June 2008

I am finally happy to announce a new feature here at CCL. I’ve been wanting to do this for weeks and I finally got off my lazy ass.

I’d like to announce CCL’s Scam Board. Now you can discuss scams on craigslist that you’ve come across, or rad about scams to help protect yourself, or possibly help others.

Sign up today.

Child prostitutes sell themselves on Craigslist:
This is the best article yet that I’ve read on the problem of child prostitution on craigslist. I’m not going to quote the meat of the article because this is one of those articles that needs to be read in its entirety.

However I will quote a part where craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster thinks he’s part of the solution instead of part of the problem…

Craigslist executives said they abhor the fact that their site is being used for child prostitution but believe that the problem could be harder to track if they removed the category.

“It would be a bigger problem if we removed that category and had those ads spread throughout the site,” said Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer of Craigslist.

Really Jim? If you shut down the erotic services section of craigslist where would these ads go? Used cars? Furniture? Pets? Real Estate? You mean the places where people who don’t use hookers would actually see the ads and actually flag them? Horrors, we can’t have that now can we Jim?

Prostitution and child prostitution is on the rise because of craigslist. Yes there are other sites out there that cater to this kind of depravity but in my opinion craigslist is the #1 offender. What’s it going to take Jim before you eliminate the erotic services section? I mean there have already been rapes, robberies, and shootings.

For a website that taunts how socially responsible it is it doesn’t seem to be putting its words into action.

Three ID residents charged in underage sex case:

36-year-old Colby Watson, his girlfriend 23-year-old Lindsey J. McKeehan, and 50-year-old Douglas A. Winberry, all from Idaho, have been arrested on charges of having sex with a girl under the age of 16 and for prostituting her out on craigslist.

Police said they received a tip on June 19 that Winberry had pictures of the girl in various sexual poses. A search of his home produced evidence he had sex with the girl and that he advertised her for prostitution on Craigslist, police said.

The investigation led to photo and video evidence of Watson and McKeehan engaging in sexual acts with the girl, and evidence that they also advertised the girl on Craigslist for prostitution, police said.

Alas no mugshots. I’d be curious to see what this freakshow looked like. I bet it wasn’t pretty.

So a girl under 16 is molested, photographed, and pimped out yet some people would like you to believe that she’s not a victim.

Police: Man used Craigslist to offer prostitution services:

Who would have thought that I’d be posting about two male craigslist hookers in the same week?

50-year-old Keith Comire of Cohoes was advertising ‘massages’ for men, women, and couples on craigslist.

An undercover investigator was improperly touched by Comire and Comire was practicing massage without a license. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

Comire was previously arrested in 2007 when he paid an individual in Chickasha, Oklahoma $5,000 to have sex with that person’s five-year-old stepdaugher. Comire was charged at the time with felony obscene sexual performance of a child.

So anyone who got a massage from him got a massage from a pedophile.

Website caution urged after 2 defrauded:
It seems that craigslist is no longer the exclusive domain of scammers. Some of them have also expanded into the badly named Kijiji, eBay’s craigslist rival.

Police in Leamington, Ontario are warning people to be careful after two people were scammed.

Not a new scam either, it was the old fake check/wire fraud scam.

Remember kids even on Kijiji local only and cash only and even then be very suspicious.

If any of my Canuck readers can provide me a Canadian government website where people can report these scams to please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated.

Donelson man who advertised services on Craigslist arrested for prostitution:
41-year-old James Donoho of Donelson, Tenn. was arrested on prostitution charges after police discovered his ad on craigslist for erotic massage.

He was busted in the usual way. However when police arrested him he confessed to police that he’s HIV positive.

Now if he’s infected anyone through his ‘massages’ those people wouldn’t be victims would they?

Sex Sold on Craigslist:

This may just be the worst researched article ever.

Anyway police in Memphis arrested Cynthia Ehrlich, Leroy Williams, and two others in a craigslist hooker sting. Ehrlich and Williams were running a hooker ring out of their house.

However the article states that the police were tipped off by craigslist. I find that very hard to believe. Especially considering that when asked for a response craigslist never got back to the reporter.

Typical.

Pol calls for Craigslist prostitution bust:
A New York City politician has called on the NYPD to crack down on craigslist’s erotic services section. City Councilman Eric Gioia called a press conference yesterday likening craigslist to the wild west.

What used to happen on seedy street corners and brothels has moved to the Internet,”

Gioia and his staff conducted an investigation of the top 100 listings on the erotic services section for about three weeks and found that 85 percent of the ads seemed to be advertising illicit activities. The councilman said some of the ads used vague wording to offer paid sexual acts, such as “companionship” for “a generous donation.”

“They’re pretty obvious,” Gioia said. “It’s high time that law enforcement in New York take a hard look at what’s happening.”

