Staying Safe On
Craigslist
People trying to find jobs, housing, friendship,
or products and
services will find Craigslist to be a very useful community. When you
use the Craigslist community you'll find the opportunities
mentioned above. On top of that you could also meet other people to
network or talk about issues that you find important. Keep in mind
that Craigslist is an online community so the risk of predators or scammers ready to
take advantage of you is always there.
Even with millions of visitors and billions of
page views every
month, the major bulk of the people using the Craigslist community
do not have any harmful intentions. A small fraction, as with other
online communities, may be looking to take advantage of people
either financially or physically. Even so, there
remains plenty of very good reasons why the community
at Craigslist
is so useful. This article discuses some of the basics of
the usefulness of Craigslist, as well as some smart recommendations
to stay safe when you are using Craigslist.
Several people still wonder why Craigslist has so
much appeal.
Yes, other websites out there focus solely on employment searches,
buying things or meeting friends and lifelong partners. What
makes Craigslist stand out is that it offers a convenient
place for each of these searches plus more. Craigslist may have
begun by looking only at events happening in the San Francisco
area, but since then it has grown considerably. With much more than
just event listings in hundreds of cities around the world.
With each website centering on a specific
geographic region,
Craigslist is an outstanding resource that lets
users communicate with others in the same area directly. This
is a better
alternative to sorting through huge worldwide listings in the hopes
of finding local offerings.
Craigslist Safety
Craigslist isn't any more dangerous than any other
online
community. The main problem, just like any other public website, is
how easy it is for people to use false identities. They can hide
behind these aliases and fool people into thinking they are
trustworthy, even though they aren't. Unfortunately, this holds
true for individuals wanting to steal money and goods, along with
those who want to cause physical harm.
The first line of defense in staying safe on
Craigslist, and
other internet communities, is to keep your personal identifying
information private. Credit card and bank account information,
social securitiy number or other identifying numbers should not be
shared - unless the reason for the information is verified, along
with verifying who is getting the information. If you determine
that it is a legitimate transaction make sure you only send it via
a secure server. It's vital to take these precautions to prevent
fraud and identity theft. My personal suggestion would be to
pay
for any purchases via Paypal (if you can't meet the person to exchange
funds in person).
Apart from not sharing identifying numbers, you
need to also be
careful not to give out other personal information. Things like
your street address, full name or telephone number. This is crucial
because information like this can be used by those with bad
intentions to locate you. Most people already know not to share
this information, but there are also other types of information to
keep private. Apparently safe information like where you went to
school, when you graduated, mother's maiden name or even a pet's
name can be used for potentially unlawful purposes.
Now that you know how to stay safe on Craigslist
you're ready
to start discovering the many great things available there.
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