I've never bought or sold anything from Craigslist. This is because I'm stubborn and refuse to adapt to changing times, but also because I'm intelligent, handsome and get weirded out every time I visit a website that looks like it was built with the FrontPage HTML editor. Come on, I know the website is supposed to have simple, web-retro look, but at least make me feel like I'm not going somewhere illegal.
In addition to those reasons, I also....
A) Don't want to get ripped off buying second-hand merchandise from some Internet creeper.
B) Don't want to get ripped off selling second-hand merchandise to some Internet creeper.
C) Don't want to die while getting ripped off by some Internet creeper.
Seriously, do you all not watch Lifetime movies? Craigslist is a scary place. I think I read a study that claims something like 80% of all Craigslist users either stutter, have twitch in their arm and /or frequent garage sales. Who wants to associate with anyone like that?
Anyway, the reason I bring all this up is that a metro man now probably shares my sentiments about the site. He sold a PS4 for $300... in counterfeit bills.
Via KOCO.com:
A Norman man was out hundreds of dollars after a Craigslist deal went wrong.
Ryan Self met a man in a Walgreens parking lot at NW W. 122nd Street and May Avenue to sell his PlayStation 4. When he went to deposit the cash a few days later, a teller at his bank raised the alarm.
“You never expect fake money.” Self said. “I’m putting $300 in my bank account. And, you know, I get up there and she’s like ‘It’s fake.’”
Self said he was devastated. He’s a working college student, and having surgery soon. The financial hit was hard to swallow.
“I felt anger that I’ve never felt before, you know. And when I get mad I actually cry sometimes and so I actually cried for a minute,” he said. "(I was) sick to my stomach. I wanted to throw up right there. (I was) just real nauseous, you know, and I couldn’t believe it.”
Self's sharing his story and urging people to look out for camouflaged cash so they don’t get ripped off too.
“This is not normal and I don’t want it to happen to anybody else because, you know, it’s the worst feeling in the world,” Self said.
I feel sorry for this kid, and although I'm not sure what it has to do with the story, I hope his surgery goes well.
I think we've all learned a couple of lessons here:
1. Be careful on Craigslist. Whether you're buying something or selling something, you're probably going to get ripped off.
2. If you do sell something on Craigslist, don't try to deposit the cash at the bank. It's probably counterfeit. Pay it forward and use the money to buy something else on Craigslist. Better safe than sorry.
