Woman's House Robbed After Fake Craigslist Post 365
flanksteak writes "The Seattle Times is reporting that a woman in nearby Tacoma had her rental property stripped of almost everything after someone posted a fake Craigslist announcement that everything in the house could be hauled away no questions asked. When contacted, Craigslist said they would release data about the poster if they were issued a subpoena."
They got this place too! (Score:5, Funny)
"Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
"... for
(Even left some words for other people)
Im evil (Score:2, Funny)
Lots of vultures out there (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder what will happen if someone posts a photo on the internet with a personal ad "Hey I'm 18 and hot, come and have sex with me, even if I say no. My address is..."
I hope the people who plundered crap at least have the decency to bring it back if they hear it on the news. It almost makes me wonder how they got into the apartment? Someone ought to be charged with breaking and entering.
Re:Lots of vultures out there (Score:5, Insightful)
A huge population (Tacoma,) would have to be uncommonly decent, some might even say unnaturally decent, in order for there not to be a few vultures present.
As it is, it's Tacoma, and thus only has merely common levels of decency, and thus there's a few vultures present.
Common decency itself remains intact.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Rrrroooaaaaaah... <drool> <stab> <stab> Wwwweeeeelcoo tuuu Taaaaacohma
Re: (Score:2)
And WTF is Toyota naming a truck after that POS city? (Yes, I lived there, briefly, once.)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Lots of vultures out there (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Lots of vultures out there (Score:5, Funny)
Shang Tsung: Fatality!
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Im evil (Score:5, Informative)
Just picked up - wait a minute... (Score:4, Funny)
The Best Idea Ever (Score:3, Interesting)
On a related note, I have heard of a story about an ad placed on Craigslist asking for several construction workers for a job and to have their own tools. Workers show up, the guy asks them to deconstruct the house, and leaves. When the homeowner comes home at the end of the day he faces a bunch of angry unpaid construction workers and a demolished house.
That one probably isn't true.
Re:The Best Idea Ever (Score:5, Informative)
Someone called up a demolition company and arranged for the house at such and such an address to be demolished. When the homeowner came home from work, his house was a pile of rubble.
I think the demolition company's insurance had to cough up some serious money on that one.
Re:The Best Idea Ever (Score:5, Interesting)
this happened recently in the last 2 years in Southern California where they demoed the wrong house and the poor Mexican crew had no idea; it especially sucked because all the belongings were in the house and they went through it with a giant bulldozer.
In fact this type of stuff happens all the time around here and especially with parties.
The kids pass out flyers for a party at some elderly persons house who is not home or arrives home when it is prime time for the party; cops show up with the kids running everywhere jumping over the fence and all you have left is a couple of dumb drunk teenage girls who have no idea whats going on. It happens a lot also with houses for sale also since this is such a huge housing market around here.
Another thing that happened around here and I find it funny that it never got news, but when the Dateline came to town in Long Beach,CA and some kids found out about it on craigslist or whatever source. So the kids print up some fliers at school on the printers saying "5 KEGGER, $2 at door girls are free, etc...." and sure enough a bunch of teenage kids show up curiously at the home expecting a party but the cops have to end up moving to a whole new area.
Re:The Best Idea Ever (Score:5, Funny)
I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!
Re:The Best Idea Ever (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And even if it really is, why not TAKE all of that furniture, first? I hate waste. Take the stuff for yourself, sell it, donate it to the homeless/a shelter/an orphanage/whatever! Tearing a place down still full of
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
nothing you can do about this (Score:5, Insightful)
1) They left the doors to the house UNLOCKED
2) They pissed someone off.
Ive often wondered if things like "free transmission behind X house" were actually something along these lines. Neighbours getting even. Its an interesting problem anyway that doesnt really have a solution I can see. No free webmail posts to craigslist?
I could see the same thing happening to any classified ads service. How do you know the laptop your buying is not hot? The car parts you buy? Its not craigslists job to verify every ad for truth. The only thing that needs to happen, is the obviously doubbley duped salvagers give her the stuff back. Imagine how pissed that would make the evicted tenant or whoever.
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:5, Funny)
It's also the hometown of Frank Herbert and Bing Crosby so it's not all bad, but still.
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:5, Informative)
Methinks it would be very difficult for a Ted Bundy type to attack her in that apartment when she doesn't live there.
- RG>
so? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:4, Funny)
I'm pretty sure the Doles are republicans actually
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You killed lots of people?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:5, Insightful)
This does not make going in and stealing the property any more legal.
And Craiglist is being pretty stupid here, IMO. "One of our users obviously caused a crime to take place... so we're going to be stubborn about it."
2) They pissed someone off.
Pissing someone off does not make theft legal, either.
The person who posted the fake ad should be convicted for the theft, and the people who took things should not -- if they give said stuff back.
