More Cues for what may be pet scams

Phoenix AZ

Description

Thanks to the previous poster. Here are some more things to watch for: - The posting wants you to reply to some email address directly, instead of through Craigslist. Scammers want your email address. If you use the Craigslist email relay to message them then your email address will be hidden (that's the whole point - you can use Craigslist's messaging to anonymously talk with someone). So scammers want you to reply using plain email. Often they'll use that email service that begins with G, since it's free for them. And to prevent a search of postings finding posts with that text, they'll hide it with stupid mis-spellings or oddball special characters, like "joargan145!*g*ma^^il" or even more cryptic. Do not ever reply to any Craigslist posting by using a direct email message, where your return address gets seen - use Craigslist's Reply which will keep your address hidden from them. - The posting says something like "Please send your phone number...". Same as above - scammers want your phone number (there are several scams that can be done with a phone number - the poster doesn't even have the animal they posted, they're probably in India, and want your phone number for a scam). Again, use Craigslist's Reply instead - don't give them your phone number until you're comfortable they're not scammers (or better don't give anybody your number at all, and hang-up if they want a "code" from you). - Don't fall for sending a "deposit" to "hold" a cute puppy that you've never actually seen. If they won't let you see the puppy first then they probably don't even have any puppy at all. These scammers are prolific - they especially like the pets section - probably 50% of the pet section postings are scammers.