Fake/Scam Craigslist ads....how to tell

These ads have a lot in common:
a) The never have a phone contact.
b) They are usually between $2500 and $6000...
c) They all have text hidden in the white spaces of the ads..it is the same color as the background, but it is there. The text consists of dozens of keywords, such as 'Honda', 'John Deere', 'Bobcat', 'Yamaha', etc. They are picked up when you search for any of these words, and gets the ad maximum exposure.
The hidden text can be seen by left-clicking your mouse and draggin over the 'empty' space. It will highlight and can be seen.
If I see an ad like that, I always flag it as spam...
Example of a scam ad

Only thing i could figure out about the deal is--just another way to get yer advertisement to the public, by putting it here, instead of, or along with, Craigs list! Sneaky, ain't it?!

Good tip.

I learned something about hidden text today.

Thanks!
Paul

Original poster has a high speed RoadRunner account. The seller has a Verizon DSL account. Could be the same person, but there are 83 miles between Utica and Watertown. I think his point was more to do with the hidden print in the ad. I learned something new today and I craigslist often. Thanks Guys!

Aaron

"Hidden" text shows up when you print it as well.

Thanks for the tip!

Tramway Guy's been on here a while, and his posts seem genuine--looks like he's legitimately trying to warn people. Surf the Watertown Craigslist every day and there's been a TON of these scams lately, though I doubt it's confined to Watertown--the majority of these scams are run by international criminal rings. Most follow the pattern Tramway Guy mentioned, but they change fairly often as the scammers upgrade their methods to escape prosecution and automatic spam guards. The latest ones that have flooded the "free" section of CL involve "free" things to pick up such as bookcases, couches, etc. You get a message back saying the item is already spoken for but would you like to be notified if they don't pick it up? Once you reply back, they have your e-mail address as the Craigslist e-mail anonymizer only works on the first e-mail you send. The next message(s) tell you that they've got a great deal on something or other they thought you might want to take advantage of (free diet pills, a free tooth whitening, etc. etc.--they usual spam stuff) and of course you have to give them your credit card number to get the free sample, and of course once they have your card number, you're sunk. Know a couple people that have got hit with variations of this one--the ads typically (but not always) have a number string like Xd3 or 3ac or some other nonsense at the end or lots of_underlining_where it doesn't belong in_the ad to let the spammers track which ones get the most traffic. Flag them, report them if you feel like it (though unfortunately CL doesn't seem interested in getting rid of them) and spread the word.

you can right click,hit select all too...looks like nobody reported that ad yet...still there.

If you take their listing title and do a search in Yahoo etc.. it will usually appear in several craigs lists across the country. If they're already flagged and some show up in the search as not flagged i GO AHEAD AND DO THEM THE FAVOR OF REPORTING THE OTHERS.

Removing an ad takes more than flagging it once. CL does not post what the formula is, but once enough people flag an ad, it will go 'poof'.

Mostly, remember that if you see a $20,000 tractor advertised at a third or less of the value, its an ad that has been pirated, and had the original price edited, as well as the contact info. I also see a lot of women's names, on the reply addresses, and hotmail or gmail email accounts.

started seeing more of these last few weeks on albany and now Utica and Hudson river, never a phone number

I have been flagging them but they re-appear later in the day