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:5, Insightful)
Requiring a subpoena to release such records is a wise and reasonable move. It ensures that craigslist does not make the same mistake all the people who mistakenly stole property from this lady made. This is what supboenas are for, and given that there is, according to the article, an abundance of evidence of wrongdoing, getting one should be easy and fast. Releasing the name to the public, or really to anyone but the police with proper documentation, would be inappropriate and possibly comprimise the investigation.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:4, Interesting)
That's the prosecutor's job, not Craig's List. I believe they will do the right thing through the right channels. Satisfying the media's, yours, or my thirst for identity isn't necessarily the right thing, even if we want it.
Besides, Craigslist will probably find the IP is at a coffee house, then there will have to be further subpoenas for more information to find the perp.
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
else, what am I to do with all these silly eyepatches?
Re: (Score:2)
This does not make going in and stealing the property any more legal.
No, but if the doors had been locked, she probably still would have had her stuff. These weren't thieves, these were people taking stuff they thought was being given away free. If the doors were looked, they would probably have shrugged and come back another time, not broken in and nicked her stuff.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I believe that the people who took things are guilty of accepting stolen property, and the person who posted the fake ad is guilty of fraud.
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:4, Informative)
Craigslist, because it is on the Internet and anonymous, has no identity verification at all. Many people, most in fact, will do things they would never consider doing if they know it can never be traced back to them and there cannot possibly be any consequences.
I assure you, there would be consequences with a newspaper classified.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Craigslist, because it is on the Internet and anonymous, has no identity verification at all. Many people, most in fact, will do things they would never consider doing if they know it can never be traced back to them and there cannot possibly be any consequences.
of course the people who belive that are almost certainly wrong. cragslist presumablly have an IP and timestamp, with the ISPs cooperation that should be enough unless the person making the post was carefull to cover thier tracks.
Any newspaper would
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Hate to say it, but insurance scam?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:nothing you can do about this (Score:4, Insightful)
Its just your word against his, and he can prove ownership. You cant.
Hi (Score:5, Funny)
I have to get rid of everything in my house quickly, and I'm gonna let it go for free in order to get it out of here fast. Please leave the computers in the back closet though, I use those for slashdot.
Thanks
Rob
I'm non-plussed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
When the stories are this funny.... then yes
Sounds like a classic urban myth, only real (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I had the opposite happen (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
All I can figure is that someone hired a moving company and told them they didn't have the keys anymore, thus the company just cut the lock. I wonder who shit a bigger pile when they showed up with all the wrong stuff . . . the homeowner or the moving company?
I had tons of old computer stuff and as far as I could tell, nothing was missing. The
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
This isn't as bad as it sounds. (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
B.
Re:This isn't as bad as it sounds. (Score:4, Informative)
No it doesn't beg the question [begthequestion.info], but it does indeed raise it. ;)
A known disgruntled previous tenant [king5.com], her sister who was evicted, is apparently the prime suspect.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I would suggest to anyone in the future, After evicting a tenant, and failure to claim property, either auction/y
Re: (Score:2)
No, but it's bad (Score:2)
I do think that the police should be the ones to handle this situation, and they'll certainly be able to get a warrant on the matter. However, if craigslist users think that this type of post is 'reasonable' to the point of pulling something as heavy as the heater, they better do something about dissuading people from making that type of post, whether it's public shaming, encouraging reporting of too-good-to-be-true posts or whatever else th
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, it may be even *less* shocking than that. She evicted a tenant and then "cleaned out that rental."
Assuming the tenant didn't know the rental had been cleaned out, this could have easily been an honest mistake: a former tenant giving away the personal possessions he believed were left behind in his apartment. Without having read the original post, there's no reason to imagine the i
Re: (Score:2)
Huh? The fixtures etc... taken from the rental property were certainly her property. Theft is theft.
It's ambiguous (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
That sounds like something I saw (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Please return it asap, I have moved though, so you will need to bring it to my new address, no hard feelings if you hurry.
All I want to know is (Score:2)
Call me cynical but I just know someone is going to try this lame kind of reasoning to enact more laws we don't need...
unlocked doors is irrelevant (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately too common (Score:5, Interesting)
One friend had her phone number posted when she turned down a second date from some jerk and he posted an ad claiming she wanted men to call her up and tell her how they'd use her -- she was VERY freaked out until I figured out what had happened and got the post removed, then she debated changing her number because guys were calling at 2am and waking her up but I set her up with ringtone groups for which anyone not in the phonebook would get a silent ring. Then she just had to delete dirty voicemails for a few more weeks until the fun wore off and the guys realized she was never calling back.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry to be pendactic here, but I don't believe your friend was "abused through Craigslist." Instead, he was abused by the lowlife thieves that stole his property.
This isn't a Craigslist problem.
Mod me down (Score:4, Funny)
metamod alert (Score:4, Informative)
Well, if you believe in such things.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Furthermore, a property owner has far more to lose and is much more likely to be a responsible person than a renter.
Re: (Score:2)
WTF? (Score:5, Informative)
Clearly, you do not understand what an eviction is, so let me help you. First of all, a landlord may not evict a tenant. In some jurisdictions, a landlord who evicts a tenant could go to jail. At any rate, he would certainly owe the tenant damages. Look up "constructive eviction" to see what I'm talking about.
