Are Craigslist spammers getting a little more sophisticated?

[skimble]

In past years, I've gotten the classic simple, almost cliche, Craigslist inquiries-- easy to tell it's a spammer. Or I've gotten the "my boss in England has agreed to finance..."
This year is different. I think I might be getting a lot of personalized inquiries... "Is your unit in Carlsbad Village available?" They're citing specific elements from my listing tied to the location or the resort itself or times.
Anyway, I'm getting plenty of, what seem to be, legitimate inquiries, but they just don't seem to pan out-- I mean, I'm not getting any legitimate dialogue.

So, either my spam filter is doing a good job, and I have no spammer inquiries, or the spammers have become more personalized in their approach. Are you any of you seeing the typical spams? Or are you getting empty inquiries that seem more realistic (like me)?

 

[DeniseM]

Actually, CL has finally started to do something about scammers. I don't know if you've noticed, but when you get a response from a CL Ad, there is now a "report spam" link. If you click that link, it notifies CL, and in theory, the scammer will be blocked by CL. Since I get nearly no spam any more, I think it's been effective.

 

[skimble]

Maybe "Spammer" is not the correct word.
I'm talking about the people who are fishing for phone numbers of timeshare owners. They're the timeshare resales people with the 702 number who call incessantly.
Is there a cyber-term for these people?

 

[DeniseM]

Maybe "Spammer" is not the correct word.
I'm talking about the people who are fishing for phone numbers of timeshare owners. They're the timeshare resales people with the 702 number who call incessantly.
Is there a cyber-term for these people?

Anyone who contacts you with ulterior motives on CL is a scammer and should be reported.

I don't get any of those any more.

On your Ads, do you click the box that says people may NOT contact you with other offers?