Craigslist rental postings with jibberish (Dallas, Rockwall: for sale, renter, tax)

[ARAH]

I have recently noticed many CraigsList postings for rentals in DFW with a line of jibberish like this at the end of the post:

"disks vehicles E take player out released think Kitchen has than new land a movie takes hijackers goals with day protection FLV Maker traditional the in new last the engine play Blumenthal electric driven Nobody Health version high thing the data provide be smart now images to At tell the"

I wonder if this is a bug in the CL system or some sort of scam code or something. I am concerned about going to look at rentals when there is anything strange like this.

[loves2read]

have you sent that query to the Craig's List site???

[momof2dfw]

Before renting pull up the property on the tax rolls and see who the owner is. That name should match the person you are talking to unless they are using a property management company. For Dallas County it is Dallas Central Appraisal District and for Rockwall County it is www.rockwallcad.com

I did a quick look for rentals in my area and did not see any with anything like that?????

[JH6]

They sometimes post jibberish like this in white text, which means that you can't see it, unless you highlight it by accident.

There are programs out there that will add keywords into craigslist ads to get more traffic to the ad.

If it is just jibberish like that, they are making the add different so that the craigslist bot won't delete it as a duplicate ad.

[DaveG99]

yep its meaningless. Dont worry about it. They are just trying to get more hits.

I am in the market for an ATV right now and craigslist is full of scams for ATV's. They want you to do the transaction with a third party and they say the atv is at a shipping company. I usually mess with them and send a few emails back and forth. Its fun. I tell them Im a pilot so I can go look at the atv anywhere in the country. Im surprised people fall for that crap

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by DaveG99

yep its meaningless. Dont worry about it. They are just trying to get more hits.

I am in the market for an ATV right now and craigslist is full of scams for ATV's. They want you to do the transaction with a third party and they say the atv is at a shipping company. I usually mess with them and send a few emails back and forth. Its fun. I tell them Im a pilot so I can go look at the atv anywhere in the country. Im surprised people fall for that crap

A friend was looking for some PWC's last year and she found a pair that she thought was a deal and forwarded me the emails from the "seller" and the listing. I didn't have to read two sentences into his email to know it was a scam. I googled a few things from his listing and found NUMEROUS listings all over the place for the exact same seat of PWC's all with the same picture but different contact names and all. I noticed in one picture they were at a storage center for trailers and such that was in Arizona but the guy told her they were in Florida at a storage facility there as he had them shipped there a few months earlier. RIGHT Oh, and they don't have any of the titles as they are all in the crates w/ the items that are for sale. LOL!!!

[DaveG99]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

A friend was looking for some PWC's last year and she found a pair that she thought was a deal and forwarded me the emails from the "seller" and the listing. I didn't have to read two sentences into his email to know it was a scam. I googled a few things from his listing and found NUMEROUS listings all over the place for the exact same seat of PWC's all with the same picture but different contact names and all. I noticed in one picture they were at a storage center for trailers and such that was in Arizona but the guy told her they were in Florida at a storage facility there as he had them shipped there a few months earlier. RIGHT Oh, and they don't have any of the titles as they are all in the crates w/ the items that are for sale. LOL!!!

It really is unbelievable that people for for this crap.

[jhilde101]

Or a 2008 Mercedes for $4000.
They obviously post these adds becuase people do actually respond and think that they are real.

[momof2dfw]

Which is why the renter needs to verify the actual ownership of any property prior to handing over a deposit.

[ChristieP]

A friend was selling a HORSE (yes, a 1000 lb, hay-eating horse) and some scammer emailed her and said he wanted to pay with a money order and arrange shipping to Nigeria. She obviously knew he was a scammer, and she played back and forth with him for several days until he finally quit returning the emails!