Update: People behind fake Craiglist ad arrested [News]
April 2, 2008
In an update to the Fake Craigslist advertisement scam I posted about a week ago, the criminals behind the hoax that left a man stripped out of his possessions have been arrested by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Amber and Brandon Herbert (pictured), 28 and 29 respectively, are facing charges of burglary and computer crime for their part in creating the Craigslist ad that led people to ransack the victim’s house. The crooks were traced by the police department through their IP address.
As for the motives:
The Herberts, investigators charge, did this to cover up their prior theft of several saddles and other items from the garage of the rural southern Oregon house.
In other words, the whole Craigslist scam was a cover-up for a past crime. It’s pretty perverse how low some people would go to cover their tracks as best they can. In the Herberts’ case, by trying to completely rub out the victim’s lifestyle and possessions. You’d figure stealing a few saddles was enough.
Link (via Boing Boing)
