We haven't had to rent anything lately by perusing Craigslist, but a friend of ours was telling us the other day about a con they ran across. The scammer found an actual rental property offered through a management firm, copied it, undercut the price several hundred dollars, and said they were the owners, offering a special direct-to-you rate. But when our friend responded, they got a long reply explaining the "owners" were on a Christian mission in Nigeria and had brought the keys with them--easiest thing to do was to send a rent check, they'd send the keys. Luckily, CL has a little banner that says: "Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any arrangement involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, or a landlord/owner who is out of the country or cannot meet you in person." And so it goes. more ›

There's a posting on CL that we had to click on: "Writer Wanted For Ex North Idaho Drug Kingpin." The pitch is a gifted young boy with undiagnosed ADHD who grows up to rub elbow with Colombian drug lords and imprisoned Mafiosi. You want high stakes? "I SHOULD BE DEAD A HUNDRED TIMES OVER." And, helpfully, there is this postscript: "All Statue of Limitations are finished and all prison time completed." What can we say, we're intrigued. Someone jump on this. Hell, we'll serialize it for you. more ›