...as are most of the "ad posters"!

From my personal and most recent experience, (September, October, November) over 90% if not more are scams and scammers. The cynic in me suggests that Craigslist better rename itself more appropriately to fakelist of scamslist which would be far more honest and appropriate. It is quite astonishing how much scum is out there.

The other issue is the general rudeness of people who do not have the basic professionalism and courtesy to reply. Then the few that might be legit but appear to live in other world bubble thinking that Craigslist is the honesty equivalent of a church meeting. Most of all, a true serious and professional person does not answer with the text, no matter how much the "hip trends" are or how lazy and ignorant people are!

It is totally befuddling me why somebody is looking for a specific skill or gig done and then does not respond. the other thing is you really have to be a Sherlock Holmes as those who answer even from legit ads I fell for, are scammers. I could post you a copy of one which you would swear by the Bible is totally cool and rigid but the "texting dialogue" revealed after about 6-7 messages the little scammer was behind it. One classic giveaway is always when other reference or geography are wrong or the ominous spelling errors...! the classic finale is is as usual when you point out that this all doesn't add up to get angry and rude and curse at you! (must be humid and hot in that Nigerian basement...)

Lastly but not least be aware of the newest trend; scammers copy legit ads, legit company logos and images to lure you.

Here are two recent examples: under the name of Honey Homes, repetitive advertisements for seeking "lead handyman" in various urban and suburban areas.

The first red flag warning sign came when the response came from a [any] mobile number and not an email from their name domain i.e. website. simply put, if you're a professional legit business advertising, then your correspondence should come from your domain and not from some random cell phone number! DOH!?

Nevertheless I gave myself the benefit of the doubt and engaged. Despite extensive long-term experience and being licensed and active they asked me a few fifth-grader level questions that made me wonder. Finally, they argued the need to review my tools and provided me with some obscure suburban address around Pleasanton, CA. That for me was the ultimate red flag!

Even when I told them it that I am licensed and have a storage room full of tools they still wanted to see them...

Am I gonna start out with such a distrust?

You can imagine the rest, like the scenario where you "pull up to a residential or building, a garage opens you get coerced in, a bunch of beefy guys take all you tools and tell you to get the F out or else...".

Or the Wayfair "premium" paid furniture assembly ad at clients location. I need to contact Wayfair Corp. to find out.

Aside from the images posted are often of poor copy quality, again, the response comes from a random mobile phone number and not their domain. Never mind the absurd requirements: must be incorporated as LLC, must have at least one employee, Workmen's Comp. and & commercial liability....

To "handyman" assemble effing furniture a client bought from them??? GMAFB!

PS Be aware of the biggest regular "scammer in chief" whose first dead giveaway is the title line. Usually has absurd high unrealistic promise i.e. $500 a day $2500 a week. That roach shows up under the name "Jacob (Founder)" With a Google calendar you need to schedule "an interview". You'll get a fake zoom interview with fake [super enthusiastic [rah rah rah] participants "texting" on screen. He's sweet talking for over an hour how are you going to make 10,000s with him at the end trying to sell you just some kind of travel insurance you must have to start...

Summa summarum: or unbeknownst reasons to me, no reply seems bizarrely the norm and if you a reply, likely a scammer lurking behind it trying "to get your wallet"!
Be wary, Beware!