The NYPD had no response and craigslist had their usual ‘we’re doing everything to help law enforcement except taking the erotic services section down’ excuse…

A Craigslist spokeswoman said the site recently implemented new measures that reduced the number of erotic services ads by 80 percent, and other improvements have eliminated a high percentage of other objectionable content.

“The misuse of Craigslist for illegal purposes is completely unacceptable to us and we are continuously devising new means of detecting and blocking such activity,” spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mailed statement.

Again, if it was so unacceptable they’d do away with the section.

Officials seek to track source of phony Web ad involving Ypsilanti Township man’s business:
Some went to the expense of posting a fake help wanted ad on craigslist in order to harass a Michigan businessman.

The following fake ad was placed with the intent of targeting Richard Walsh of the Top Hat tree removal service.

The ads ran Wednesday and Thursday. One ad stated, “WHITES ONLY, no mexicans (sic), and definitely no blacks need apply.” Both ads listed a person’s name - not Walsh’s - and Walsh’s cell phone number.

As usual craigslist is working night and day trying to get to the bottom of this…just kidding. They had their usual non-response.

Once he discovered the ads, Walsh said he tried to contact Craigslist, but got no response. A Craigslist representative didn’t return e-mails from The News seeking comment Thursday or Friday.

I guess they’re too busy counting their stacks of money.

Ticket scammer netted $100,000 on Craigslist, Irvine police say:
The dude with the nice hair is one Kevin Lopez of Irvine, California. He was picked up by police for a fake ticket scam he was running on craigslist that netted him a cool $100K.

What Mr. Lopez would do is he would purchase one electronic ticket online to an event with a stolen credit card. Then he would make copies of the e-ticket and sell them on craigslist. One ticket holder would get into the event but everyone else with one of Lopez’s tickets would be turned away.

Lopez may also have other victims that have not come forward yet.

Oak Park woman arrested for prostitution:
Police in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota arrested a woman for being a craigslist and backpage.com hooker. Previously when called to her place of residence police tried to assist her in getting her out of the business.

“We took the approach of trying to get her some help instead of prosecution, to put her in touch with resources that could help her get out of that business,” said Brian DeRosier, the police department’s acting chief. “But finally, it became a safety concern and we had to do something.’

The woman, only identified by her online persona “Night Diamond”, was also giving out her passcode to clients so they could enter the apartment complex. I would definitely say that’s a safety concern.

I guess you can’t help those that don’t want to be helped.

Police: Dad lied about finding babysitter on craigslist:
Shane Englehart of Glendale, Arizona tried telling police it was the babysitter that he hired through craigslist that allowed his 2-year-old daughter to roam the streets of Glendale unattended. Except that he didn’t use craigslist…and he didn’t hire a babysitter at all. He tried laying blame on someone he knows but when police questioned her she said she knew Englehart but had no idea of what was going on. Under questioning Engleghart confessed and admitted to leaving his 2-year-old daughter unattended while he worked.

Renters Beware: Grass Valley Woman Nearly Scammed by Ad on Craigslist:
Luckily a woman in Lincoln, California had someone looking out for her or she would have fallen for the old ‘I’m leaving for Africa rent my house’ scam.

Shari Wilson was looking to rent a house through craigslist and was asked the following from the ‘renter’.

The purported landlord wrote that she worked for the Department of Agriculture and had just moved to East Africa as a missionary. The ad included a question about the renter’s religion and whether she was ‘born again.’

Shari is born again actually and felt comforted by the question. Luckily Shari’s mother smelled a scam.

Fortunately, the low rent was a red flag to Shari’s mother, who looked up the real owner and discovered the property was for rent, but at a much higher price. And the pictures sent to Shari were from a different property. By this time, Shari had also become suspicious. “If it wasn’t for my training in title, I would’ve given the money,” she said.

If every housing ad that claimed the owner was moving to Africa was true they’d probably have that whole hunger issue solved in no time.

Dad of Craigslist baby faces criminal charges for stolen property:
Remember the guy from British Columbia who put an ad on craigslist selling his baby as a joke? No, not that one, the first one. Yeah, him. Anyway Jeremy Frederick Pete is now facing forgery and stolen property charges. Not for anything related to the baby thing. He was allegedly caught with a stolen credit card while loading flat screen TVs into a truck at a hotel parking lot.

I thought that when you make a living as a criminal you’re supposed to keep a low profile. FAIL.

Police bust prostitution ring that used Craigslist:
10 were arrested in Norfolk, Virginia on a craigslist hooker sting including a juvenile.

Ruth Acosta, 30, and Michael Hall, 27, are charged with soliciting and promoting prostitution. At least four suspects - Danielle Dahners, 23; Jalessa Cuthbertson, 20; Phillisha Fenner, 20; and Jane M in, 18 - were charged with prostitution. A female juvenile was also arrested, but her name was not released because of her age.

Remember kids, you can’t spell juvenile without the letter v. And what does v stand for? It stands for victim.