We all watch movies like The Craigslist Killer and think, nothing that surreal could ever happen to us. Except that it did.
Former CSUN student, Abdullah Alkadi’s body was found on the side of the 10 Freeway in Palm Desert last year, after leaving his home to meet up with a stranger.
Abdullah created a Craigslist listing to sell his car. After finding a potential buyer on Craigslist, Alkadi left his home, to meet this potential buyer.
On September 17th, Alkadi didn’t only lose his vehicle but he lost his life as well.
To prevent further incidents like this from taking place again, students should not be using Craigslist. This site that so many people use is dangerous because of the number of crimes that have been committed and the site is not always monitored. Although, everyone should try and avoid Craigslist, students are most vulnerable to the dangers.
As students we are often looking for the fastest and most convenient way to get things done. In fact, 50 million Americans end up using Craigslist each year. Craigslist is most commonly used among students who want to find a job, are looking for a means of transportation and need somewhere to live. We look for sites that will save us the most money, yet we forget about the consequences that can result from using such sites.
Seeing that Craigslist is open to anyone and everyone, it is no surprise that all transactions made cannot always be safe. Craigslist has been linked with crimes like assault, prostitution and murder. In 2013, there was an estimate of more than 1 million violent crimes reported to law enforcement in the United States. Of those violent crimes, 330 were committed annually through the Craigslist website.
Due to the fact that there are so many people who use Craigslist, it is difficult to monitor every transaction being done. Craigslist is run by a small group of 30 people who don’t have time to monitor every aspect of the website. The only monitoring that there tends to be of the site is flagging of certain items and accounts. Unfortunately the flagging is not done by the people who run the site but by the users. This basically means that users have free reign of the site.
Having free reign of a site lets users do whatever they please. Users can post fake ads in order to fool other people. While some users are looking to make a profit, there are others who run scams. One of the easiest ways to scam someone is through the internet. Information can be exchanged in a matter of seconds. To some people this may not seem like a big deal but it can have a negative impact on an individuals life.
Craigslist needs to do a better job of securing a safer site for all who . It is unfortunate to think that some people have lost their lives and have been cheated. Alkadi lost his life too soon but his encounter with Craigslist helped open the eyes of CSUN students and taught us that we need to be more cautious of our decisions.
