CHARGING ADULT CLIENTS TO POST
Craigslist will start charging for erotic services soon. Backpage.com has been doing this for years. It is perhaps the best way to reduce the prank postings, illegal postings, and postings by under aged users.
Not many solutions for user content generated sites are perfect when it comes to content quality. Craig will face some of the same challenges we face. While there is fraud with employer postings, it is significantly higher in adult. I outlined a few challenges below.
Stolen credit card use
Users “borrow” credit cards from friends, family, or customers.
Stolen credit card use is just a lot higher in adult categories. We usually hear from the owner of the credit card one month later by a phone call or charge back. Meanwhile, the ad was up the whole time and the user was able to get away with the fraud.
Once fraud is reported to us, we can trace it back to a user and take steps to prevent future abuse. Unfortunately though, many internet con artists are seasoned, and can work their way around blocks. It really is a “whack-a-mole” type problem.
A far bigger problem is syndicates with unlimited stolen credit cards. They are criminals. They account for nearly $400,000 in attempted transactions on our site alone this year. They get stolen credit cards from viruses on a user’s computer or from bogus web sites. They then use a credit card to post fake ads in paid categories with links to sites with more viruses. Or, they post fake ads to get email addresses to spam users with Viagra over seas sites, porn, or adult dating.
Some internet marketing companies sell phone verified accounts on craigslist. I’m sure they plan to use stolen credit cards for the additional verification. The criminals have an unlimited amount of user’s credit card numbers and personal data. They will post using a US internet service provider. It will be almost impossible for any automated fraud detection.
So, I congratulate Craig on implementing a model similar to ours. As an upside for our economy, he will need to hire people to manage the massive increase in credit card fraud. There will be a lot of it. Backpage recently added two more people to our fraud control staff. It’s the hot new job for our growing e-commerce economy where stolen credit cards abound.
- Carl
November 8th, 2008 at 4:15 am
Hi Carl,
I do agree with your opinion about postings by under aged users and stolen credit card users.
Though detection process of illegal credit card users is been implemented,the crimes does not come to an end .
Hoping for a best solution!!!
————–
Julissa
widecircles
November 11th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
It is good to alert new users about all the online fraud out there. The free classifieds are great for us homeowners and small business owners, but I would be happy if there so called Adult stuff was eliminated altogether.
Thanks, Lundy
Villa Lagoon Cement Tile
December 10th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Backpage, you were the originator of the fee based erotic service ads. I join you in congratulating craigs on screening there site. Even though some fraud will be introduced, it will be 10 times harder for the underage girls to post erotic ads. The benefit far out weighs the problems. Our erotic section is small so we moniter each ad, although free we will not allow any traffiking or under age postings.
Dontlookanyfurther.com / Sfbaylist.com
January 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I telephoned an ad on the internet for a massage service. The ad is at
http://sf.backpage.com/FemaleEscorts/college_girl_real_pics_with_incredible_body_/classifieds/ViewAd?oid=1960061
The phone number is (415)839-5212.
A woman arrived, 6′1″, white, 130lbs, dark hair. She came to my room at the Intercontinental, took $250 from me and then refused to provide the massage. She says “she only came to talk”. She then started threatening and claiming I was acting psycho, and she left the room. While she was there she talked to a partner and gave this woman on the phone my ID information.
I realise that maybe I was stupid. However I have since discovered that several ads are attached to this same scam, which is ripping off foreign tourists. (415)424-4258 (415)404-7991 (415)484-1178 are all to the same group of thieves.
There is also much information about these thieves on other internet sites. You should stop them. I thought the “paid” ads on Backpage minimized scams, in in fact it is rampant in San Francisco.
February 18th, 2009 at 5:27 am
i whant to make friend to u all
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
Very nice, I got this search through google. And I appreciated your time for posting this.
March 16th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Lol, CraigsList they are high-larious. Backpage does it the best. As for Jim McMartin you might want to check out my blog. Might save you from the headaches of looking for a good escort on BackPage.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:12 am
I strongly believe there should be a better way to regulate on these scams.However, It is very hard to do so. Charging for the ads is a good way to star filtering out the ones who abuse these classifieds sites with false ads and scams. Its also bad for the actual businesses who obtain revenue in an honest fashion from the services provided, such as, phone lines, Accompaniment, and “real” massage services. I know i will be trying to find a better way to approach this issue in the near future.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:10 am
even though craigslist and back pages are charging for adult posting but hindlist.com classifieds thinks that it is better not to charge its adult users as far as they dont post their photos. So in the new version that is to be released with in next 12 or 15 days hindlist.com has all photo ads except for adult section. This is the way it can discourage the prank postings
April 19th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Jim McMartin: There’s not much cragslist or backpage can do to prevent your provider from scamming you. If you are looking for adult services on craigslist or backpage, proceed with caution.
April 24th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I think through this method of Carl crimes do come to an end very soon……..
May 1st, 2009 at 5:27 am
Thanks for this
May 1st, 2009 at 6:13 am
Thanks for this
May 18th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Thats a good thing.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
better to check out reviews and make sure you knpw what others have said first, like any good business venture, do your homework and BE SATISFIED XOXO NAMASTE BIJULIET
June 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Probably a very good thing, nice post
June 25th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Jim Mc Martin what ever happened wih your situation.Same thing happened to me
June 25th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Hey Jim what ever happened with your situation? Same thing happened to me!
July 4th, 2009 at 9:42 am
thx
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 am
Truth be told, backpage has no room to bitch and moan about the adult providers when they market them then have no problem placing the blame on them when they need someone to dump their site problems on. I was recruited by backpage through my craigs list ads, now backpage allows it’s forum moderators “pimps” to abuse and ban, their paying customers. Way to go backpage.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Adult or not, both of them are try to sell their product. why they have to raising up?