30 Craigslist Meetups That Took a Wild Turn

‘I was just going to rob you’
30 Craigslist Meetups That Took a Wild Turn

Between the Craigslist Killer and numerous other high-profile scandals, it’s wholly unsurprising that meeting someone from Craigslist could, at the very least, get a little weird. But you have no idea exactly how weird things can get. One Redditor saw a “free hamsters” ad on the site, and after getting the address, arrived at a home that was literally full of hamsters. There were hamsters in cages, hamsters under the couch, hamsters in the walls — hamsters everywhere. The woman giving the hamsters away explained that she started off with two or three of them, but a pregnant one escaped, and it was all downhill from there. 

Other Redditors have remembered the times they wanted a deal and got way more than they bargained for. And while they don’t involve hamster infestations, there are definitely enough cautionary tales here to make you suspicious of what’s lurking behind every listing.  

9y ago Some coworkers and I were in a lull and were browsing Craigslist's personal ads for some laughs. We came across one of a middle-aged woman advertising her services out of the back of a furnished van with a phone number we all recognized... it was our boss. 30 ...
editorializing 8y ago Sold an iPhone on about 3 years ago, and met the buyer in a grocery store parking lot. The dude looked precisely like one of the cousins from Breaking Bad, even down to the boots. Не told me if there was anything wrong with the phone, there were ways of finding me. Не then tried to give me $75 less than what we agreed to. When I corrected him, he stared me down for about 15 seconds then handed the remaining money to me. After that show of bravery, I immediately changed my number, deleted that email,
8y ago We were selling a house on Craigslist and we started getting calls about it being for rent. Sure enough there was a for rent ad picturing our house and giving a phony realtor email address. I contacted the advertiser who claimed he was the owner away doing missionary work in Africa. Не wanted me to wire the deposit. I played along with some back-and-forth emils until he got suspicious and stopped communicating. We reported this fraud to Craigslist who responded by blocking OUR email address. Now when we use Craigslist we have to use a different email
9y ago . Edited 9y ago Was looking for a room to rent. Contacted the person made an appointment. Showed up early (didn't want to be late) condemned sign on the door. No lights on ect. Wait around. Eventually a car with WAY out of state plates shows up. Decide to call them. Mention the sign. They act offended that I showed up early and try to explain it away. I decide the probability of getting stabbed is too high and leave without meeting the owner + 20 ...
Rottenscred 11y ago My buddy responded to an ad for a cheap ass car. Не took it for a test drive and it ran well, so they agreed to a price of $200. After the money changed hands, the seller said he will go inside to get the extra keys and bring the car around. About 2 minutes later the car passes by and continues down the street. My buddy freaks the fuck out and gives chase, unfortunately the car gets away and he is left to go back to the house and see if he can sort it out.
NewClayburn 8y ago Had a guy say he could maybe fix my TV. Said he'd have a look at it no charge and give me an estimate if he could. Came over. Said he couldn't fix it and then hit on me. I'm straight, but he didn't seem to care. 318 Share ...
Mr_MacGrubber 11y ago I had sort of the opposite of these things happen to me. I sold a piece of furniture on Craigslist. I talked to the girl on the phone and gave her my address, but unfortunately she entered the street number wrong. She wasn't from the area and her GPS took her about 10 blocks away to an area of town that's pretty ghetto. Apparently the address she entered was a burned out house too. She calls me yelling at me and says she's calling the police. Thankfully we all had a good laugh once I was able
negro-unchained 11y ago Some guy sold my buddy counterfeit ping golfclubs. It was in Kelowna B.C and my buddy met the guy in a mall parking lot, he was well dressed and driving a lexus. The ad stayed up, so I called to get a set up clubs as well and when he came to meet me, we brought a group of guys and got my friend a refund. 250 ...
Clever_Girl 11y ago I'm late to this party but here it goes anyway: I was trying to sell my old laptop on CL. I was flooded with scam emails saying, I would like to purchase this item for my brother/uncle/nephew/etc. who is studying/volunteering/doing missionary work in Nigeria. Please send your bank account number and information so I may wire transfer funds. Seriously I got like 100 of these emails all saying some variation of that story. They were all OBVIOUSLY very fake emails. Anyway, I finally get a legit sounding message saying this guy wants to buy it. We meet
