It might as well be called Craig’s Lost now, of course Craig has already made his money from the failed endeavor, so I don’t imagine he really cares any more. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, just poke around on Craig’s List and see if you can’t find some scam amongst all of the categories. My wife, who speaks several languages fluently including French, Hebrew, and Spanish, offered to tutor the daughter of a man seeking assistance.

Of course, it turns out the be a check cashing scam and my wife and I can see it coming a mile away, plenty of time to avoid the scam. Of course, not everyone will be able to sniff out the rat. If people had gotten wind of how it works then the scammers around the world, including the notorious Nigerian gangs, wouldn’t still be at it. In case you don’t quite get it yet, this is organized crime, dear readers. Here’s the ad itself:

tutor/teacher

Reply to: xxxxxxxxxxxxx@rocketmail.com ^[?]
Date: 2008-12-12, 1:20PM PST

I posted it here since it will likely be removed sometime very soon. Sadly, removal isn’t enough. There are so many scammers and so many scams that it may be impossible to ever stop it. Of course, there is one way to stop it. Tell your friends and family. Don’t be cordial or kind. Lay it on heavy. If you know someone who is unwilling to educate themselves about who to protect themselves from such scams or are susceptible to coersion, inform them of the level of idiot they are. Bluntly.

If this looks innocent to you, take a look at the reply which my wife received:

Hello,
Thanks for replying back to my online job posting, requiring your tutorial service for my Daughter, I would like to make a tutoring arrangement between you and my Daughter for the month of January 2009, I would like you to tutor him within a period of 1 month, on a schedule basis of 1 hr Daily, 3 times weekly, totaling 12 times in a month. I am willing to pay $50/hr. I would like to use these medium to inform you that my Daughter don’t live in the US, she would be flying from the Philippine to the US, I want you to teach her during her 8 month stay in the US, if there is need to extend your services, an amendment would be made to your salary. she would be dropped off/picked up by his nanny during the hours of teaching at any location you want the Tutoring to take place in your area.
You would be receiving a check drawn from a Bank in the US, from my business associates in the US, since i am from Philippine and right now am in Cuba for a business trip the  payments wont be honored in any bank there in Philippine or here in Cuba , These check would be made out for the cost of the tutorial services you are rendering, and also for the living expense, nanny fees of my Daughter . Regarding this- I hope i can trust you with these payments, as the payment would be made out in excess, so all you have to do is Deposit and cash the payment  at your bank, deduct your tutorial service fee, which should be $50 per hour X 12 Times a Month = $600 i would include an additional $100 for run around fee and any additional text book you might be needing- so $700 is what you deduct from the check you receive , whatever the remaining balance is after deduction of the $700 go ahead and deduct Money Gram or Western union  transfer sending charges for sending out the remainder to the Nanny who would be contacting you with further arrangements and instructions regarding pickup/drop off of my Daughter to the library where you would always teach her. So i hope i can trust you that you will teach my Daughter good academics and some moral respects so that they can be good to their self in the future, i hope i can count on you for the tutorial and the money to be sent to the Nanny. I look forward to read a detailed message from you containing the following information, if you are OK with my arrangements.
Full Name.
Mailing Address including Zip Codes ( no PO Box pls ).
Cell No ( If Available ).
Home No.
Gender.
Best Time to Call.
Email.
N.B  My Daughter  Name is Christine Miller, She is actually coming to the US for sight seeing, but while she is here i want her to study at the same time, she understand English, can write and read fluently i just need her French and English Upgraded.
Thanks for your Understanding.
Collins

Note how there was no mention of the daughter travelling internationally. Miraculously the offer has risen from $45 to $50 and it will be provided in the form of advance payment in check form. Oh! And if there’s extra left over you can have that, too. Just deposit the check and wire the remainder of the money to the “Nanny”. If there’s something inside you which says this could be plausible, you need help. There are so many holes in this story its not even vaguely funny.

This, then, is why Craig’s List is now completely and officially useless. It can’t stop these scams and the system is designed to count on the smarts of strangers to report pages which are questionable. This is what people traded in for local print paper ads?

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