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Beware craigslist "free canoe" scam

He/she has been posting those ads for almost a year now, always 'borrowing' someone else's pic to post. Really annoying when you search multi-state on Search Tempest!
 
I've deleted dozens of those fake free canoe ads. I often look for canoes that are close to family members who are willing to pick one up and store it for me so I run across a few every time I open CL. Welding equipment is another thing I look for often and there are about 5-6 different set of welder pictures that get used the same way- crazy low prices for desirable machines. Lately some of the canoes seem to be getting nicer in the "free canoe" ads.

Best regards,


Lance
 
I've deleted dozens of those fake free canoe ads. I often look for canoes that are close to family members who are willing to pick one up and store it for me so I run across a few every time I open CL. Welding equipment is another thing I look for often and there are about 5-6 different set of welder pictures that get used the same way- crazy low prices for desirable machines. Lately some of the canoes seem to be getting nicer in the "free canoe" ads.

Best regards,


Lance

How do you delete them?
 
How do you delete them?

In the heading of the ad next to the "Reply" button there is a little flag icon. Click on that to flag the ad and it will delete it. CL is user policed so anyone can usually flag (delete) an ad. I killed another free canoe ad today.....

Best regards,


Lance
 
In the heading of the ad next to the "Reply" button there is a little flag icon. Click on that to flag the ad and it will delete it. CL is user policed so anyone can usually flag (delete) an ad. I killed another free canoe ad today.....

Best regards,


Lance

It usually takes multiple people flagging for the ad to get deleted, although when you flag it, it removes it removes the ad from your view. From C-List:

CL users flag prohibited postings they find via the flagging link at the top of each posting.

Free classified ads sufficiently flagged are subject to automated removal.

Postings may also be flagged for removal by CL staff or CL automated systems.

Millions of ads are removed by flagging monthly, nearly all of which violate the CL terms of use.
 
My understanding it takes multiple flags before anyone at CL will even look at a listing, Reporting via the contact form will get more immediate action.

FYI - This type of scam (fake item for sale) has been around long before CL or the internet, in the old days it was a fake car, truck, tractor, sailboat. The selection has varied in recent years to include bicycles and now canoes.

Years ago there was an infamous tractor that was listed thousands of times on eBay supposedly coming from just about every country on earth. Of course there was no tractor they all used the same vintage photo from a magazine.
 
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Whether a post need multiple flags seems to depend on the moderation of each individual CL board and to some degree on the category . For many of them, if not most of them, a single flag seems to do the trick.

Lance
 
Well if that were true, they wouldn't tell you not to worry about accidental flags. Anyway, I always get a kick out of ads posted up here in NY with a background that is clearly New Mexico. Or the ads that have borrowed a pic from your old ad or someone you know (Turtle)!
 

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I have overhauled and spruced up a good number of welder/generators for resale to help pay for the machines I've kept. Pictures of one of my nicer restorations kept popping up on CL all over the east coast for nearly two years after I sold it complete with our farmhouse and one of our chicken coops in the background. I would be surprised if they didn't make more money scamming folks with pictures of that welder than I did selling the welder.

Best regards,


Lance
 
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