CRAIGSLIST KILLING Could Have Been Prevented!
Posted by Belle
Updated: March 7th, 2010
If you’ve followed the news on the Boston medical student turned “Craigs list killer”, you have every reason to be alarmed. This innocent-looking guy hired a New York woman who advertised massage services, then he attempted to rob her. When she fought back, the masseuse was no match for the 22 year old murderer who then bashed her head and put a bullet through her heart. A totally senseless craigslist killing!
Whether you use Craigslist to seek services (massage therapy, auto repair, beauty, or creative), buy stuff (concert tickets, furniture, baby clothes, or collectibles), find dates (platonic, romantic, casual, or serious), find housing (housemates, sublets, apartments, or swaps), find work (all kinds jobs, you name the category), or stay active in the community (volunteers, musicians, ridesharers, pet lovers, or politics), there are over 40 million new posts each month on Craigslist, many written in complete anonymity. This begs the question: How Safe Are You?
12 Steps To Prevent A Craigslist Murder
When you post or reply to an ad on CL, I recommend you follow these simple precautions:
- Trust Your Instincts! After a few email exchanges with someone, you’ll have a gut feeling. Listen to it!
- Write all ads/replies with decent grammar. Why? If you appear educated, you appear resourceful and strong.
- Only respond to ads/replies with decent grammar. This weeds out losers.
- If you must meet someone face to face, do it in a familiar public place. Starbucks works great for me.
- If you must meet at your home, make sure someone else is there with you.
- If you must meet at the home of the other person, bring along a friend.
- Always have your cell phone handy and turned on.
- In your email exchanges with the other person, ask for his or her full name, phone number (cell is fine), and address. If they ask why, tell them you always run a quick background check on Craiglisters.
- The above step will more than likely weed out any potential murderers! SO DO IT! If they refuse to offer up that info, move on and find someone else.
- For background checks, I use Net Detective. I’ve tried so many premium services, and Net Detective simply has the largest database, excellent U.S. coverage, great customer care, and a 90 day money back guarantee. Or you can try Complete Detective, which also has good coverage, good support, and a decent sized database.
- In your background check search, you can run a reverse phone lookup or search by name or address. If the information they provided you doesn’t check out, it’s your call. Maybe you can ask them why? Did they recently move? Maybe they can provide a reference in that case.
- Understand the Craigslist system. Fraud is on the rise due to the anonymous nature of the Internet. Anyone can sign up for a free yahoo or gmail account. Pay attention to email addresses and favor “real” or corporate accounts over anonymous ones.
Last night I said to my husband, If that poor girl had only run a background check she’d still be alive. My husband said, But the killer’s record was probably squeaky clean. Well, that may be true, but asking for his name, phone, and address with the intention of running a background check may be enough to ward off disaster.
So, there is my advice. Be safe, smart and in control. Tell ‘em you’re going to check their background. Because now more than ever there is no excuse not to!
Click Here For Net Detective
~ Belle
I am searching for Christopher Gray last know address 132 painter apt 3 pasadena, california
I need his email address
I am glad i found your page and I am now following you on FB. I am an attorney who opened my own practice after years of government service. In my line of work these services are a must.I was ripped off by a few; the worst was the one mentioned by another reader. It is the one that makes you buy coins or points or something after you pay the initial fee. This article about craig’s list is informative and scary. I have never used craig’s list. I am giving it a try now and appreciate all of your good advice. As for net detective etal: I have found that the absolute very best background, employment, credit, people search, criminal history, locater etc is http://www.accurint.com which by the way is now owned by Lexis. It is the search data base used by law enforcement and the feds and most law firms. You get what you pay for with this one. Of course depending on whether you are a govt. agency, a law firm, a licensed PI firm, a credit reporting company etc. determines and defines the amount of info you can access.For example when I was with the District Attorney’s office, my password gave me much more info, like social security numbers which I can no longer access as a private entity. Still it has the most useful info I have come across
Melissa,
Great to have your comments here. I just accepted your FB friend request. Thanks!
I appreciate your honest feedback. Maybe I’ll give your people search recommendation a try! Do be careful with craigslist. Just too many ways for criminals to get access to innocents.
Well, have a great rest of your week and thanks again!
~ Belle
scary stuff out there. great advice.
Thanks for the tips! I’m trying to find a babysitter for this summer and will definitely check the prospects out! My kids are worth it!
Hey, this is great. I actually have used ND a couple of times but never thought about craigslist… and I use it all the time. Good tips. I have been burnt a few times. Nothing terrible, but I realized we should all be careful when it comes to cyber strangers!