6 WAYS TO AVOID GETTING SCAMMED ON CRAIGSLIST - Acclaim Federal Credit Union (2024)

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6 WAYS TO AVOID GETTING SCAMMED ON CRAIGSLIST - Acclaim Federal Credit Union? ›

Craiglist Safety Tips for Sellers

Request cash payment when exchanging in person. If you're shipping your item, use a service such as PayPal for more security. Never accept a money order; this is usually a scam. Cashier's checks can be forged, so exercise caution when accepting these.

Craiglist Safety Tips for Sellers

Request cash payment when exchanging in person. If you're shipping your item, use a service such as PayPal for more security. Never accept a money order; this is usually a scam. Cashier's checks can be forged, so exercise caution when accepting these.

What can a Craigslist scammer do with my phone number? If a Craigslist scammer has your phone number and gets you to verify a code sent to that number, they can use it to open a Google Voice account. With that account, they can continue running scams using your phone number.

Use cash — safely

If you're dealing with a local, the most secure way to pay or collect funds for a Craigslist transaction is with cash. To keep it even more secure, you can make the exchange in a safe place like your local police station or even at Acclaim FCU.

The safest way to receive money from a stranger online is to use secure and reputable payment methods that prioritize user protection. For instance, you can use a platform like PayPal to receive money from someone you haven't met before. You can also use cryptocurrency—it is a practical way.

By and large, credit cards are easily the most secure and safe payment method to use when you shop online. Credit cards use online security features like encryption and fraud monitoring to keep your accounts and personal information safe.

Can a scammer do anything with your cell phone number? ›

Scammers and hackers can use your phone number in numerous ways to compromise your data. If you think a phone number is only a means of communication, think again. Some criminals use cell phone numbers to impersonate others, steal private information, and access financial benefits.

Scammers are getting pretty sneaky and are collecting personal phone numbers through Craigslist Ads. Case in point, when you're placing an ad or responding to an ad, avoid using your personal phone number to communicate with buyers or sellers.

You can provide a phone number for your posting so that users can contact you by calling or via texting. The "show my phone number" box must be checked in order to enter a phone number. The "phone calls OK" checkbox will display the word "call" before your phone number on your posting.

Scammers often use fake sites to lure buyers into paying for items that don't exist. Always check the URL before finalizing a purchase. Craigslist does not back any transaction on its site. If you receive an email or text trying to sell you purchase protection, you're looking at a scam.

Your email address alone is not enough for someone to hack your bank account, but if someone has your email address, they could potentially use this to extract more personal information about you that could ultimately help them to access your bank account.

Craigslist automatically hides your email address from listings with an email relay system. But once you start communicating to messages in your Craigslist inbox, it will use the name in your own email address. As well, it's not difficult for a scammer to get your email address using a Craigslist email address decoder.

Unfortunately, no such protection exists for those replying to posts. When you reply directly from Craigslist, your email address will be visible to the recipient. To reply anonymously, you need to create a free Web-based email address, which does not contain identifiable information.

Craigslist blocks number written more than one time, so when someone has more than two ads, they spell out the rest.

Hidden View Count

Use a registered Craigslist account so that you can edit your posting. In your account homepage, opt to edit the posting and paste the HTML code at the bottom of the post. To view your hits, log into the hit count tool service Web page with your login ID.