SafeBlog

Imagine that you are looking for a place to rent in a new city. Since you aren’t familiar with the area, you use Craigslist to find the perfect place with an affordable rent.  Unable to reach the landlord in person, you wire your deposit and first month’s rent in exchange for the keys to the residence.

Then you discover the crushing truth. The keys don’t work. In fact, the property is not even available. You’ve been scammed out of your money.

Unfortunately, this scheme is becoming common place on Craigslist and other classifieds sites. A Texas woman lost her $900 deposit on a house when her scammer gave her fake keys to a house he didn’t own. A Kansas family almost lost out on $1400, but avoided their loss with further investigation. What they found was that the house they were looking to rent, was not owned by the woman in Africa with whom they had been corresponding via email.

This type of scam starts with the criminal lifting the address and photos of a property that is for sale, and posting it as a vacant rental online. The scammer then lures an interested party in, weaving a believable story about why they are not in town to meet and show the property in person. Then, after the innocent renter wires money to the person, the renter either receives fake keys or no keys at all, and the scammer has disappeared with their money into Internet oblivion.

Here at Safelist, we are aware of the scams that plague Internet users and we are committed to providing a safer alternative to help minimize the chances that this could happen to you.

We realize that the anonymity of online classifieds allows criminals greater ability to disappear once they commit fraud. Therefore, we have created a community of only verified users.  Each Safelist member must verify their identity, ensuring that the person with whom you are transacting, is who they say they are. Therefore, should any crime be committed while using Safelist, we will have that offender’s personal information, thus making the criminals accountable for their actions.

Our hope is that identity verification alone will deter criminal activity; however, should a crime be committed, Safelist will be ready to assist in the apprehension of the perpetrators involved.

We invite you to join our safer community, where our members can engage in online commerce free from worry and suspicion.

These days, travelers have more options than ever when booking vacations. Websites ranging from Craigslist to Couch Surfing provide users the ability to swap houses or even crash on a stranger’s futon. Among these emerging services is Airbnb, an online network that connects renters with people looking for a place to stay short-term.

Earlier this month, a shocking story made headlines about an innocent San Francisco resident who opened her home to a renter via Airbnb, only to find it completely ransacked upon her return. The user, whose name is only published as “E.J.,” recounted the story in a June 29 blog post. Not only were her valuables stolen and her possessions destroyed, but her passport and social security card appeared to have been photocopied, exposing her to possible identity theft.

After E.J.’s story went viral last week, another man revealed to TechCrunch that his own Oakland home was vandalized and covered in meth paraphernalia upon his return.

These incidents help bring to light the importance that we all must place on preserving our security when transacting online. The choice you make when deciding whether to trust someone should be based on both the information the web service provides and what you are able to gather yourself.

Airbnb does not verify the identity of its users, though E.J. argued in a recent blog update that the company leads customers into a false sense of security by “disallowing the exchange of personal contact information until… a reservation is already confirmed and paid for.”

E.J. contends that Craigslist is, in effect, safer. However, we all know that using Craigslist can be dangerous. We have all seen in the news how serious crimes, including theft and murder, have stemmed from Craigslist encounters. The unfortunate reality is that we should always be careful before opening our lives and homes to strangers we meet online.

One of the biggest problems with the online marketplace today is the ability for users to hide behind their anonymity. Randi Zuckerberg, the former marketing director for Facebook, spoke on this topic in a recent panel discussion on social media hosted by Marie Claire magazine.

“I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away,” said Zuckerberg. And we couldn’t agree more. While private data should never be made public to just anyone, it is important that people be held responsible for their actions on the Internet, especially when they break the law or harm others. Internet users should not be able to hide behind any identity other than their own, and everyone’s online identity must be verified to help protect all web denizens.

At Safelist, we recognize that it is important for you to feel safe and know that you are transacting with a legitimate person, therefore, we verify the identity of every Safelist user. Additionally, we also allow our users the option to pass a criminal background check to afford them even greater respect and legitimacy within our community. Our goal is to provide a safer alternative to the anonymous marketplaces found online.

In order to protect our physical and financial safety it is imperative that we always remain vigilant when using online services. Never rely on short cuts!

Please join in the conversation with your comments.

Three San Diego residents were robbed this past Monday night in separate encounters planned by the suspects through Craigslist. In all three instances, the victims were robbed at gunpoint while trying to sell an iPod or iPad.  News outlets are reporting that the police believe the incidents to be related.

These latest episodes come just 3 months after San Diego resident Garret Berki, a recent high school graduate, was shot and killed during a botched Craigslist transaction.

