Craigslist with Another Black Eye … Baby for Adoption, of 7 Month Old Jake Brennan Ad Scam

The law of unintended consequences when family blog meets scam artists.

More bad PR for Craigslist …

The mother of of 7 month old Jake Brennan was horrified to learn that a picture of her son was used on Craigslist advertising his own adoption. Just one problem, he was not up for adoption. The picture has since been taken down.

MyFOXBoston reports that a stranger alerted Jenni Brennan of Abington, Mass. to the photo, which involved her 7-month-old son, Jake, in an online adoption scam. The ad read: “A CUTE BABY BOY FOR ADOPTION HE IS VERY HEALTHY AND READY FOR ADOPTION FOR MORE YOU COME BACK TO US.”

Brennan responded to the ad, receiving an email describing her son as Canadian but currently living in an African orphanage.

So how did the scammers find the picture of 7 month old Jake Brennan? From the Brennan’s family blog. Makes one think a second about making their entire family open to the world, doesn’t it?

So Brennan tried responding to the ad herself, and sure enough, an e-mail was sent to her using her son’s picture, describing him as a child born in Canada, but now living in an orphanage in the African nation of Cameroon.

The scammers didn’t bother to cover up their tracks either. Inside of the e-mail, Brennan could easily see that the photo was taken from her family blog.

What is the responsibility of Craigslist to actually verify in some way the ads on their site?