moderation means that you are responsible for keeping Craigslist spam and scam free. If everyone does their part, we can avoid having Craigslist become a wasteland of spam and fraudulent marketing.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Thought you all might find this interesting regarding a Case Study we did on Craig’s List Personals.
http://www.onlinepersonalsfraud.com/CL/
Thanks!
March 15th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Do you guys have a recommendation section, i’d like to suggest some stuff
August 15th, 2009 at 9:11 am
I WAS SCAMMED BY ERIC ANDERSON ON CRAIGSLIST HE SENT ME 2 CITIBANK PERSONAL CHECK MONEY ORDERS FOR 950 THAT IS TOTAL 1900 AND I DEPOSITED IT AND NOW I OWE THE BANK. I AM A COLLEGE STUDENT TRYING TO MAKE EXTRA CASH FOR MY BUSINESS I WAS DEVELOPING. IF YOU SEE HIS AND EMAIL DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY INFO OR TAKE MONEY ORDER OR PERSONAL CHECKS FROM HIM. HE IS A SCAM ARTIST..THE TITLE I WAS LOOKING FOR IS PART TIME ASSISTANT HIS NAME IS ERIC ANDERSON AND HIS EMAIL IS ERICANDERS1@YAHOO.COM. PLEASE PEOPLE BE AWARE NOW I OWE MY BANK NEAR 3 GRAND.
September 15th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Wow! Thanks Trianna!
I knew this was too good to be true.
I was supposed to receive the money order today and go cash it. Thank God I decided to look around the internet before doing it. I could smell the damn scam.
Thanks,
Jackie
December 4th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Someone is posing as grace.beers@yahoo.com and advertising a house for rent in Tarentum, PA
Two persons have reported this issue to me and almost sent the money. The first person forwarded to me 10 or so email messages back and forth with the con and both individuals almost sent personal information and $1200 via international money order to secure the rental without having first seen the property.
I don’t know why but when I search pittsburgh.craigslist.com I don’t find the same ad to which they refer. According to the first person, it was posted about 11/24/2009 and possibly is being taken down regularly when they get an individual interested. The second person did provide their social security number.
How can I get craigslist to 1.) ban this email address and 2.) require proper ownership identification prior to posting property ads?
December 15th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
SCAM Christopher Scott Evans says he needs assistant sends fake cashiers check has you deposit then his bounce and he is gone under a new name doing it to the next assistant.
February 14th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I have had many problems with Craigs List. My first time using the site was when I was looking for a job. I applied for many of the ads. But the only replies I would get back were emails telling me to click on a link and get a credit check and or a background check and the email them the result. I knew that something was not write here. I then looked up Job Scams on Craigs List in google and found out a lot of information. I them stopped applying for jobs on craigslist. I then found a listing for a personal assistant and it looked pretty promising so I fell for it. I responded to the ad. Come to find out after emailing back and forth a few times it was a scam too. I decided to write a blog about this and give people awareness of this problem. Here is the link to my blog if you would like to read more about my story. Some of them are kind of funny.
http://www.exfelongirl.com/2010/01/job-ad-scams.html
I know that Craigs List cannot totally control spam and scams but I think that they can do a lot more than they are doing now.
May 18th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Yeah I just posted in the personals on craigslist and got lots of emails from very attractive girls, with very sexual explicit pictures, saying that they are afraid of all of the wackos online, and that the only way to continue contacting them was to sign-up on some dating website. But it didn’t make sense that they were afraid of all of the strange people online, but yet they were sending nude pics of “themselves” to a total stranger.
June 19th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
There is a listing being posted on different state craiglist for the following item — 2008 Honda Gold Wing 1800 GOLD WING TRIKE LEHMAN CONVERSION – $4200
From: metthary@gmail.com
Matthew Hartley
this is a fake. It does exist on E-Bay and I have spoke with the owner and someone is using the information he has posted and scamming people to send shipping fees and the bike is yours. Please beware
July 27th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I was contacted by a man of the name Martin Beavers after sending a resume as a personal assistant. I was very skeptical as this offer seems too good to be true: Below is a string of e-mails we have sent to one another. My intention was to have the bank research the check before staring any “assignments” But after doing my own resaerch I am sure this is indeed a scam
Re: personal assistant
From: Martin Beavers (choicehyland@gmail.com)
Sent: Tue 7/27/10 8:21 AM
To: LAUREN TRIPLETT (ahtlauren@hotmail.com)
Dear Jessica,
Thanks for your response and hope to hear back from me on Wednesday, July 28th 2010.
