If You Run a Personal Ad on Craigslist

So, I decided to post a Craigslist personal ad. For what it is worth, I am a single man, turning 50 next month, with no children and no girlfriend. I decided to post a rather lengthy ad describing what I am like and what I am looking for in a partner.

I started running the ad in February. Since that time I have gotten at least 10 responses. From now on, I am going to start keeping track. The ad contains a simple request that I make to see if anyone who responds is legitimate or is running a scam. So far, only 1 of 10 or more has honored my simple request. All other responses have been like this one from "Eleanor Daniels":

Subject: Happy Sunday!!!

I am Eleanor Daniels i am single i am 35 and i am looking someone to be in my life  .I live to laugh and laugh to live. Im casual an I play, I am the life of the party! I get along with pretty much everyone, and am the friend that everyone comes to for advice, or a shoulder to cry on. Im a well balanced lady, hit me back so that we can get to know each other. hugs I am a very caring and generous person. In this big world there is a lot of happiness but I am not happy. I want to be happy and to be loved by my second part in this big world. If you have become interested in me reply me back via email on (ed403732@gmail.com) IM me so I can tell you more about myself or give me your phones number i will text you with my number i have my number text me 289-803-3163

Thanks

Here is the photo she shared:



There are four signs this is a scam message:

1. She did not address me by my name. I asked anyone who responded to write "Hi Chet"
2. She supplies a mobile number with a Canadian area code.
3. She seems pretty attractive. Why is she cruising Craigslist looking for a man?
4. Maybe I'm just socially retarded, but I believe if you are going to respond to a personal ad, you should play off something in the ad to try and start a conversation or make a connection: "I see you love science fiction. Who is your favorite author?" Something like that would seem normal.


I asked her about the Toronto phone number. She replied "my mummy still Toronto i live in tri-cities" 

Anyone who claims to use their mother's phone number is a scammer. Other people who responded claimed to be using their roommate's phone or to be using an account that belonged to a family member. One person sent a message through the MyLove dating app. She claimed not be be using it anymore. It makes you wonder how she was sending messages through it without using it.

Almost all of the messages I get are riddled with bad grammar and spelling mistakes. One person claimed to own a "suzuki jimmie" which I assume is some foreign slang for an SUV. She lived "at tennessee"  rather than "in Tennessee."


I may get in trouble for posting this blog anyway, but in no way do I mean to suggest that Craigslist is untrustworthy or unreliable. My intention is solely to share the responses I get to my ad and my comments on them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End of Craigslist Dating (Good News!)

I guess this is the end of my Craigslist dating experiment, since there are no more Craigslist personals. Don't forget though, that many of the same scams are running on Backpage,com, Google Hangouts, and other sites. I am sure of this because one scammer I haven't mentioned here contacted me directly through Google Hangouts. So, I want to call out one last scammer who is really quire skilled. Her name is Kristine Banks or Kristina Banks. She claims to be an assistant at a construction company in Murfreesboro. Very smooth operator. Texts A LOT! She may mention that she moved to the area from Colorado. The mobile number she gave me had a Boulder area code. She may mention a grandma with cervical cancer. She is very complementary but apparently is not willing to talk on the phone. She is willing to chat via Google Hangouts though. After sharing some photos, and lots of chat messages, the scam kicked in. She asked me for an Amazon gift card. We had never met or even spoken...
Read more

Poverty Scams and Online Dating

Image
Would you like to rescue a woman trapped in a desperate situation through no fault of her own? Don't respond to sob stories from "women" who contact you online. I'm not talking about email messages with bad grammar from people who don't seem to know you. Those scams should be pretty obvious. Instead, I am warning you about scammers who are halfway good at cultivating a relationship. They will answer some of your questions, inquire about your job and your hobbies, and so on. Lisa Drummond is an example of such a scammer. Here is a photo "she" shared with me. I don't know who this is. I do know she is not living with her cruel sister in Baltimore, unable to work for pay or own her own PC. That is the gist of the email exchange we had. She was almost convincing with her tales of forced domestic servitude, depression, poverty, and joblessness. 
Read more

Robberies arranged using Craigslist

Here is an interesting scam I encountered from a couple of women. Watch out for anything like the following: One woman and I exchanged a few messages via Craigslist messenger. She shared an address with me, supposedly to prove she lives in the area. I Googled the street address and found out it was a place called Ten Thousand Villages Plantation and Museum. Now, either she sleeps behind the museum or she was setting me up to be robbed. I double-checked the address to be sure I was not transposing numbers and getting the wrong place. Another person did a similar thing with sharing a home address. It was a house for sale on Zillow. I know this because I also Googled that address. I seriously doubt the woman was trying to meet a new man while her house was up for sale. Maybe she was. More likely, it was a set-up. A third woman provided an address down in Smyrna. I didn't think to check that one before I deleted her. That experience points to another obvious scam you might encoun...
Read more