Craigslist "Gigs": Online Community, or Online Scamming?

Craigslist is a great community resource. It contains relevant information for most major cities, and its wide useage makes apartment finding, activity hunting, and employment opportunities more accesible - and all for free. There's no doubt that most Craigslist users are honest people. Most of the employment opportunities are posted by people or companies that want to reach out to the broad audience who utilize Craigslist, rather than scan the Classifieds (and they don't have to pay a fee to post it.)

But you do have to be careful. Since it is a free community resource, people looking to take advantage of workers have been known to post on Craigslist. The is most notable on the "Gigs" section, where people hire for one time or contract jobs, usually for writers, musicians, artists, or laborers. A person looking for a gig is usually self employed, and does not have the resources to make absolutely sure that the gig is legitimate- and Craigslist can't ensure that, either. You need to do what you can to make sure that you aren't taken for a ride.

Get all the contact information for the employer, especially the full name and telephone number. Try to get a business address, if you are working on a tele-commuting basis, and make sure that all of these things check out. Make sure that you have all the details of the assignment and payment arrangements worked out before you do anything. Save all email correspondance, and make sure that you have a real email address, and not just the anonymized Craigslist one. You might even ask for a reference. Sometimes, you can post on the Craigslist section and see if anyone else has heard of or worked with this person. If they have discovered that Craigslist is an easy target for scamming people. odds are they've been there before. And odds are, the people they've cheated will be eager to give you all the nasty details. And watch out for all the pyramid schemes that are all over the site: you know, the ones where you take surveys or stuff envelopes and make thousands per week. Don't even waste your time responding to those.

Payment can be tricky, as either side wants to prevent being "stiffed" However, most legitimate gigs will typically accept upfront payment, especially for projects where the two sides never meet in person. Payment through paypal is your best option. Ask for half of you payment beforehand, and half after you send the work, if they won't give it to you in full up front. This is meeting halfway, and a legitimate employer should understand. Accepting personal checks via mail is much more questionable. If you decide to accept this method of payment, try and work out the safest arrangment to ensure payment. Ask to receive the check before you send them the finished work. Too many people receive what they want from the worker, and decide to never put that check in the mail.

And don't just mope and then forget about it if you do run into a problem like this. Post it so that others will avoid this person or company. Follow up- call them, write them, and email them. It's your money, and you need to fight for it. If they delete their email account or block you, write to their provider, and report them for creating the account with the intention to commit fraud. Take them to small claims court (again, save those email exchanges- they are the closest thing that you'll have as proof of contract.) It might be more about the principle than the money owed, which is just a valid a cause, if not more so. And finally, write to the abuse at Craigslist department, and report them. Craigslist wants to keep their site a helpful community resource, not a crooked one.

Remember, you can get good gigs on the site- but you have to watch your own back.