Criminals haven’t exactly earned high marks in the intelligence department over the years, as both the Darwin Awards and local police blotters attest. Cybercriminals tend to be of a higher order, no doubt partly due to the literacy requirements imparted by computer operation, though phishing toolkits and cut-and-pasting script kiddies might indicate otherwise.

There are exceptions. One of the best known havens for scammers, fraudsters and Net ne’er-do-wells is Craigslist, the ubiquitous online marketplace that offers free classified advertising. Searchers can find an apartment, a job, used goods, professional services and more.

Craigslist was central to a recent heist in which the robber used a clever technique straight out of the Thomas Crown Affair. A robber used Craigslist to hire decoys for an armed truck robbery (Hat tip: Gizmodo). He duped a dozen men to show up at the site of the robbery with offers of $28.50/hour work, including the instruction to wear ‘ yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask and a blue shirt.” Dressed in the same garb, the robber doused the guard with pepper spray, grabbed a bag of cash and escaped in an inner tube down a nearby stream, leaving his unwitting accomplices to act as decoys.

Craigslist now operates in more than 450 cities worldwide, serving over 9 billion page views a month. In amongst the posts selling or offering cars, jobs, extra bedrooms and dates, there’s a vast dark underbelly of Craigslist criminal activity. In other words, the “and more” is where the story gets interesting. The dire warnings that Craigslist administrators make about scams and frauds, especially on pages offering items for sale, reflect the risks inherent in anonymous listings. The danger is real, unfortunately, as this story about a Craigslist rapist attests.

Thieves selling stolen merchandise, dealers offering illegal drugs and prostitutes proffering their own particular brand of goods and services can be found on any day of the week. Here’s a selection of some publicized incidents of Craigslist criminality, courtesy of the Wikipedia entry for Craigslist:

• On September 12, 2007, A woman from Minneapolis pled guilty in federal court to running an underage prostitution ring through Craigslist. [ 24 ]
• On February 8, 2008, a Michigan woman was charged with using Craigslist to hire a contract killer to murder a romantic rival. [ 25 ] [ 26 ]
• In April 2008, a couple was charged with placing an ad on Craigslist inviting the public to take anything from a man’s home in Oregon, leading to the loss of his possessions. The couple had placed this ad to cover up their own burglary of his house [ 27 ] .
• May 27, 2008: In Vancouver, British Columbia, a police report that a Vancouver couple attempted to sell their week-old baby on the site; the couple claims that the posting was just a joke. [ 28 ]

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster is well aware of the issues. In a statement quoted in a recent Ars Technica story, Craigslist puts a dimmer on its red-light district, he noted that:

“The incidence of crime on Craigslist is actually exceedingly low, considering the tens of millions of legitimate ads posted each month by well-intentioned users. “But no amount of criminal activity is acceptable, and as Craigslist has grown, we have become aware of instances where our free services were being misused to facilitate illegal activities. We are unequivocally committed to stamping out misuse of the site and to improving safety for Craigslist users, through preventative measures such as the ones we are announcing as part of the Joint Statement.”

The statement he refers to was a release detailing an agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Attorney General’s offices in 40 US states to implement features that will reduce spam, prostitution and other criminal activity. Specifically, Craigslist is using a phone verification system for listings in the “erotic services” section that requires those creating ads to submit a real number that will be called before the posting goes live and including a fee to post in the erotic services section. The addition of the phone number is designed to reduce automatic posts from spambots. As Jacqui Cheng notes in the Ars article, however, ‘the reduction of spam postings may actually make it easier for those people to operate business through Craigslist, since customers won’t have to sift through as many fake ads before getting to the real thing.’

Buckmaster is no doubt getting ahead of some of the legal issues that Craigslist could face if it doesn’t take substantial steps to hinder Craigslist criminals. Craigslist may be the modern criminal’s best friend, as Lindsay Bass writes in the NC Journal of Law & Technology. Newspapers and magazines are liable for posting discriminatory housing ads. Pimps and madames are liable for facilitating the delivery of sexual services in exchange for money.

Craigslist however, is protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 . As Bass writes, this has ‘kept operators of Internet services from being held liable for the content of third parties who used the operators’ services.’

Regardless of the law and Craigslist’s technical safeguards, if you use the site, be careful. Follow Craigslist’s safety tips and consult GetSafeOnline.org and WiredSafety.org for more advice on keeping clear of online criminals.