Personal Safety
The overwhelming majority of craigslist users are trustworthy and well-meaning.
With billions of human interactions, the incidence of violent crime related to craigslist is extremely low.
Millions of violent crimes occur in the U.S. each year: 10,000+ homicides, 600,000+ robberies, 5 million assaults.
Vanishingly few of these are craigslist-related.
Nevertheless, please take the same common sense precautions online as you would offline.
When meeting someone for the first time, please remember to:
- Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe, bank, or shopping center.
- Do not meet in a secluded place, or invite strangers into your home.
- Be especially careful buying/selling high value items.
- Tell a friend or family member where you're going.
- Take your cell phone along if you have one.
- Consider having a friend accompany you.
- Trust your instincts.
Taking these simple precautions helps make craigslist safer for everyone.
