It’s easy for a reasonably aware person to spot ads placed on craigslist by scammers (I see them in autos for sale and the pets section all the time).
When I spot one, if it’s something I would buy if it was a legitimate deal, I double check things by copying text from the body of the ad, and posting that in a search on duckduckgo to look for duplicates. Almost without fail, I’ll find multiple instances of the same exact ad, on craigslist, in various cities throughout the U.S.
*These are owner ads I’m talking about. Per their rules, nonlocal ads are a no-no. Dealer ads can appear in multiple areas.
Why is it that something so easy to look into not something they use as a means of fighting crime on their website? I’ve sent the suggestion in a few emails. Am I underestimating the complexity of such a task? Do they not care? I feel quite confident saying that some of you guys could have the code written, tested, and operable in a day or two. . … right?
I’m going to clean up my question, see if that helps.
scammers that post ads on craigslist frequently post the same ad in various cities across the United States. This is easily confirmed by doing a Google search using the text from ad.
Is or would it be difficult for them to check ads being posted against ads that already exist, or is this some nightmare thing to write code for and I’m not appreciating the complexity of it?
My guess is that they just don’t care. Most people in their target audience are not self-aware enough to actually think about checking for duplicate ads.
My interpretation of the OP’s questions is:
*It’s pretty easy to check if Craigslist ads are scams, so why doesn’t Craigslist do this check and delete the ads before the ads could scam customers? *
I have no definitive answer. I could only guess that Craigslist:
doesn’t give a shit
has a vested interest in “seeming” like they have lots of legitimate posts and they want to make it appear like you get lots of hits when you search for XYZ. I find it similarly frustrating when it gives me hits for items that were sold months ago.
They’re concerned about pulling ads that might be legitimate and the work that would entail to correct if they were wrong.
Conversely, if they just flagged an ad as a “possible scam” that would put off shoppers using Craigslist. i.e.: if every time you checked for something you had a handful of ads flagged with a possible scam warning you’d stop using Craigslist for fear of being ripped off.
It’s easier to say “Buyer Beware” and wash their hands of it.
But, I’d love to hear of someone knows an actual reason not just my un-informed speculation.
you are 100% correct. that’s precisely what I’m asking.
I agree. it’s entirely possible they don’t care.
a. I don’t think they’re allowing it to make anything look like they’ve got a bigger selection of items though. I’ll expand on why I think this if it matters to anyone.
b. that pisses me off too. it’s not craigslist’s fault though, because it’s the seller’s responsibility to pull their ad after the sale of their item(s). the hope is the hassle of continued calls to the person having sold the item is greater than the hassle to take their ad down after the item is sold.
*then there’s the people that take the time to access their ad, but instead of taking it down, they’ll update it to say SOLD and then repost it. it takes longer to do that then to delete it and accomplishes, at best, the same thing.
it doesn’t bother them one bit to pull ads. especially because, except for a few types of ads, the removal process occurred through community policing (flagging an ad) and an automated computer process which their employees don’t participate in.
paid ads are one’s they won’t delete without an employee reviewing the situation. people can flag them, offer a reason why, and then the ad won’t show up for that person again. after enough people do this, they’ll pull the ad if they feel it’s correct to do so.
**I just learned today they are charging for vehicle sales ads. this will help curtail the situation as I’m sure the scammers won’t pony up $50+ dollars ($5 each ad X 10 ads, for this example) knowing their ads may be pulled.
and if legitimate users start seeing progress made from their time spent flagging ads, more people will do it more often again I’m sure. as it is (was), many had grown complacent and were numb to the fake ads as they just kept coming back in force.
I suspect the scammers, and others probably too, will try to avoid the $5 fee and post their ad in other, no fee to place ads, sections. there’s no shortage of people thinking they’re the exception to the rules they want everyone else to follow (otherwise it’d be a unorganized cluster fck that no one would visit).
4/5. They never flagged anything like Google does occasionally, (“This site might harm your computer”) while still giving you access to it. They don’t share anything like that with the other users, only the person that placed the ad. and they only do that at your control panel, not in person (phone, email, text, ect…)