Affiliate Reviews Blog

Craigslist is an online classified ads page and community noticeboard started by Craig Newmark in 1995.  Originally intended as an email list for friends and coworkers on what was happening in the San Francisco Bay area, it has spread to be a worldwide phenomenon.  Users can find a relationship, a job or even a place to live. As with any online community forum though, Craigslist has its share of scammers, predators and trolls to be careful of.

Why Choose Craigslist for Online Searches

Craigslist.org is a popular site worldwide and collectively has over 10 million visitors viewing 4 billion pages each month.  Alexa ranks it as the 8th most popular site in the US and 31st around the world. The bulk of these visitors have no harmful intentions but there will always be some people, as on any online community, who may be seeking to harm others either physically or financially. There are, however, a number of very worthwhile reasons to use the Craigslist community for finding more information on what is happening in your town, meeting someone new or trading a paperclip for a house.

Many might wonder why Craigslist is so appealing. That answer is easy and is also why it can attract scammers.  It is almost free to use.  If you want to post an ad to sell your couch, it is free.  You will only get charged for some job postings, adult services and some apartment rentals.  Otherwise, you can reach out to thousands of local users at the click of a button and it won’t cost you a cent.

How to Protect Yourself on Craigslist

One of the best ways to protect yourself on Craigslist against identity thiefs, or any online community, is to safeguard your personal information. This means information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, social security numbers and other similar numbers should not be given out unless the individual is positive who will be receiving the information and that it is being transmitted over a secure server. This is important because this information can be used for identity theft or other fraudulent purposes.

Care should also be taken to avoid giving out personal information such as full name, address and phone number. This is especially important because such information could be used by someone with malicious intent to locate an individual.