Video: Keeping Things Honest on Craigslist

[bitsontherun RqR5hFKc]COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s 2013.

You can purchase just about anything you want on the world wide web, and not every transaction is exactly legal.

Crooks are selling their ill-gotten gains alongside legitimate merchandise on sites like E-bay or Craigslist.
Cyber crime goes far beyond the realm of creeps hiding out in chat rooms.

Stolen merchandise is making its into the online marketplace.

Kevin Forrester is the I-T Administrator for the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department.

He says. ” It’s a lot easier than a pawn shop. The good thing about it is law enforcement has avenues to review Craigslist end E-Bay just like the normal consumer, but with a few more added twists.”

For security reasons, Forrester can’t be more specific, but there are some things you need to remember to make sure you’re not on the hook for a hot television set or a stolen computer.

Forrester cautions, ” If a house was burglarized, they might take a lap top and not the charging cord, or the USB cords that come with it, and you don’t get a complete sold unit with all of the attachments.”

Sites also have numbers to rate sellers.

If you still have questions, contact that person.

If all he’ll give you is an e-mail address, that’s a red flag.

Still, some crooks are bold enough to meet you in public place.

Forrester warns, ” But if you are to meet in a retail store parking lot, which is very public, how are you going to know that you are actually buying a legitimate piece of equipment?”

And you make that deal, you could also be facing charges.

Authorities are getting more tech savvy every day, but one old rule will always apply.

Forrester concludes, ” If it’s too good to be true, it usually is.”

Shoplifted items are also turning up online often in their original packaging.

One man in Oregon was making ten thousand dollars a month that way, now he’s spending some serious time behind bars.