Your Craigslist Account has been Blocked!- Phishing Scam!

Your Craigslist Account has been Blocked!- Phishing Scam!

Summary of eRumor:
 

This is a very official looking notification that informs you that your account at Craigslist has been blocked and temporarily suspended.  It asks you to click a link in the email and login with your username and password to reactivated your account.

The Truth:
 
This is a phishing scam to get personal information, according to information posted on the real Craigslist web site.   Phishing is an attempt on the part of scammers to trick you into going to their website by telling you that you are either going to lose your privileges or there has been fraudulent use of your account.   Click for more information.


Official Warning on Craigslist Web Site

The link in the unsolicited email appears to be correct but it actually contains imbedded Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) code that directs computer users to a different site on the Internet.

Some important clues can be also be detected in the sample email that we received indicating that this indeed  was a spoof.   Several words were misspelled and it is doubtful that a professional organization such as Craigslist would abbreviate their name with “CL” in an email addressed to their account holders.

This serves as an important reminder to computer users to read such emails carefully before acting on them.

updated 03/27/11