rangemaster 11y ago Edited 11y ago I have only bought one thing on craigslist, which was the Game of Thrones S1 BluRay. My girlfriend found it and wanted me to go pick it it for her so I told the guy to meet me in the parking lot of a crowded grocery store. I had heard all the stories about craigslist encounters going horribly wrong so was apprehensive about it. It was hunting season so I was wearing my Ka-Bar knife at the time, and had just finished taking my german shepard to the park. So when the guy finally
11y ago About 4 years ago I was trying to sell my Mazda Miata on Craigslist. My friend took some pictures of the car for me and put them online. All of the people that I had talked to on the phone were older men who seemed to have not read the description at all. Asking me basic questions that were in the ad that I posted. It seemed a little weird because I guess I was expecting someone like myself to be drawn to that car (19 year old females). Anyway, the calls started getting creepier and creepier
11y ago Edited 11y ago My sister and her husband bought a refrigerator from a couple on Craigslist about three months ago. They took it home, hooked it up and went to sleep. Over night, the ice machine malfunctioned and flooded their entire kitchen. They're still trying to replace everything. Scary? No. But incredibly unfortunate. As for me? My husband buys fishing equipment off of there constantly. I think we're statistically up for some sort of misadventure (I typically ride along with him).
11y ago I once posted a leftover waffle from breakfast in the free section. I actually got a lot of people telling me they would come eat it. I declined, as I was worried I would end up having a terribly-wrong story that could be posted to a question like this. 814 ...
jaydickchest a 11y ago My friend was trying to buy something off craigslist (houston if anyone's interested). he made arrangements to meet somewhere, agreed on a price blah blah blah. couple minutes later, the guy calls my friend back and says hey man, don't come. I was just going to rob you, but i heard some kids in the background when we were talking on the phone 282 ...
MLBClubbie 11y ago Edited 11y ago Oh yeah. I needed Microsoft Office and noticed that people sold the program for cheap on Craigslist. One guy 20 minutes away was selling the program of 20 bucks. Told me to meet at his house late at night when he got home from work. Ended up being in a sketch dead end street, and told me to come in his garage, where him and a couple of his buddies were smoking inside. This was my first thought of this is kind of weird. After I took my laptop out and putting it on
11y ago I use to grow vegetables indoors in my apartment in college hydroponically. I DID NOT (though no one believes me), grow weed. Anyway, I graduate and get a house with plenty of land so I can grow outdoors and sell my old HPS lamps on craigslist. Guy who picks it up is your typical 18 year old wanna be gangster pot head. About 4 months later I see him on the news having been arrested for operating a grow house.....less than a quarter mile from a police station AND school. 1.7K ...
z0mbiegrl 11y ago I bought a 360 from a craigslist ad. The kid selling it was like 17. We met at a public location (Starbucks) at my request. I handed him the money, he handed me the 360. Then he asked me if he could buy me a coffee. I declined. Не asked me if I wanted to go out sometime. I declined, thanked him for the Xbox, and left. Well, unfortunately, he had my phone number and email address, as I had responded to his ad. Не started sending me these long, angst filled teenage emails about how he
11y ago Edited 11y ago I once was selling a small spray skirt for kayaking. Basically it's a tight rain jacket that bungees around the kayak to keep water out. I specifically advertised it as small. Anyways, meet up with a guy, he gets out of his truck and isn't huge, but certainly should be looking for a L/XL instead of a mens small. Не insists that he can fit into it. Spray skirts don't have zippers or anything, you just pull em over, and they can get quite claustraphobic. This guy tries to pull it on, gets like
thepigwanker 11y ago Two of my roommates went to purchase a couch from someone living on the third floor of an apartment building. They paid for the couch but, somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd floors, got it stuck so badly in the stairwell they decided to cut their losses and just leave it there. 2.1K ...
Tapeworms 11y ago I went to buy a semi-rare videogame (Final Fantasy Tactics, before it became a Greatest Hit). Met this girl in a Wendys parking lot, she gave me the cd case. I opened it, and it was empty. I demanded my $20 back, she looked at me and said if I did anything other than leave, she would lie and say I assaulted her. I pulled out my phone and started to pretend to record her (my cell at the time had no camera) and she started stumbling around, pretending I had attacked her. After a minute if
