Legal Commentary

Internet Considered Dangerous

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

Or maybe that should be, ‘Reliance on Internet Considered Dangerous’.

There’s this amazing, if somewhat mis-titled story Man scammed by Craigslist ad

A pair of hoax ads on Craigslist cost an Oregon man much of what he owned.

The ads popped up Saturday afternoon, saying the owner of a Jacksonville home was forced to leave the area suddenly and his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan.

But Robert Salisbury had no plans to leave. The independent contractor was at Emigrant Lake when he got a call from a woman who had stopped by his house to claim his horse.

On his way home he stopped a truck loaded down with his work ladders, lawn mower and weed eater.

“I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back,” Salisbury said. “They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did.”

The driver sped away after rebuking Salisbury. On his way home he spotted other cars filled with his belongings.

Once home he was greeted by close to 30 people rummaging through his barn and front porch.

The trespassers, armed with printouts of the ad, tried to brush him off. “They honestly thought that because it appeared on the Internet it was true,” Salisbury said. “It boggles the mind.”

The followup is slightly cheerful: Some items being returned to victim of Craigslist hoax

Apparently this sort of thing has happened before, perhaps as part of a family feud. Although neither story explains clearly if the vandals broke in or if the victim left the door unlocked.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on March 26, 2008 (boomark / email).