Craigslist Becomes A Haven For Goofy Crimes

Craigslist, the free alternative to Ebay or classified ads that operates in a few American cities has unfortunately been abused by a few criminals or persons for illegal activities. What should be a great alternative to higher priced classified ads is being ruined by a few who misuse this well intentioned free service.

A 17 year old girl, not even old enough to vote, was recently arrested for promoting prostitution on one of the Craigslist sites. Nicknamed, "The Craigslist Madam", by some, this enterprising young woman helped arrange illegal sex play for cash by abusing the free services of Craigslist in one city.

Many ads for persons seeking sexual activity on Craigslist have proven to be illegal prostitution services, thinly disgused as a woman seking a date, or some illegal form of an escort service.

In Portland, Oregon, trailor thieves who had meth addictions would steal trailors, repaint them, and then list them on Craigslist, where a victim found his trailor and reported the crime to the police and the illegal theft business was closed down.

Shoplifted store merchandise is now regularly appearing on both Craigslist and Ebay, where shoplifting rings steal goods and post them for sharply reduced prices. Often drugs are involved with these criminals. One convicted criminal that sold Lego toys on Ebay, reportedly stole $1 million dollars worth of these toys from stores by using a product code transfer scheme that allowed far more expensive Lego set to be purchased for reduced prices by fooling the cashier and the computerized cash register system. Other Craigslist and Ebay criminal find that a simple roll of black electrical tape will defeat some store security systems.

A Tacoma, Washington woman was a victim of a either a horrible prank or a form of elaborate theft where a home she had for sale was legally stripped of all valuable items by an ad placed on Craigslist. Police are investigating who was involved, as the woman had a pronlem with some former tenants.

This is the unfortunate world where criminals will take perfectly good services that allow persons to sell unwanted or extra items on Craigslist or Ebay, and misuse these systems for criminal purposes. This is both immoral and deeply sad.