Craigslist is a great online resource, a huge, largely free service designed for people who want to buy or sell a car, DVD, house, or find someone to repair a computer or lay brick or someone who needs such a service. Craigslist is very useful, but be careful because it looks a bit like a neighborhood coffee shop bulletin board. There is no backup, no protection for the people using it, other than common sense.
When I searched for a job in the last few months, I found that many, if not most, programs on Craigslist are scams. . So, if you find yourself looking at Craigslist ads, beware of scams. Since my field is education, I’ve had particular experience with education scams on Craigslist, but I’m sure the same general scams can be found in other fields.
In fact, there is one lawyer scam that is so wild that the author of the report has been accused of making up a story about it.
You’re wondering what I mean by scam. To offer my readers something, a service, in fact the termination of taking something from them.
The most common use of Craigslist for scams
The most common scam in education is advertising jobs on Craigslist for teachers. If you answer (as I said), you immediately “earn” without bothering with details such as certification, résumés, or FBI background checks . Family in United-states-air-force”>United in a month or in administrative administrative site when I was at the lawyer’s office here in Lakeland, Florida. . Since the part-time job paid about $30,000 a year, I suspected. Then I got an email with a link to download the software to complete a job application (and that link turned out to be one site in Europe eastern). Would that program allow me to apply for a job, or could spyware have been installed on my computer? I Googled the web and found the answer.
Many Craigslist ads for writing or editing sites happen to offer to pay for a subscription service to find writing or editing positions. Generally, when I want to know the job, I assume that I will be paid money, not what I will pay. (By the way, this is a site – reputable, as far as I know – that offers daily opportunities to write and edit pages… for free.)
When I responded to Craigslist, I was told that, unfortunately, the position was already filled. Then my email box was filled with all kinds of junk. Since I use several different email addresses (you can get free email addresses with Gmail among other services), I could tell that the junk streams are most likely with that particular ad.
There are certainly some legitimate ads on Craigslist. Let’s look at some ways to identify scams.
How to identify Craigslist employment scams
If the job sounds too good to be true, it probably is. How about a “Website Owner” job for which “Computer experience is desirable but not necessary”? How about ad, as mentioned earlier, for part time paying $30,000 per year?
Recently, Craigslist posted positions across the country for “library administrators” with a salary of “$16.65 to $18.83/hour.” This position ($18.83/hour equals over $750/week), “requires a high school diploma or GED equivalent.” Surprisingly, libraries in North Carolina, Maryland, and Arizona now offer the same job, the same description, and pay the same.
Ask yourself if the ad has suggested knowledge of the job or area. The Craigslist section for Lakeland, Florida (where I live), is Tampa, less than fifty miles to the west, and Orlando less than fifty miles to the east. The state of Wyoming (the tenth largest in area, but the smallest in population) has only one Craigslist section because of its slightly more than half a million people spread over 97,818 square miles. If you find a job listing for “Wyoming”, nothing more specific, you may be surprised. Similarly, when, on a Craigslist listing for jobs in Baton Rouge, I saw a description of a job in “City of Baton,” I was skeptical.
When you find an interesting job, check with Google, like I did that job for a library assistant. I entered “library assistant” and “$16.65 to $18.83/hour.” All three, by the way, had a Gmail return address, not likely an address for a public library, perhaps a “.gov” or “.edu” or “.org” domain.
If you have an email address other than an anonymized Craigslist address, Google that address. I once found a teacher searching for “my kid from Spain this summer” coming to over thirty states in the United States. Either he had a lot of kids, or they were going to be on the road most of the summer.
Beware of foreign English ads on Craigslist. I once saw the teacher “my son who loves his books, but needs some help.” I Googled those words and found that there was a need for a sex-ambiguous kid tutor in about a dozen cities. Another odd construction is the “Apply to” email address.
When you look at a list of pages for Craigslist ads (such as “Education/Teaching Jobs”), look for “img” in the listing. That simply tells us that the picture is on the page. If you’re a car, you’re looking for a picture, but what kind of pictures will they have to work on?
If you click on the subject, if you have a slow Internet connection, you may notice that the text is the image itself. If you don’t notice this, search a few words from to Google and select the extract and execute it. You know you can’t, because the text is an image, so you won’t be able to support it on Google.
Some ads have a link. You click on them, and… And where you say that page will take you, it isn’t. Once, I ended up on a page that pumped spyware onto my computer. I provide a more general form for you to fill out, including a blank for your Social Security number. I applied for forms not about applying for a job but about applying for a cell phone service.
Here’s a poptest on Craigslist job scams
OK, guys, open your files… Oops, just having a flashback there (I am looking for a job in education). But take a look at some actual Craigslist ads and decide whether to respond to them.
Let’s look at how many times I’ve seen it on Craigslist. Here are two different holes;
Hello, I am looking for a good teacher who will teach my ten year old old. /a> daughter:
Looking for someone to take my kid in:
For the element will be traced to I’ve seen this same list (including “Italian” – maybe “Italian”?) in dozens and dozens of posts – always all in caps:
MATHEMATICS, FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, CHINESE, COMPUTER SCIENCE, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY, ART, SINGING, DANCE, Bible study. On the other hand, if you are looking to hire a licensed teacher, you will follow the requirements of that license. There is a lot of interest in looking for a Bohemian teacher and for teachers of six other languages. How many people will respond to violin teacher or rough coach? I think only serious violinists and champions apply for what is likely to be a serious job offered.
How to avoid a Craigslist job scam
The only sure fire way to avoid getting scammed when you ad on Craigslist, is to not respond to any ads. Use your own best judgment. Take note, be careful, and please, if you know of any real work slots, drop me a line.
I need to confirm that I am quite a fan of Craigslist. I’ve helped friends by selling everything from a drill to a vintage barometer collection on Craigslist, and I’ve had great luck helping friends by advertising
