Phony Craigslist Ad Leads To Looting Of Home

By Mike Sachoff - Wed, 03/26/2008 - 09:42

Hoax calls into question Craigslist policy

A Jacksonville, Oregon man received an unpleasant surprise Saturday after a pair of bogus ads on Craigslist appeared stating his belongings were free for the taking.

CraigsList Logo
(Photo Credit: CraigsList)

The ads said that the owner of the home Robert Salisbury was forced to leave the area immediately and all his possessions, including a horse were free for anyone to take. Salisbury realized something was very wrong when he received a call from a woman who had stopped by his house to take his horse.

He rushed home to a surreal scene. "I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give stuff back," Salisbury told The Seattle Times. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."

Around 30 people were still taking items from the house as Salisbury did his best to stop them. He said because they saw the Craigslist ad online they believed it was true.

Jacksonville police are investigating the incident and are working with Craigslist legal team to find out who placed the phony ad.

The hoax calls into question Craigslist policy of anonymity with its posters that some say is too loose. A similar incident happened in Tacoma, Washington after a woman posted an ad on Craigslist telling people to "please help yourself to anything on the property."

News Tags: Advertising, Robert Salisbury, Craigslist, Oregon

About the author:
Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews.

10 Comments

By Rober D. (WPN reader) - Thu, 04/24/2008 - 11:25

hmmm, crowbar out of trunk,

hmmm, crowbar out of trunk, direct eye contact and a "put it down NOW" in a calm but stern voice shoulda got the point across. ...they just keep breeding don't they.

By Saurkraut (WPN reader) - Sat, 03/29/2008 - 08:12

Some things about this

Some things about this didn't ring true.

1. Why didn't he call the cops?

2. Why didn't he jot down license plate numbers?

3. If people took the time to patiently explain that they could take his stuff due to the Craig's List ad, then why didn't he get their names and phone numbers?

4. I find it VERY hard to believe that Craig's List doesn't have a trace which will show what IP addy posted this ad.

One wonders if the man staged it himself to collect homeowner's insurance...?

By Ken Wong (WPN reader) - Thu, 03/27/2008 - 18:47

Problem is Craigslist Itself DOES NOT Monitor Ads

I'm not surprised to read this - but I am surprised that more incidents like this haven't been in the news regarding Craigslist ads.

Did you know that Craigslist ads are ... COMMUNITY MONITORED? The significance of this is that Craigslist administrators/staff DO NOT monitor ads that are posted. Instead, posters/visitors like YOU and ME monitor the ads.

I didn't know this until I was posting ads regarding my massage services in the therapeutic services section and watched them get deleted on an ongoing basis ... in spite of the face that they were completely within Craigslist guidelines. When I inquired in the help forums, it was then that I learned that other posters ... my competition ... were deleting my ads. What was worse was that those answering my questions in the help forums seemed to be major Craigslist members-geeks who do nothing but hang out on the internet and felt impowered to be granted to answer questions in the help forums. The way they responded toward my questions led me to be thankful that I don't work with any of them in real life (because they lacked any hint of judgement/interpersonal skills/common sense). Bottom Line: Craigslist needs to monitor ads itself and NOT leave the responsibility to website visitors & ad posters.

Let me put it another way. How effective do you think law enforcement would be in any U.S. city if there were no police officers ... and the job was left for ordinary citizens to police themselves?

Ken Wong - Honolulu massage therapist

By SoyLaCalle.com (WPN reader) - Thu, 03/27/2008 - 17:26

Craigslist Hoax

Okay,

I seem to be missing something.

Why didn't this moron simply call the Police and have the people arrested (or threatened with arrest) fot Larceny? If he has his ID and says he didn't place the ad, the Police have to take his word for it.

By David (WPN reader) - Thu, 03/27/2008 - 11:56