The frequency of incidents in which innocent people using Craigslist end up becoming victims of unscrupulous criminals, is very disturbing. The only reason criminals like using Craigslist is because the website allows them to remain totally anonymous, thus making it easy for them to lure their victims.

Fortunately, there is a solution.

Since criminals prefer operating under the cloak of anonymity, Safelist offers a very simple and elegant solution that makes their platform very unfriendly for crooks and felons: We verify the identity of every user. With our Verified Anonymity concept, users have the ability to stay anonymous, while still being verified. Safelist also promotes an open door policy with law enforcement to further discourage criminals from playing their trade on our site.

Additionally, unlike our competitors’ Russian Roulette system, Safelist users enter into a transaction with their eyes wide open. With our reputation management system, users are afforded the ability to see each others’ transaction scores (SafePoints) before they transact.

At SafeBlog, we are committed to providing you, our readers, with tips and suggestions to help keep you and your family safe and secure from online crime. We encourage you to share your comments, experiences and ideas with our community.

*News Update*

Last night, a suspect, Keith Randall Smith, was arrested and taken in for questioning. The black handgun described in all three incidents was recovered at Smith’s Mission Valley home as well as two of the stolen iPads.

However, the female that accompanied the robber in all three cases is still missing. She is described to be between ages of 20-25, blonde, thin and about 5’4”. If anyone has any information on this case, they are asked to call the San Diego Police Department at 619-531-2000.

With warm weather in full force, now is the time that many of us are escaping our homes and offices for summer vacations.

No matter how long you’ll be away, chances are you will find it hard to completely disconnect. While “unplugging” is a great tactic for total relaxation, many vacationers can’t help but bring their laptops and other devices along for the ride.

But how safe are the networks that we are connecting to along the way? At home, we know to password-protect our Internet connections and implement other security measures for our home network. However, as travelers, we usually don’t always maintain the same level of vigilance over our network security. Instead, we find it convenient to take advantage of any free public network(s) in whatever airport, hotel, or coffee shop we pass through.

But we all know that even “free” things in life have a cost that we have to pay.

The problem is that public Wi-Fi networks pose many potential security risks to your personal information. When you are using an unsecured network (i.e. no login, no password, and no encryption) anyone can join the network and steal your sensitive, personal information. Even if the network is secured with a password, that is a step that can often easily bypassed by cyber criminals.

While you’re enjoying the summer months on the road, it’s also important to take steps to ensure the safety of your personal information. Before you take those (hopefully short!) breaks to use the Internet, take some time to implement one or more of the following tips:

1. Use your mobile device

Why log into a public network if you don’t have to? If you have a smartphone with a data plan, there are ways to connect to the Internet on your laptop using your phone’s connection. Lifehacker has a great guide for doing so with an iPhone. One of the steps requires you to “jailbreak” your phone, but don’t be alarmed. Jailbreaking was declared legal in the U.S. in July 2010.

2. Use a VPN

Another good route for safer surfing away from home is using a virtual private network, or VPN. These networks allow for authentication (password) and encryption through a remote server. Setting one up on your own can be a pain, but luckily there are free services that take care of it for you.


CyberGhost VPN is a free download that allows you to remain anonymous by concealing your real IP address and location. Furthermore, all of your web activity is then encrypted to protect you from eavesdroppers.

Other similar services include HotSpot Shield and Wall Cooler VPN.

3. Use secure browsing

While this is a good idea to use at home as well, it’s particularly important when you are away from home that you use the HTTPS version of a URL whenever possible.

HTTPS is a protocol that adds additional encryption to safeguard whatever personal information you are entering to access the site.  For example, if you use it on Facebook, the address bar will show you https://www.facebook.com instead of http://www.facebook.com .

Many sites do not default to HTTPS even when they offer it. Luckily, Google Chrome offers an extension that forces any site to use HTTPS if they have it available. For Firefox, HTTPS Everywhere is a good option.

4. Change your passwords

If you must spend your vacation using public networks, change your passwords to the accounts you are accessing at least once. Use a password that you don’t use at home. Make sure to mix numbers and upper case and lower case letters in your password to make it more difficult for a hacker to steal.

Our hope is that our users will remember to safeguard their personal data, especially when away on a vacation. By taking a few preventive steps, you will decrease your chances of becoming a victim of cyber-crime and thus allow yourself to enjoy your well-deserved time off, worry-free.

If you want to share with us other tried and true methods that you use to protect your data online, please do so by posting in the comments section of this post.