Here's how a real eviction works:
- Tenant violates his lease, generally by not paying his rent
- Landlord posts notice on the property to "Pay or Quit" (experienced landlords do this the minute rent is late.. beginning landlords let the tenant be late for a few months before acting). This means the tenant is given X number of days (number varies by jurisdiction) to pay rent or leave.
- Assuming tenant doesn't pay by day X, landlord sues tenant for possession of his property. A court date is set.
- Landlord goes in front of a judge and says why he's suing (tenant hasn't paid rent in 3 months, or whatever), and the tenant can present a defense ("I did pay, here are the canceled checks", or "No, I did not pay, but there was a legal reason for me not to pay and that reason is Y") and the judge decides what to do.
- Assuming the tenant had no legal defense, the judge will order the sheriff to evict the tenant.
- You set up a date with the sheriff for him to do the actual eviction.
- You show up with movers and a locksmith to meet the sheriff at the scheduled time.
- Locksmith opens the door (in case the tenant changed the locks) and then locksmith changes the locks.
- Sheriff removes the tenant from the building
- Movers move all the tenants prized possessions to the curb
- Scavengers take anything of value
- Garbage man takes the rest
At this point, the landlord is out a minimum of one month of rent (it takes time for the wheels of justice to turn) and usually more, plus court costs, eviction costs, locksmith, movers, etc.In other words, if someone's getting evicted, it's for a darn good reason. It must be approved by a judge, and it costs money to do.
As you can see, this lady got kicked while she was down.
post a new ad? (Score:3, Funny)
What is wrong with people? (Score:5, Insightful)
1: She was an Evil landlord. She evicted someone. She deserved it.
2: Karma returned to her what she deserved.
3: It was a rental property. She can afford to replace everything.
4: She left the property unlocked. She deserved what she got.
5: Crime is nothing new. This is nothing new. Laugh all you want.
WTF people? IF and WHEN something like this happens to you, you will change your tune VERY quickly. What does it say about the state of people today when the biggest mouths all laugh at someone's misfortune, writing it off to just be "Life". People who engage at finding entertainment in the misery of others, are the ones responsible for continuing the misery of others.
Sure it could happen (and probably has) with regular old paper classifieds. That doesn't make it OK. People in the Tacoma area that read this (and those here on
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Indeed. (And your point #3 especially galls me, being a landlord is not the same as being rich. In fact, it's a pretty easy way to lose your shirt if you aren't careful and a little lucky. I know - I've been a landlord.)
You nailed it (Score:3, Insightful)
>to you, you will change your tune VERY quickly.
Yep. Nobody is *really* a relativist. The coolest punk
or the smarmiest professor turns positively Puritan
when it's *their* stuff stolen, *their* face punched,
*their* wife raped.
123 Main St. (Score:5, Funny)
Boy do I feel bad now for the poor schmuck who lives at 123 First St., Schenectady, NY 12345
I've been signing them up for junk mail, spam, credit card offers, everything for years now.
Holy shit, Google Maps says that that address actually exists.
Sorry, dude.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Missing the point (Score:3, Interesting)
In this case, it demonstrates a flaw in the Craigslist community--an honor-based system--that allows people to post for any address. If anyone can log on and post an ad that refers to any address (e.g. "Change of staff--new office holder wants to redecorate--take what you want from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C.), you might say "didn't see that coming" the first time, but you sure can anticipate the copycats. Think of what the credit card industry went through--once upon a time you could order and have something shipped anywhere. Now, you are mostly limited to shipping to your billing address. If Craigslist were my firm (and for the case studies, I ask my students to put themselves in that position), I would look at devising a way to limit posts to the verified address of a registered user only.
Should Craigslist do this? That's their call. I'm just saying that instead of griping and moaning about bad landlords and rental experiences, we should look at an item like this and say "what can I learn from it." I would not want to risk even implied liability for my company by allowing such fraud to be propogated on my watch. Didn't online firms learn anything from that online check service that allowed anyone to register checking accounts without verifying their owners?
Re:All guilty... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:All guilty... (Score:4, Insightful)
"Cletus told me that he owned it, and that I could take it. Furthermore, he told me in a forum where such offers are not uncommonly made, where offers for such services as one night stands are often solicited, and where completely fraudulent offers are commonly listed with no detection or tagging methods" sounds pretty good.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
While "Cletus told me to do it" probably doesn't get you off, "Cletus t
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Been there, almost (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Been there, almost (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The only "official" way to demand information is a subpoena or search warrant.
I don't want them shooting off the personal details of every poster each time they get an email claiming to be from "Joe FBI".
Stew
Re: (Score:2)
since the former tenant was family the police are calling it a family feud. Thus, they won't issue the subpoena to Craigslist so that the lady can try and press criminal charges
That's insane. Why would the relationship have any bearing on whether a crime has been committed or not?
Do the cops there just say "oh, it's a family fued" when they're called to some guy beating the shit out of his wife? Or when an adult child attacks their parent with a knife?
If that's true, the cops need to be fired and replaced with people who will actually, y'know, do the job.
Re:More evidence that people are cruel... (Score:4, Informative)