You run the risk of being rude and you lose a potential buyer, but if you are not comfortable talking to a person outside of your home then you should not invite them in. (For the record, it's very unlikely you will ever have to do this, but it's good to give yourself the option just in case.)
Craigslist does not back any transaction on its site. If you receive an email or text trying to sell you purchase protection, you're looking at a scam. There is no such thing as a Craigslist voicemail service. If a contact asks you to access or check your “Craigslist voicemails,” you're dealing with a scammer.
If you're a victim of a Craigslist scam, you may want to get in touch with your local police department. It can pursue criminal charges and possibly help you recover any money or items that were stolen.
Is it safe to give out my address? No. People can show up at your address and commit crimes. They can ask for a drink of water and once inside, they can steal your mail, bank account numbers and charge accounts.
Asking for an email address is not immediate evidence of a scam. It is however the opening a crook needs to get at you. Expect that your mail address maybe used to send you phishing emails or malware attachments. or it maybe used to spam other email inboxes.
It may give them information they need to steal money or uncover other personal information that can then be sold on the web. They can also mine your contacts list to send out phishing emails and/or malware to compromise even more accounts or defraud the people you know!
Case in point, when you're placing an ad or responding to an ad, avoid using your personal phone number to communicate with buyers or sellers. Otherwise you're asking to be bombarded by a number of unwanted spam and scam calls.
How to report a Craigslist scam
If you say an item is sold as is in your ad then there is nothing to sue for. Buyer beware, unfortunately. Always always always always insist on testing the item or seeing it work before handing any money over, especially a big ticket item like this. ... You have him money.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the main agency that collects scam reports. Report your scam online with the FTC complaint assistant, or by phone at 1-877-382-4357 (9:00 AM - 8:00 PM, ET). The FTC accepts complaints about most scams, including these popular ones: Phone calls.
So you are probably right to limit sharing your mailing address to people you don't know if you can trust with the information. ... Just giving out the address is no problem, as long as you limit it to the address.
Using an email address makes it really simple by keeping things uniform and easy. But what's convenient for you is just as convenient for scammers. Hackers and identity thieves can also get into your accounts faster if you use an email address as your user ID, and it's the first thing they try.
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