Intellectual Property Law

When news broke last week that someone in Oregon posted a fake Craigslist ad that led people to empty out a man's house and take his horse, THREAT LEVEL wondered if the fake free ad was the newest attack from the net's griefers.

Police arrested Amber and Brandon Herbert for allegedly posting a fake Craigslist ad that led people to ransack an Oregon man's ranch.
Mugshot: Jackson County police via the Smoking Gun

THREAT LEVEL immediately suspected some very clever social engineer was getting revenge by creating a new kind of attack that mashed-up of a Flash Mob and a phishing attack.

But it turns out the police believe it was a simply a couple who was trying to cover up their earlier burglary of saddles from the house.

According to the probable cause affidavit for the arrest of Amber and Brandon Herbert acquired by the Smoking Gun, the duo had copies of the two fake Craigslist postings and were nabbed after the police got their IP address from Craigslist.

So much for the savvy internet criminal theory.