Text Message to CraigsList: It's Over, You've Cheated On Me For The Last Time
The scammers now own CraigsList in Atlanta. After an up and down relationship for the past few years, I am throwing in the towel and calling it quits on CraigsList Postings. Everytime I post a house "for sale" on CraigsList, I start getting calls from people who want to know if the house really is "for rent" at the incredibly low price of $800 per month.
Scammers copy my text and photos from the real estate for sale by broker ad and then post a "rental" ad by owner with a rental rate that is 1/3 the going rate. They try to get unwary renters to send them a deposit for this fake rental ad.
I tried to deal with these situations by notifying Craigslist of the fraud and by posting info online. The scammers are not even slowed down by these tactics. Craigslist often does not even bother to remove the fake rental ad post.
I have had it. We are done Craigslist. Take your free service and go home. CraigsList may be the preferred vehicle of some demographic groups but that will soon change when the lax posting policies allow scammers to completely take over the service. The news this morning in Atlanta reports a family was robbed at gun point after they advertised a diamond ring on Craigslist. The robber showed up to "purchase it" at gun point.
Sally English and The English Team. Atlanta real estate agents.
Realty Associates of Atlanta LLC; 3350 Northlake Parkway Atlanta, Georgia 30345 |770-939-3174
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Although it is not as rampant here, the only "leads" I get from Craig's list is the scammers. I may soon abandon ship as well.
Good Morning Sally...
I'm with ya.. because of Craigslist my inbox is flooded with spam. I get tons of emails.. that LOOK legitimate.. replies to my ads.. and when you open them thinking it's an inquiry... it's ALWAYS some crap about inheriting millions of dollars in Nigeria or b.s. ads wanting money to advertise with them. I'm tired of it too. Goodbye Craigslist. "Take your free service and gome home".. I love that! LOL
Have a beautiful week!
~ Vienna
Good for you Sally. Tough decision to quit anything that may bring business.
I agree, I hate the spam mail and unsolicited emails you receive.
I rarely deal with CL SPAM anymore since I started using the HTML from my website with photos WATERMARKED.
What SCAMMERS there are in our area CL are getting the photos from the PUBLIC MLS website where photos are NOT Watermarked....I've asked our local MLS to watermark the photos with LARGER letters and they have not responded....I'll continue to POST and get clients!!!
Barb: Just concerned I am putting my listing clients at risk by opening them up to this scam. Thanks for the support!
Vienna: I get a ton of spam in my Inbox but Google has a wonderful screening mechanism. If they get through one time, I make sure that they cant use the same email address to get through a second time. If they get through a second time with a different address, I block them with some of the words they use in the ad.
Ocean View Realty: Yep, hard to walk away from any source of revenue in this market!
Best to all!
Sally English
That is scary posting something and then having someone show up to rob them...
Wallace
RE: "I rarely deal with CL SPAM anymore since I started using the HTML from my website with photos WATERMARKED.
What SCAMMERS there are in our area CL are getting the photos from the PUBLIC MLS website where photos are NOT Watermarked....I've asked our local MLS to watermark the photos with LARGER letters and they have not responded....I'll continue to POST and get clients!!!"
These scammers are picking up the html from my postlets ads. I copy the postlet html to Craigslist. Is this the same as the watermark you mention?
Ritu: Thanks for the comment and yes, hating the spam.
Pat: yep, sent a chill down my spine too when I read about the "hold up"
Sally
The only hits I get from CL are spam. I think you are right that there are better places to post. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I got a legitimate call on anything I have posted there.
The few homes that I have had posted to CL have not caused me any issues, however, I really have never thought of it as anything but the current new fad so do not much bother with it. I have never ween the draw of that service.
Every listing that we have posted in 2010 on craigslist has been "cloned" as a rental ad. Half of them end up leaving our number in the ad somewhere so we get contacted with the info. Craigslist may end up jumping the shark and not existing within the next few months.
Peggy: So true. Spam is king on Craigslist
Gary: Well I have used it a lot over the years. Hate it that the scammers have taken over.
Robert: Sorry to hear I am not the only one being "cloned" Guess we could appear in the next Star wars revival movie.
Thanks to all,
Sally
Hi Sally:
I gave up long ago on Craigslist also.
Too much scamming going on there!
Sally, phots and info on one of my listings has been listed as a rental also. It was reported as spam earlier today. Will see how long it takes to remove.
Note that I did NOT post on CL in the first place. One reason is due to a similar situation that happened to a fellow REALTOR a few months ago, so I've stayed away from CL.
Reblogging to get the word out.
Thanks
I no longer use postlets because I had to watermark my photos INDIVIDUALLY before uploading SO I now use the CL export from my HERO hosted website that I can watermark with a click of my mouse for ALL properties - no more SCAMMERS
ALL MLS should allow AGENTS to watermark their photos BEFORE uploading to MLS * it can be done fairly easily through irfanview - which is FREE
The Craigslist scam continues in Atlanta. Latest wrinkle, scammers look up owners name and then create a fraudulent email address on Yahoo that incorporates the owners name in the address: Johndoe@yahoo.com.
One of my daughters classmates fell victim to this scam in Washington DC, actually sent in a deposit.
Derenda: Sorry you were a victim.
Wallace, good idea on water marking photos
Sally, I agree MLS's should consider watermarking photos. I am researching this topic right now and that is how I found your post. Our MLS has a public facing website so my idea is to watermark the MLS photos with that domain so the consumers start going to it instead of the aggregater sites like Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow, etc.