Many of us are familiar with websites like Craigslist and Freecycle that allow internet users to buy, sell, and trade items from each other on a local level. You can post your own items, with or without pictures, to sell. You can post "item wanted" information and see if anyone out there has the merchandise you're looking for. Or you can just browse for something to buy. Either way, if you get involved in a transaction with someone, you are likely to be opened up to exchanging emails with strangers. Spammers see this as an opportunity to contact you and make it look like you're receiving an email relating to a posting when really it's spam. Let's take a look at how this scam could appear and what we can learn from it.
This is an example of a real email received in response to a Craigslist posting.
At this point, you have posted an item for sale. Craiglist has hidden your email address but allowed an interested person to email you. This John Doe is a stranger and is mailing you from an email address you've never seen before. But that's normal! That's expected. Here is an example of a recent scam email that has taken advantage of this common situation:
Perhaps you don't remember making an offer on such-and-such item or maybe you did try to buy something, but not that or maybe your spouse or child or somebody else in the house did and you want to see what they wanted to buy...whatever it is about this email that makes you click on the link, the next page will look like this:
- An email may seem to come from someone you should be communicating with but actually be a scam in disguise. If you do not personally recognize an email address from which you receive a message, do a little research and see if you can find the source of the email.
- When in doubt, NEVER EVER EVER click on a link or install a program if you can't identify its source.
- Even seemingly innocent things, like online bartering forums, can be used for harmful purposes. These scams in no way originate with Craigslist or Freecycle, so don't be wary of using them (at least not for these reasons).
