Craigslist prank costs man thousands of dollars

[Mugu]

By Chris Conrad, Mail Tribune

JACKSONVILLE — Two hoax ads on Craigslist cost a Jacksonville man thousands of dollars in property Saturday and could land the pranksters in jail on theft and burglary charges.

The classified ads popped up Saturday afternoon on the Web site saying the owner of a home in the 7900 block of Sterling Creek Road was forced to leave the area suddenly and that his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan. The only problem is that Robert Salisbury has no plans of leaving his home any time soon.

Salisbury, who works as an independent contractor, was at Emigrant Lake when he received a call from a woman had stopped by his house to claim his horse.

On his way home he stopped a truck loaded down with his work ladders, lawn mower and weed eater. "I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," Salisbury said. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."


Complete article at:
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/NEWS/803230338

[Xenotime]

1. I thought this was a dupe but this was in Jacksonville...

There's this post about a man in Oregon http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3053575

***Edit***
this is a dupe. I thought it was Jacksonville, TN

Looks like the owner got some stuff back though.

[Mugu]

4. You're correct that this is a dupe.

I looked around, but obviously not well enough.

Apologies all, Mugu

[physioex]

2. How horrible...

The thing I don't understand regardless is how someone could take stuff without permission?

[Teaser]

3. If they had showed me that damn printout

I woulda shown them my nine.

[selador]

5. had a similar case near me

somebody got the keys to a house that had just been renovated and advertised it for sale on craigs list as a rental.

the prospective renters met the guy at the house and paid him a couple of thousands for first, deposit, etc.

he took their money and handed them the key. they moved all their stuff in

few days later the OWNER of the house arrives to find these people LIVING in his house.

he calls the cops.

we told the people in the house they had the weekend to move their stuff out. guy who owned the house was pissed he couldn't get them out immediately, but fair is fair.

the craigslist guy was smart enough to use a throwaway cell phone and access his craigslist acct from a public computer

it was a pretty sweet scam.