Ever see something on Craig’s List that sounded just too good to be true? Did that listing include a phone number to call? If not, then it’s probably a scam. But what exactly is a false Craig’s List ad trying to scam? Easy — valid email addresses for use in an email spamming operation.

Here’s how the email scam works

Seller places an attractive ad on Craig’s List with or without supporting images. Seller does not include a phone number but rather uses the Craig’s List email address anonymizer. Prospective buyers see the ad, click on the email link, and respond with the typical question: “is the item still available?” Seller then collects the email address and never responds to the inquiry or responds with a simple, “no.” Time passes, and before the prospective buyers realizes, they are receiving new email spam. Whether the spam actually gets through is a question of whether spam filtering software is being used and whether it’s actually catching the new spam.

Email scam in reverse

The other version of the same email address collection scam requires a little more effort on the scammers part. This time the scammer is a prospective buyer searching Craig’s List for new ads. The scammer responds to an ad asking the typical prospective buyer question: “is the item still available.” The legitimate seller responds and the scammer now has a new valid email address delivered directly to their inbox. The scammer never responds to the seller’s response, and, same as before, the legitimate seller is now receiving new email spam that may or may not get caught by spam filtering software if they are even using it.

Avoid email scams lurking in Craig’s List

If you’ve ever used Craig’s List, then you know the scams I just described are real; however, that’s no reason to stop using a great resource like Craig’s List. The simple solution to the problem is to use a secondary email address when buying and selling anything on Craig’s List or other similar classified web service.

Protect your primary email address and use it sparingly. Get a secondary email address for temporary needs. If the secondary email gets too overrun with spam, delete it and go get a new one.

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