Regards,
Martin Beavers
On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 7:29 AM, LAUREN TRIPLETT wrote:
Hello Martin,
I am happy to accept the position as your personal assistant. Most of the business I do is via e-mail so that is usually the best way to reach me. I will notify you as soon as I recieve my first check/package. There is a UPS store less than 5 minutes from my house. On saturday I am volunteering at the zoo until 5pm, other than that my schedule is open to get as much done for you as possible. Please dont hesitate to e-mail or call me if you need to get ahold of me.
Thanks again,
Jessica “Lauren” Triplett
PS- I go by my middle name -Lauren, but my bank account and all business I conduct is under my full name. Hope to hear from you soon
——————————————————————————–
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:06:50 -0700
Subject: Re: personal assistant
From: choicehyland@gmail.com
To: ahtlauren@hotmail.com
Dear Jessica,
Thanks for your response. After review of your details, I am glad to inform you that your application has been approved and I have accepted you as my personal assistant. Your official start date is Wednesday, July 28th 2010. One of my clients will send you a payment of $2950 between Wednesday, July 28th 2010 and Friday, July 30th 2010. I will keep you posted as soon as the payment is sent to you. As soon as you receive the payment, Take it to the bank and cash it. Deduct $300 for your first week payment and send the balance of $2650 to the Electronic store am purchasing some electronics from through Western Union Money Transfer . I will email you the information needed to send the money to the electronic store as soon as the payment is sent to you.
Accept my congratulations and please confirm to let me know that this email has been received.
Regards,
Martin Beavers
Tel: +447565179692
On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 9:06 PM, LAUREN TRIPLETT wrote:
Your Full Name: Jessica Lauren Triplett
Your Full Address:14272 N. Gil Balcome Ln, Surprise Az, 85379
Your Cell phone number:
Your Home phone number: same as above
Age:28
Present Occupation: Petsitter, dog trainer, Passion Parties sales rep and Mom/wife. Prior to moving to Arizona, I was a Veterinary technician and receptionist at a very busy 4 doctor hospital. I also volunteer at Wildlife World Zoo on saturdays training to be an assistant zookeeper.
——————————————————————————–
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:20:28 -0700
Subject: Re: personal assistant
From: choicehyland@gmail.com
To: ahtlauren@hotmail.com
Hello,
Thanks for your response. My name is Martin Beavers. I live in US but presently in London on a business trip and I need a part time personal assistant urgently to run my errands until I return back to the US by fourth week in October. I own an electronics and clothing store in London, United Kingdom. Here below is the job description.
1. You will run errands for three times a week and two hours each day.
2. You will do my business shopping.
3. You will receive my packages which will be shipped to the nearest UPS office to you. You will go to the UPS office and pick up the packages. The content of the packages are electronics, clothes, my business and personal letters. You will open the packages and confirm the contents for record purpose.
4. You will ship out some of the packages where I want them to be shipped to. (You don’t have to pay for the shipment. All expenses and taxes will be covered by me)
5. You will receive payments from my clients on my behalf which will be written payable to your name so you can cash them at your bank. The payments will be in either check or money order. The payments will be for the services you will be rendering and to do my business shopping.
Job Requirement
1. You must have good communicatin skill.
2. You must be efficient, reliable, responsible and trustworthy.
3. You mush be able to perform your tasks effectively
4. You should be able to work 3 times per week and 2 hours each day.
Payment and Work Duration
The Job will last for three months. I want to open another electronics and clothing store in the US when I return and If there is need to extend your services, an ammedment would be made to your wages and you will be notified accordingly. I will meet you in person by October when I return back to the US. I am willing to pay $300 per week. Your weekly payment will be deducted from the payments sent to you by my clients.
I need the service of a personal assistant because I am always out of town for business trips. The lists and pictures of what to shop will be sent to you via email when am ready. No heavy packages are involved! The shopping will be done at any nearest stores to you. You will be shopping for Electronics and clothes. My personal UPS account number will be provided for shipping. I will provide clear set of instructions for each task to be done and funds to cover them.
If interested, Please confirm the following details:
Your Full Name:
Your Full Address with apt # (Not P.O.Box)
Your Cell phone number
Your Home phone number
Age:
Present Occupation:
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Martin Beavers
Tel: +447565179692
On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 12:52 PM, LAUREN TRIPLETT wrote:
——————————————————————————–
From: ahtlauren@hotmail.com
To: job-afbqg-1850950559@craigslist.org
Subject: Personal assistant
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:51:47 -0700
Hello there!
My name is Lauren and I am inquiring about your admin clerk/ personal assistant ad. I Have many years of reception experience in a very busy Veterinary Hospital. My duties were answering phones, taking messages, scheduling appointments for 4 different doctors,using various computer systems, filing, file prep, speaking with clients, nightly deposit, assisted in planning for fundraising events and much more. Refrences available
Lauren Triplett