Ben Smith sent me this article in the San Jose Mercury News:

Serial robber in S.J. lures victims through Craigslist ads

snip:

Police say the robber is using Craigslist’s classified ads and forums to draw people in. In each case, the victim was either buying or selling something from the robber and would arrange to meet him at a certain location, San Jose police Sgt. Nick Muyo said.

Once there, the man would rob the victims at gunpoint and make off with property, mostly electronics, or cash if he was pretending to sell something.

of course, this is the exception and not the rule on craigslist. Most transactions on craigslist work well and it is extremely rare that any type of criminal act occurs. but while these transactions are extremely rare, we hope Rapleaf can reduce them even further.

thanks Ben for sending us the article.