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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.

For more information about personal safety online, check out these resources:

Please review our avoiding scams page as well.