How to Keep Yourself Safe Against a Potential Craigslist Killer Using CraigGuard
The popular online advertising site Craigslist has been beset by controversy in recent years due to the emergence of several murderers given the name “Craigslist killer” by media because they allegedly met their victims through ads posted on the site. The most famous of these killers is Philip Haynes Markoff (February 12, 1986 – August 15, 2010), who was charged with robbing and murdering Julisa Brisman, who had posted an ad on Craigslist offering erotic services. Markoff, who was seen as being responsible and a good citizen, was also charged with two other armed robberies. He maintained his innocence and entered a plea of not guilty during his arraignment. While detained in Boston’s Nasuha County Jail awaiting trial, Markoff was found dead on August 5, 2010, an apparent suicide.
Before Markoff, Michael John Anderson was the first murderer to be dubbed a “Craigslist killer” when he was tried and convicted for the murder of Katherine Ann Olson on October 2007. Anderson had seen Olson’s Craigslist ad offering her services as a nanny. Andersoncreated the false identity of a married woman named Amy and lured Olson to his parents’ house on the pretext of a job interview, then shot her in the back.
The most recent killer to hold the name is the Long Island Craigslist killer, whose murderrampage so far is believed to total four women, two of who are reported to be prostituteswho used Craigslist ads, and whose bodies were dumped along a remote beach road. One of the alleged victims, prostitute Shannan Gilbert, had placed a 911 call on the day of her disappearance claiming that she feared for her life and that she was trying to escape from her client. Shannan’s mother, Mari Gilbert, said she had been contacting police over her daughter’s disappearance but had been ignored until it became clear that Shannan may have been the victim of a serial killer. The man Shannan named in the 911 call is seen as a crucial lead in the case.
If these incidents have made you concerned about the safety of placing or replying to a Craigslist ad, a new service can help give you peace of mind. CraigGuard can help alert you to questionable and possibly dangerous Craigslist posters. Keep in mind that Craigslist has no safety features similar to eBay’s user ratings to warn users against unscrupulous Craigslist ad posters. To use CraigGuard, all you have to do is get the real name, address and other particulars of a buyer or seller you’re planning to deal with. Then log on to the CraigGuard site and use this information to find reports about them posted by other users. This will help you avoid dealing with unscrupulous users who may try to cheat you, or worse, hurt you. Of course, if you have had problematic dealings with a Craigslist poster in the past, you should also share your experiences by creating a Buyer or Seller Report using the convenient online report form. This could spare others from the bad experience you have had and possibly keep someone safe.
Before Markoff, Michael John Anderson was the first murderer to be dubbed a “Craigslist killer” when he was tried and convicted for the murder of Katherine Ann Olson on October 2007. Anderson had seen Olson’s Craigslist ad offering her services as a nanny. Andersoncreated the false identity of a married woman named Amy and lured Olson to his parents’ house on the pretext of a job interview, then shot her in the back.
The most recent killer to hold the name is the Long Island Craigslist killer, whose murderrampage so far is believed to total four women, two of who are reported to be prostituteswho used Craigslist ads, and whose bodies were dumped along a remote beach road. One of the alleged victims, prostitute Shannan Gilbert, had placed a 911 call on the day of her disappearance claiming that she feared for her life and that she was trying to escape from her client. Shannan’s mother, Mari Gilbert, said she had been contacting police over her daughter’s disappearance but had been ignored until it became clear that Shannan may have been the victim of a serial killer. The man Shannan named in the 911 call is seen as a crucial lead in the case.
If these incidents have made you concerned about the safety of placing or replying to a Craigslist ad, a new service can help give you peace of mind. CraigGuard can help alert you to questionable and possibly dangerous Craigslist posters. Keep in mind that Craigslist has no safety features similar to eBay’s user ratings to warn users against unscrupulous Craigslist ad posters. To use CraigGuard, all you have to do is get the real name, address and other particulars of a buyer or seller you’re planning to deal with. Then log on to the CraigGuard site and use this information to find reports about them posted by other users. This will help you avoid dealing with unscrupulous users who may try to cheat you, or worse, hurt you. Of course, if you have had problematic dealings with a Craigslist poster in the past, you should also share your experiences by creating a Buyer or Seller Report using the convenient online report form. This could spare others from the bad experience you have had and possibly keep someone safe.
How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of a Craigslist Scam
The many controversies Craigslist has been entangled in over the past few years have highlighted how the free ad site has become a haven for scammers and bad check writers. Of course, the majority of buyers and sellers on Craigslist are still honest and reliable. However, the anonymity afforded by dealing online has created opportunities for many conmen to create scams that prey on the unwary. For example, one of the most frequently-reported scams involves a buyer replying to a seller’s ad. The buyer sends a check as payment for the item, only the amount is more than the asking price. The buyer then contacts the seller, apologizes for the mistake and then asks the seller to wire back the excess. They may even ask them to keep a little extra as compensation for their troubles. Unfortunately, when the check is deposited, it turns out to be a fake and the buyer is liable for the entire amount of the check. The site has even been used by pimps and other dangerous criminals who had used ads on the Adult Services section of the site to prostitute women and children against their will. Of course, increased awareness of these dangers has helped cut down on the number of people victimized by these scams but new victims continue to emerge every day.
