24-year-old Daniel Brandtof New York City went to a Coney Island apartment to meet what he thought was going to be a woman he met on craigslist. Instead, Brandt was shot in the head and two men ran off. Brandt later died at the hospital.
Police say they know who the suspects are and are awaiting search warrants.
Thanks to Gothamist.
I got an e-mail over the weekend from a professional escort who we’ll call Mary. She pointed me in the direction of archive.org and their Wayback Machine. Now I was familiar with the Wayback Machine but I never thought to run craigslist through it until now.
Mary says that craigslist has been building their fame off the backs of hookers since almost the beginning but they don’t dare tell the public how long they’ve been doing it.
Thanks to Mary’s tip I went through the Wayback Machine and the earliest I found that craigslist had the erotic services section listed on the front page was October 29, 2002. So for most of craigslist’s life, they’ve been using prostitution to attract users. If anything craigslist should give the prostitutes a cut. Also, we now have a date to ‘celebrate’ the day that craigslist started dallying in child prostitution and human trafficking.
Getting back to Mary she says that craigslist has basically used the women to build their site and now they act like they have no clue of what’s going on. Mary also says that she has been harassed and stalked by craigslist users in the past and that craigslist does nothing to protect its users. She says she has posted warnings about stalkers and lost clients because of it so basically like I’ve been saying it’s the inmates who are running the asylum at craigslist. Mary finds it ironic that the stalkers get the last say since craigslist was built on the backs of hookers.
Do I think that Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster are pimps? Not in the least. Pimps at least pay their girls.
Craigslist the new marketplace for stolen goods:
Check out the video report behind the link from Oregon TV station KDRV.
It just amazes me how regulated pawn shops are but yet craigslist isn’t.
I got the following anonymous e-mail yesterday.
WHY YOU NEED TO SINGLE OUT CRAIGSLIST AS THE WORLDS BIGGEST CRIME PLAYGROUND IM NOT SURE BUT YOU NEED TO GET A GRIP ON REALITY. YOU WANNA BE A VIGILANT Y COME ON DOWN TO THE HOOD. CLEAN THAT UP WITH ALL THAT ENERGY. oh and if you are female and are married…SCREW your husband once in awhile that will keep him off craigslist.
It sounds like someone doesn’t like the work I do. I’m guessing either a pimp or someone who uses craigslist to sell stolen goods. First off I’m not a vigilante. I’m just a guy with a website and an opinion. Secondly, why should I clean up the hood? Why can’t the hood clean itself up? And lastly I’m male and I don’t need some skank on craigslist to get my rocks off.
Thank you and have a nice day. 🙂
Received an e-mail from reader Hanna with a couple of craigslist scams she encountered.
Jamie Lescott to me
Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you.I am RevJamie lesscott,the owner of the house you are making enquiry of.Actually I resided in the house with my family,such as my wife and my only daugther before and resently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in the Madrid,Spain,and presently my house is still available for rent including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is urnised.Moreso Now,i went for a
Crusade in the West Africa and i will like you to get in touch with my wife in the state for more discussion as She is with the keys and the document to the house.Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute mentenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you to keep it tidy all the time so
that i will be glad to see it neat when i came for a check up.i do that once in a while.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.Where are you located and where do you see our advert also let us know if you need more pictures.
Email my wife Elizabeth.(Elizajamie@gmail.com ) and she will attends to you better.
God bless you
A crusade? Is he off to find the holy grail? His wife will attends to you better? Unrised? Is the house made of matzoh?
I’ll bring you more of Hannah’s scam emails in the days to come.
If you want to share your scam story either send me an e-mail.
Man charged with seeking guide to child sex in Thailand:
51-year-old Michael Patrick Mahoney of Santa Barbara, California was arrested for advertising on craigslist that he needed a child sex tour guide for Thailand.
A federal agent posed as the tour guide. Mahoney was arrested at LAX after he boarded a flight to Bangkok. He was found with stuffed toys, candy, and other ‘treats’ for his victims.
Mahoney is looking at 30 years in federal prison.
I wonder what section of craigslist he posted his ad in. Hmmmmmmmm.
Police warn of Craigslist housing scam:
A University of Colorado student was partially taken in by a craigslist rental scam.
The scammer used the old moving out of the country to be a missionary routine and the student bought it because his own family had moved to Africa to be missionaries once. What are the odds of that? This guy should play the lottery soon.
The scammers weren’t even trying that hard since they asked the student to wire the money to Nigeria. Luckily he didn’t but he had already sent them his personal information.
The student drove by the house and noticed a for sale sign. He contacted the actual realtor who told him the house was not for rent.
I received the following e-mail from Amber in New Jersey about a scam that someone tried to pull on her while looking for an apartment on craigslist…
The guy from the UK used this email: “Alan Erickson” alan.ercks@gmail.com. Now when suspicions arose because I’d asked him to call me a number of times or to send his number for me to call and he never answered certain questions, kept pushing the money wires and some bullshit third party parcel service that’s blacklisted from the Better Business Bureau (www.tnt.com) I googled his name and found a broker in New Jersey who dealt in apartments in and around Montclair where our supposed apt was. I thought….hmm, I’ll call him, sort of beat him to the punch and so I left a message. The REAL Alan Erickson called me back and explained that this guy had done this to many people, and he’s tried to track the guy down and get him for identity theft/fraud. The ad has been removed because we reported for abuse by myself and the real Alan…so I wish I’d have saved it. Basically, if it is too good to be true…on Craig’s List, it probably is.
SSF: SCAMMERS TARGETING NANNIES ADVERTISING ON CRAIGSLIST:
Scammers are now trying a new angle on the old fake check scam. This time they’re targeting people who are looking for work as nannies. The scammers send the nannies the fake checks saying they’re paying them in advance. Of course, the checks are over the amount requested asking the nannies to wire the difference back.
As we should all know by now that’s one of the oldest scams on the internet. Luckily none of the nannies that the article talked to fell for the scam.
House-for-rent scams turning up online:
This is just your typical article about the housing scams on craigslist and how one family almost fell for it in Beaverton, Oregon.
However the seller of the house did a pretty ingenious thing to prevent people from being scammed.
After taking a second look at the house in person, Sami noticed the house’s real owner had posted a sign out front reading, “private property: if you have seen this home on craigslist you are being scammed.”
Good thinking on the owner’s part. People don’t get scammed and he doesn’t have to break it to people that they have been scammed.