Craigslist Free Firewood Scam

[WarmGuy]

A few days ago, there was a posting on Craigslist saying "I have 30 cords of firewood and I'm giving it away for free. I'm moving and too busy to sell it. Don't call before Thursday..." But then the following appeared:

That post was taken down because it was a scam. It had already been prohibited from craigslist in numerous other cities before it appeared here and was flagged (by me and several others) and then disappeared. It's a real shame that some idiots feel the need to take advantage of a great resource like craigslist for their own personal agenda, but that's what this was. Since the slimeball who posted the original ad is unlikely to ever do so, I'll apologize for them and say that I am sorry for the false hope that was created by the ad. I know that there are many people here in Humboldt who could not afford the going rate for firewood and thought that the ad for 30 cords for free was a prayer answered.

I wonder how the scam was supposed to work. Would people call about the firewood, and then get a pitch for a timeshare condo? Anybody hear about this?

 

[free75degrees]

Maybe the actual scam was that it was removed by people trying to make money selling wood.

 

[LLigetfa]

Maybe the actual scam was that it was removed by people trying to make money selling wood.

My thoughts eggs-act-ly!

 

[matt701]

It's a way to collect email addresses for spamming them with junk emails. You can't call until thursday, but you reply to the ad through email, they have your address.

 

[savageactor7]

^Bingo!....yes we have a winner.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

Ive been getting more spam in my yahoo inbox which I believe is from craigslist. Ive responded to post and never gotten a response (maybe 1 out of 5 times). I also have an accoustic guitar for sale on CL that Ive been getting a lot of inquiries which I respond to. I think a lot of people ask the "is it still available" question just to collect your email address. Because after I answer yes i never hear from them again.

its a shame, craigslist is a great website for people who actually use it the way it was intended to be used.

I post a lot of real estate stuff on CL, been doing so for about 3 years. It was great in the begining because 95% of the stuff was legit. Now its like 50/50.

 

[Danno77]

has anybody in the history of spam ever said "dang, i'm glad I stumbled on that information" and then purchased something? I mean, what's the point of spam, surely it must work otherwise why would people be so intent on sending all that crap out there.

 

[matt701]

In selling things on Craigslist I have also received A LOT of stupid questions that I don't even reply to. Some of the questions aren't even appropriate like asking if my old woodstove "ran well" when I was selling it. I do get the "Is this still available" all the time and that's very clever because you pretty much have to reply if you want to sell it. I have a yahoo account I use for craigslist only, so let them spam away. I agree craigslist use to be very trustworthy, but it's getting worse and worse all the time as more scammers find it.

 

[smokinj]

Very risky buying off craig list

 

[chrisfallis]

Very risky buying off craig list

We just bought a washer and dryer off CL, but saw them in operation and in person before picking them up. I am amazed at the "free" firewood ads which say "come and get it" and show a single broken pallet or a few cedar fence boards. Not hardly worth the gas to go get it.

 

[free75degrees]

Hey cragslist can be pretty sweet. I just picked up 3 pickup truck loads of free ash, 3 1/2 ft rounds already cookie-fied. I'll get 2 more loads tomorrow to finish the deal. The people giving it to me are psyched to get rid of it and I am psyched to take it. This is only one of many free scores I have made from craigslist. Of course I am in a metro area where there are a lot of trees being cut and not a lot of wood burners so that may be the difference.

 

[LLigetfa]

It's a way to collect email addresses for spamming them with junk emails...

If that really is the case, they are going after the wrong demographic. People chasing free stuff probably are not interested in parting with their money. Kinda like all that advertising on linux boards.

 

[Prada]

Anyone can delete a Craigslist add and then write up something like what your showing. Actually many times people will post some amazing FREE offers with someone's address on it that they are trying to hassle. I mean like maybe this guys neighbor that has tons of wood stacked in his yard and people will respond to the add by just coming and taking it. That happens. It could be a 'Revenge' add.

 

[LLigetfa]

...Actually many times people will post some amazing FREE offers with someone's address on it that they are trying to hassle..

At work I setup an intranet for our employees and we setup a "Want Ads" section. A bunch of dumb jerks started posting bogus ads and spoiled it for everyone else. We had to take it down.

 

[Prada]

Sad isn't it......

 

[Rick]

When I was in high school we used to put bogus ads in the bargain news (a local classified paper) with each others' phone numbers. Ads like, "2 year old Vette, gotta sell because of divorce settlement, $10,000. Call after 11 pm." Then we would laugh and laugh. Sounds dumb now, but we tried to be clever in our ads. We only did this to each other, never to strangers. I like craigslist. I have bought many things from it, I hope it doesn't get ruined.

 

[Gooserider]

has anybody in the history of spam ever said "dang, i'm glad I stumbled on that information" and then purchased something? I mean, what's the point of spam, surely it must work otherwise why would people be so intent on sending all that crap out there.

In the last couple of weeks there was mention on Linux Weekly News about a study done to see just what kinds of response rates the spammers would get - they essentially "hijacked" parts of one of the botnets so that the spam sent through it referred people to a site they were monitoring instead of the site in the original (which was a copy of the site in the original spam, but which would "break" when somebody tried to download the malware product or order the "male enhancement" drugs, etc...) They found enough of a response rate that if they had been the actual spammer it would have been quite profitable running as an "honest" business, let alone what they might have been able to pull in by fraudulent use of the credit card numbers collected and so on...

Spam gets sent because it pays....

Gooserider

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Two points- FWIW a single complaint doesn't necessarily get a page pulled, at least according to a writeup I've read on Craig's List. It's more like if they get multiple complaints, then they might pull it. One time I flagged an ad for free crutches because I thought it was very disparaging of the disabled. I may have been the lone voice in the wilderness, however. That one never got pulled. (Only one I have ever flagged).

Second point- I found an excellent source of used construction lumber and pallets. Free for the taking. Seemingly inexhaustible. I visited that location for months and scored enough free lumber to build myself a woodshed or two. Sweet! There is really good free stuff in there, all mixed in with the jokes, fraud, and misrepresentation. Trouble is, you'd have to camp out on the site to have a prayer of scoring most of that stuff. Much of it goes in minutes to half an hour or so. But used lumber where you have to pull some nails? I had me a virtual monopoly for months! Yeah!

BTW a new scam I've been seeing lately is to offer part of a cosmetic facial or whatever for free, then hard sell other services. I've been seeing an increasing number of these. All sorts. Free vitamins (we sell other kinds of vitamins). Free food (we sell other kinds of food, etc.) Lather, rinse, repeat...