BOSTON — If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. If only that saying would have crossed my mind before I joined the thousands of people who have experienced internet fraud, in my case through Craigslist.

Being a college student trying to find a decent job, and with the nearing of Thanksgiving break, I responded to a mystery shopper ad in the part-time job section of Craigslist.org. My “evaluation” task was to provide my fake boss with information about the work ethic at the 64 Kneeland St. Western Union location in Chinatown and make a money transfer to whom I believed was a member of the mystery shopper organization (which I never got an actual name for—red flag #1). I always thought I would identify a scam if I saw one on Craigslist, but like so many others, I was fooled by the elaborateness of these schemes. Continue reading →