For people searching for a job, a new apartment, a used car or certain services, Craigslist is a good place to go. It’s a completely free marketplace where you can place classified ads and connect with millions of new people to sell, buy or trade. Since everyone can join Craigslist, you should be careful of those scammers on the platform. They use fake identities or photos to trick you out of money by all means. So how to identify a Craigslist scammer? Here are some pro tips to help you spot the scams easily.

4 tips to avoid Craigslist scams

Craigslist scams can be avoided, with a little precaution and common sense. Follow the tips below to protect yourself from any potential Craigslist scams and keep your money safe.

1. Check the real identity of a Craigslist seller/buyer

To get away from Craigslist scams, you can run a background search on any sellers or buyers in the trade. A powerful people search engine will provide you with every details about a person safely and legally. For example, you can verify whether the person selling the house is the real owner or not. For the best background search tool, we recommend BeenVerified.

BeenVerified is one of the most popular and reputable people search engines online. It collects billions of verified and up-to-date data from secure sources, helping you uncover an individual’s real identity and comprehensive background info.

1) Go to the official BeenVerified website.

2) Choose how you’ll search a person: by name, phone number or email address. Enter the required information and click Search.

3) It may take a few minutes for the full report to load up. Once done, unlock all the available information about the subject, which includes basic info (name, age, location), contact, property records, criminal records, social media profiles and more.

2. Pay by cash and deal in person

Craigslist suggests users use cash instead of paying electronically and make deals with someone you meet in person. This allows you to determine the items. If you’re trading face-to-face, try to keep safe by meeting in public places during the daytime, and bringing a companion if possible.

Scammers may attempt to get in touch with someone that’s not in their local areas. If their phone number is suspicious, you can run a quick reverse lookup to track who they are and gain peace of mind.

3. Pay attention to grammar or spelling mistakes

If a Craigslist ad is riddled with errors and the person shows poor grammar and spelling, you should be cautious. Although it’s possible to encounter non-native speakers, a significant amount of mistakes (typo, misspelling, incoherent expressions or misuse of punctuation) are not normal.

4. Trust your instincts

Always trust your instincts when dealing with a person you don’t know. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. And most importantly, never share your personal information, bank or credit card info in particular, until you meet the person and decide to complete the transaction.

So these are all the tips about how to identify a Craigslist scammer. If you want to share any experience about how to get rid of being scammed on Craigslist, feel free to leave your comment below.