One of the most popular Internet venues of the past few years has been Craigslist. On Craigslist.com you can find a job, or look for a job, you can sell that old china cabinet your mother gave you that you always hated, buy a perfect crib for the baby you’re expecting or even give away the Franklin Stove that came with your house. Too bad numerous scammers can also be found on this Internet phenomenon also.

One scheme that is often seen involves listing a car for an amazingly low price. The car supposedly belongs to someone in the service and is being shipped home, but money is needed for current expenses or some other such thing before it arrives. The unsuspecting buyer sends the cash, only to be left in the lurch. No car ever arrives.

Recently a man was arrested for advertising on Craigslist for putting an ad to rent a house he did not own. Before he was caught be the authorities he made away with thousands of dollars. In the meantime, many people were out money they could not afford. The prospective renters could have easily avoided losing money if they had done a little checking.

Another common scam involves fake job postings. That’s why it is always wise to approach “work from home” ads with caution. These offers almost always require a fee up front and any work, if it appears, is not worth one’s time. If you ever get a phone number, its easy to use a telephone look-up directory such as reverse-ip-lookup.info/10/index.jsp to make sure the person is not be impersonating someone else.

When considering anything on Craigslist, it is very important that a thorough investigation be conducted. Money should never be sent for anything without a personal review or some type of a legitimate guarantee on the item. Personal ads should especially be treated with extreme caution as there are people out there looking to take advantage of lonely souls trying to make a connection.

Its a sad fact that many people never receive items they sent payment for. They end up losing their money, with no way of getting it back. It is a good idea to check the location of the item for sale and, if it is nearby, go and pick it up personally. This allows you to take a look at the merchandise before actually paying for it.

Craigslist is a free service for sellers of goods that has benefited a lot of people. It is unfortunate that scam artists have also discovered this site and are only too happy to take advantage of it. Any use of this program should be approached with the same caution one would use when dealing with any unknown person to avoid being cheated out of their funds.

Anytime there is a request to have money wired to a distant location, or a money order or cashiers check is being requested, those are red flags and you may not want to deal with those sellers. It is best to buy locally and meet the sellers face-to-face to exchange funds. Additionally, you should never give out personal information and, most of all, use gut instinct to decline any offers that sound too good to be true.