Here are a few tips on how to avoid becoming the victim of a fraud.
Once you have an account on CraigGuard, you can help improve the Internet safety of Craigslist by reporting any bad experiences you may have had with buyers or sellers on the site. All you have to do is use the online report form to create a descriptive report about them and it goes into a searchable database of buyers and sellers. This database can then be accessed by other Craigslist users who can conduct searches using the name, location and other particulars of the person they are planning to deal with. So why not help make the Internet a safer place for everybody by becoming a member of the CraigGuard community?
Here are a few tips on how to avoid becoming the victim of a fraud.
- Only deal with a local buyer or seller that you can meet in person to complete the transaction. Avoid dealing with replies from overseas.
- Never deal with people who don’t use reputable payment solutions such as PayPal but ask you to wire funds through wire services such as Western Union.
- Never give financial information such as credit card numbers or account numbers online.
- If you are sent a check, be careful of fake cashier’s checks.
- If you meet with a buyer at your house, make sure that there is someone with you to serve as protection. And check them out carefully before asking them to come to your home.
- If you want to avoid being the victim of a scam, you can also register for an account on CraigGuard. CraigGuard is a new online service that seeks to ensure the online safety of Craigslist users by creating a user rating system for Craigslist similar to that already put in place by eBay.
Once you have an account on CraigGuard, you can help improve the Internet safety of Craigslist by reporting any bad experiences you may have had with buyers or sellers on the site. All you have to do is use the online report form to create a descriptive report about them and it goes into a searchable database of buyers and sellers. This database can then be accessed by other Craigslist users who can conduct searches using the name, location and other particulars of the person they are planning to deal with. So why not help make the Internet a safer place for everybody by becoming a member of the CraigGuard community?
Keep Your Kids Safe Against Prostitution/Human Trafficking with CraigGuard
Recently, the online ad site Craigslist was in the news once again, as two men from Missoula, Montana were reported to be using the site for underage prostitution/human trafficking. Richard A. Carpita and Anthony J. Brazinton were allegedly using ads placed on the site to solicit child prostitutes who traded sex for money and drugs. Carpita was charged with one count of promoting prostitution and three counts of aggravated promotion of prostitution, all felonies, while Brazinton was charged with conspiracy to promote prostitution and conspiracy to commit aggravated promotion of prostitution.Two other people implicated with the alleged prostitution ring were slapped withmisdemeanor charges. Neil Valentine Smith was identified by three teenage girls involved with the case and pled guilty to a misdemeanor prostitution charge. Dwight George Gappert, who was identified as a client, pled not guilty to the charge of being a client of prostitution.The controversy once again fired calls for Craigslist to shut down its Adult Services section, since the site cannot or would not screen the ads posted on the site. A recent report by cable news channel CNN stated that the FBI had found over 2,800 ads for child prostitution on the site. However, Craigslist spokespersons have denied that they have failed to act against criminal activity on the site, citing moves such as an agreement to enact restrictions on the Erotic Services section entered into with 43 states’ attorneys general in November 2008 that implemented a phone verification system that would require posters to provide a real phone number and implementing $10 listing fees for the section that required posters to provide a credit card number. They also claimed that they aggressively patrol their site for violations.
Increasing pressure on Craigslist resulted in the site closing the adult services section as of September 2010 in the US, although the link still remained active outside the US. However, organizations opposing human trafficking, whilelauding the move, expressed concern that criminals selling women and kids for sex against their will would simply move to other, less-policed sites, making it more difficult to track them. Meanwhile, many people continued to note that some personal ads posted on the free ads section of the site seem to be thinly veiled solicitations for prostitution.
Despite these moves by Craigslist, parents should still remain vigilant in order to ensure thesafety of their children. One practical way they can do this is by sharing their experiences on CraigGuard. CraigGuard was set up to ensure the safety of Craigsite users by alerting them about questionable posters placing ads on the site. All you have to do is register for an account on the site.
Once you’re a member, you can use the search function of CraigGuard to search for suspicious posters using their name and other vital information. Parents can also use the report form to create a negative report about a particular buyer or seller in other to warn others not to deal with these persons. By becoming a member of the CraigGuard community, you can help make Craigslist a safer site for all users
Increasing pressure on Craigslist resulted in the site closing the adult services section as of September 2010 in the US, although the link still remained active outside the US. However, organizations opposing human trafficking, whilelauding the move, expressed concern that criminals selling women and kids for sex against their will would simply move to other, less-policed sites, making it more difficult to track them. Meanwhile, many people continued to note that some personal ads posted on the free ads section of the site seem to be thinly veiled solicitations for prostitution.
