How Nextdoor Became *The* Platform For Scammers To Rip Off Your Parents

[left-of-center2012]

This story is part of Protect Your Parents From the Internet Week.

Nextdoor is an online (forum) platform for neighbors to chitchat about everything from lost keys found at the local park to a sassy Bengal cat terrorizing the cul-de-sac’s pets. But it’s also a hotbed for scammers, like a “contractor” who disappeared after the deposit was paid, an imposter who hired teenage assistants and botched a remodeling project, and a woman who stole a real nanny’s identity to dupe multiple families.

The platform doesn’t just host person-for-hire scams. The Fishers Police Department in Indiana was forced to warn residents of a car sale scam on Nextdoor. The same scheme has reached other places, including Moses Lake, Washington, where a man saw a Nextdoor posting for a vehicle on sale on the online auction site eBay and provided the seller with eBay gift cards. The deal was fake. One Madison County, Alabama, couple put a notice for their lost cat on Nextdoor, as well as on Craigslist and in Facebook groups. They received a text from a stranger who claimed to have found their cat and asked the couple to send reward money via an app link.

“There’s a false sense of security on Nextdoor that, because these are people in your immediate community, they must be trustworthy. Because of that, people may be less likely to use due diligence in researching contractors and caregivers,” said Brandy Bauer, an associate director at the National Council on Aging. Nextdoor shares its users’ full names and addresses with other people in the neighborhood by default. (You can choose to display just your street name by clicking on your profile picture and going to Settings > Privacy.)

Nextdoor spokesperson Jenny Mayfield told BuzzFeed News that “this is an issue that affects all online platforms, and we encourage our members to take this matter seriously and to continue to be vigilant online at all times.” Mayfield noted that because Nextdoor requires people to sign up with their real name and verify their address before becoming members of their neighborhood, the platform has an “extra layer of security, as compared to other platforms.”

Full article at:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nicolenguyen/nextdoor-scams

[Grasswire2]

1. I would never sign up for it.

The neighbor urging people to get aboard is an atty for DHS.

Too much of an opening for Big Brother, IMO.

[mountain grammy]

2. Thanks for sharing..

[emmaverybo]

3. I am glad for this warning! Actually, this is a good newsletter. Itself it is a source to find out

about any criminal activity in your neighborhood.

However, when a set of neighbors recently affected by a rash of burglaries met at a home to discuss safety options, all the houses of those attending were robbed in their absence. Gosh, where could the thieves have learned about the meeting?

So be careful. One can get lulled into the feeling that this is a completely safe, kind of exclusive
online newsletter.

But I have found great helpers there, good deals, and learned more about my community.

Off to check my privacy settings now.

[left-of-center2012]

5. You double posted your response

[emmaverybo]

7. Thanks for letting me know. Problem loading so I entered too many times. Deleted. NT

[radical noodle]

6. In our area there isn't much of that

It's mostly mundane things like lost pets and bitching about the gate guards and the POA rules. "Why can't I park my car in my yard?" and "I think there's an alligator in the lake."

[DavidDvorkin]

8. The local version of Nextdoor is fine

I'm in southwest Denver. Nextdoor is an excellent resource for local news and recommendations for new restaurants and other local businesses.

The only problem I've seen is rightwingers trying to hijack discussions (of what? anything!), but they get shouted down pretty quickly.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I originally signed up for Nextdoor

and soon decided it had nothing useful to offer me, and was a huge waste of time to read through all the stuff there. So I unsubscribed and don't feel like I'm missing anything important about my neighborhood.

[left-of-center2012]

10. I'm on NextDoor

Almost daily there are reports of ‘lost’ dogs or ‘runaway’ dogs.

I posted that I am 73, had dogs all my life, and none ever got lost or ran away.
I suggested people need to be more responsible pet owners.

Oh boy, was I attacked for that.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Lost or runaway dogs tells me that the owners

don't do a good job of making sure the yard they're in is secure.

I'm currently feeding a cat that's some sort of stray, and I can't really keep him permanently. I do far too much traveling for that. He's used to being an indoor/outdoor cat, won't use a litterbox, stays outside about half the time. But he's very sweet and affectionate. Loves to sit on my lap. I just don't know what to do about this guy.

I think he might nominally belong to my neighbor, who has never been a responsible owner of animals. I should probably bring this cat over when I know he's home and ask, and then just not feed the cat again.

[left-of-center2012]

12. Around 1995 I was living here in New Mexico in an old house with a front porch

That summer I spent a lot of time after sunset sitting on the porch to cool off.
One night a ‘stray’ cat showed up and, wanting to be friendly, I got it something to eat.

Naturally the cat showed up every night after that.

About two weeks later I was talking with the next door neighbor over our shared fence when she told me she didn’t know why, but her indoor/outdoor cat had recently gained a lot of weight.

I stopped feeding the cat, and the cat stopped visiting me.

(Guess my stunning personality wasn’t the cat’s attraction)