After a disgruntled law student who was the subject of a story I wrote for Above the Law posted my photo and cell phone number in a “Casual Encounters” ad on Craigslist — causing my phone to
ring off the hook for hours one Sunday morning — I coined the term “crowd-sourced revenge” to describe it. I was far from the only victim of a Fake-Craigslist-Ad prank. It’s a fairly easy and anonymous way to recruit unwitting volunteers to harass a person who has gotten under your skin. But it’s also illegal.
A security consultant contacted me saying he wanted to assist me in pressing charges, but I felt satisfied enough after having written about it. In that post last year, I mentioned cases in which victims
had chosen to involve authorities:
(1)
A feuding Connecticut neighbor posted a fake orgy ad in Casual Encounters titled “Looking for Lust,” claiming it had been posted by a “married West Hartford soccer mom … looking for group sex.” Several lusty strangers showed up (while one confused one showed up
at the wrong address where he groped a confused teenage girl in his eagerness).
(2)
An angry pharmacist at a CVS in Norwalk, Conn. created a fake “Sex Partner Wanted” ad after a female customer complained of bad service. She got numerous calls; when Craigslist later provided her with the email address linked to the ad’s posting, police were able to link it back to the pharmacist.
(3) A
40-year-old woman in Long Island posted a “looking for a good time?” ad in an Escort Service area on Craigslist, providing the phone number for her 9-year-old neighbor after the little girl argued with her daughter;
(4) In the
most disturbing example of Craigslist revenge I’ve ever come across, a rejected ex-boyfriend posted a “rape fantasy” ad on behalf of his ex-girlfriend, and a 26-year-old man fulfilled it.