squiggyshuman 11y ago Yes! I foolishy let a strange guy come to my house to buy a used iPad, I advertised on Craigslist, for his son. Не handed me $40 less in cash than I asked in my ad, saying it was all the cash he had, and that he figured it was a fair price. When I refused to accept what he offered, he became irate, red in the face, slapped my table with his palm, said I was being greedy, and that everyone selling on Craigslist negotiates their asking price. I tried to calm him down by saying
venomftr 11y ago Edited 11y ago Not terribly wrong, but my gf and I arranged to buy a couch off of a couple in a fairly bad neighborhood. After a hassle of trying to find the place we get in the apartment, the couch is in REALLY good condition, and it was retail listed for $1200 we were paying $500. They were moving the next day and really needed to sell it. As I'm carrying one of the sections of the couch out with the guy i see a bug scuttle acrossed the couch. The guy flicks it off with
BigD1106 9y ago Was picking up a bullbar/brush guard for my buddy's Jeep. Exchange went fine, but the guys wife came out as we were loading it into the truck and insisted her husband take it back because she sensed we had Evil Spirits. We just drove away laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing was. 38 ...
Howley7 11y ago Edited 11y ago I went to buy a N64 with a ton of games and a few controllers for $100, he told me to meet him at a Walmart not far from my school, so I went after the school day. Не told me that morning that he had a cherry red mustang and to meet him at it at 3 o'clock. I pulled into the Walmart and there has to be three or four cop cars around a cherry red Mustang. The guy was sitting on the curb while they took out a bunch of shit
grasshopper_jo 11y ago Wanted a hamster. Found free hamsters on Craigslist. Called the phone number and asked do you still have any hamsters left? The lady replied Oh yeah, I just found some. ....did I hear that right? must have misheard it. When I arrived at her house, there were several cages filled with hamsters. She wasn't an intentional animal hoarder. She started out with two or three hamsters. But one of the hamsters escaped, and it was pregnant. They started breeding in her walls like rodents, and every time she would find one, she would put it in a
SUSANISNOTABITCH 11y ago Not me, but a friend. Не was selling a graphing calculator and arranged to meet the buyer at a shopping center. The buyer wanted to test it out, but it didn't have batteries. My friend agreed to ride to a grocery store with him to pick up batteries. On the way back to where they originally met, buyer took the calculator to test it out. Не plays with it for a minute, agrees it is in good condition, and passes it back to my friend. On the screen, the buyer had typed you are kidnapped. My friend
ShawnisMaximus 11y ago Not Craigslist but kijiji (same idea, different site). A couple years ago was buying some DVD's from a guy. I had drank too much the night before and was having a hellish hangover but decided to go get the DVD's anyways. Не was on the sketchy side of town. Anyways pull up to his house. It is a five-plex (five attached houses) and there is a note on the front door to go to the back. So I go to the back and there are these three gangster lookin' guys mid-day drunk and some cracked out girl
brohontas 9y ago '04 Mustang GT, '96 Miata, '88 Bronco II Okay, so the first thing I ever tried to sell was my old car from high school. I wanted upgrade the suspension on my new edge. The guy that wanted to look at it, was not there to buy a car. Не just happened to be in town to meet his estranged wife, but she was preoccupied with her new lover. So he searched Craigslist to find someone to talk to about the whole situation. The rest is just me awkward repeating oh geez, damn man, I'm sorry things
spctrbytz 11y ago Went to sell my old phone, and met the guy in the parking lot of his apartment. The guy pulled a David Copperfield and palmed the SIM card out of my phone about 18 inches from my face, told me he was going inside to get some cash, and was about 50 feet away before I noticed it was gone. Things escalated quickly from that point, and ended up with police crashing his party. Pretty darn scary. Now, I only meet in one of two very public places and am invariably armed. + 10 ...
9y ago Edited 9y ago Wanted to buy a shed to put my workshop in. Found a guy who then tells me I can meet him at his house. Well I show up and the dude is all shifty. He's looking towards the road and trying to close the deal. That's when a van pulls up. Не was selling someone elses property while they were at church. Van pulls up, shifty dude starts sprinting through a bean field behind the house. 5 ...

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