Hey guys! I wanna share a tip that worked for me. I don't know if any of you have had the "craigslist phenomenon" of scammers putting your listings on Craigslist in an ad and advertising them for rent. Long story short, scammers have been setting up PO boxes and advertising the place that is actually for sale for rent. They somehow find somone gullable enough to MAIL in a deposit for this place for rent, and make off with people's money. A good way to keep your listings from being involved, put the address on Google alerts so that anytime something is POSTED with the address, you are alerted to it right away. That way, ASAP, you can go on craigslist and flag it for removal...

This is a good tip. Probably useful to see when new blog posts and so get indexed too.

Great tip. Thanks!

I've done this for awhile. Just put in the number & street name. You never know how the ad might be run and that should catch any mention of your listing. It's also great to see where your listings show up elsewhere.

It is so surprising what people will do! Thanks for this great tip/reminder!

This is a great tip. I also use Google alerts to get ideas for blog posts. Set up an Alert with some keywords about your market and you'll get notified of news stories, listings, etc. that include those words.

This might be stating the obvious, but you should also set up Google alerts for your name and brand. Might not work well if your name is John Smith, but for more unique names, you can get alerts when you have been mentioned somewhere on the web.

That's all stuff I never thought of. Thanks for the tips.

Yes indeed! It works and you get a feel for where you're being searched, talked about and if you are actually having an impact where you've made your presence!

Thanks for the tip! I never really thought of using Google Alerts to "alert" me of scammers' postings.

Great idea. Thanks for sharing with us.

Not only do they try to get people to send them a check, but also fill out an application, trying to get a hold of the victim's SSN, name, Drivers License #, etc.

They sure do! It's the only reason why they're still doing it and getting away with it, is because there are still people out there falling for it!

woh!!! Google alart? that's the first time i am hearing of it. thanks for the information. i will go and check it out right away.

I think this is a great tip but people who just send money in on an ad from craigslist need to be taught a lesson.

This is a great tip. Not related to this exactly but I was searching for a used vehicle and you find the same scams on Kijiji also with people selling cars at low prices and then saying they moved elsewhere and they can have the car shipped to you to test drive it.

I got so fed up with it I avoided all private sales in the end as it was always a waste of time.

Buyer beware.

Hi,
Thanks for the useful tip. I will try it for my website too.

Great Tip.

I've used Google Alerts for awhile now and found it to be very successful. Never though of using it in this way.

Never thought about it, great tip and thank you for sharing.

Great Idea. Thank you for the post.

Great TIp. Never would have thought of using Google that way :-)