Despite these moves by Craigslist, parents should still remain vigilant in order to ensure thesafety of their children. One practical way they can do this is by sharing their experiences on CraigGuard. CraigGuard was set up to ensure the safety of Craigsite users by alerting them about questionable posters placing ads on the site. All you have to do is register for an account on the site.
Once you’re a member, you can use the search function of CraigGuard to search for suspicious posters using their name and other vital information. Parents can also use the report form to create a negative report about a particular buyer or seller in other to warn others not to deal with these persons. By becoming a member of the CraigGuard community, you can help make Craigslist a safer site for all users
Safety First
Craigslist has become one of the most popular sites on the Internet, In fact, it was recently reported that Craigslist was the fourth most-searched word on the web in the US in 2010. However, based on recent reports, the classified ad site may also be one of the most unsafe places on the Internet, particularly for kids. Consider these:
A child prostitution ring was recently uncovered in Missoula, Mississippi which used Craigslist postings to solicit clients for underage prostitutes between the ages of sixteen and nineteen.
No less than three killers have been dubbed by the media as Craigslist killers because they used postings on the site to find their victims. The most infamous of them was Philip Markoff, who was indicted for the armed robbery and murder of Julisa Brisman. Recently, however, a Long Island Craigslist killer emerged who may have killed at least four women, two of them prostitutes, and dumped their bodies on a deserted stretch of beach.
Fake check scams continue to be prevalent on the site, with many sellers reporting that they are being contacted by fraudulent buyers who try to cheat them by sending them counterfeit checks for an amount larger than the selling price, then asking them to wire back the excess amount.
CraigGuard, which was inspired by the user rating system put in place by eBay to safeguard its users. The purpose of CraigGuard is simply to make the Net a safer place by helping root out dangerous posters on Craigslist. Although her initial purpose in creating the site was to help prevent bad sales, the focus of the site has expanded to helping prevent crimes.
The way the site works is simple. Users register to create an account on the site. They can then search the site’s database for dangerous posters using the name, location and other particulars. Alternately, if they have had a bad experience with a particular Craigslist user, they can also create their own report using the online report form, which will be posted in either the buyers or sellers report forum. Of course, it’s not all negative, since you can, and should, also post positive reports about users you’ve had good experiences with in order to encourage people to also deal with them. CraigGuard has already garnered positive media reports from outlets such as Fox News, CNET and The Wall Street Journal. While the site is still in its infancy, having gone online only in 2009, it has already received tens of thousands of unique visitors, and more are expected to log on and join as awareness about the site and its goals continues to grow. Brock sees the site as her small contribution to helping society and making the world a better place to live, and encourages people to be good citizens by using the site to help others.
A child prostitution ring was recently uncovered in Missoula, Mississippi which used Craigslist postings to solicit clients for underage prostitutes between the ages of sixteen and nineteen.
No less than three killers have been dubbed by the media as Craigslist killers because they used postings on the site to find their victims. The most infamous of them was Philip Markoff, who was indicted for the armed robbery and murder of Julisa Brisman. Recently, however, a Long Island Craigslist killer emerged who may have killed at least four women, two of them prostitutes, and dumped their bodies on a deserted stretch of beach.
Fake check scams continue to be prevalent on the site, with many sellers reporting that they are being contacted by fraudulent buyers who try to cheat them by sending them counterfeit checks for an amount larger than the selling price, then asking them to wire back the excess amount.
CraigGuard, which was inspired by the user rating system put in place by eBay to safeguard its users. The purpose of CraigGuard is simply to make the Net a safer place by helping root out dangerous posters on Craigslist. Although her initial purpose in creating the site was to help prevent bad sales, the focus of the site has expanded to helping prevent crimes.
The way the site works is simple. Users register to create an account on the site. They can then search the site’s database for dangerous posters using the name, location and other particulars. Alternately, if they have had a bad experience with a particular Craigslist user, they can also create their own report using the online report form, which will be posted in either the buyers or sellers report forum. Of course, it’s not all negative, since you can, and should, also post positive reports about users you’ve had good experiences with in order to encourage people to also deal with them. CraigGuard has already garnered positive media reports from outlets such as Fox News, CNET and The Wall Street Journal. While the site is still in its infancy, having gone online only in 2009, it has already received tens of thousands of unique visitors, and more are expected to log on and join as awareness about the site and its goals continues to grow. Brock sees the site as her small contribution to helping society and making the world a better place to live, and encourages people to be good citizens by using the site to help others.
