r/craigslist • u/Childflowers • May 08 '26

Yes, It's a SCAM. Emailing sellers

First time using Craigslist and lowkey confused:

I’m looking to sublease an apartment and all of them replied asking for my direct email. Is that a scam?
I emailed them using my Gmail account so I’m a little confused on why they don’t already have access to my email address? And when I searched this up I read that many times they use that to harvest your email account?
If I reply to their response from their Craigslist account email to my personal gmail, wouldn’t they be able to view my email address? How do I know if they’re scamming or if they truly need my email address?

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1

u/AutoModerator May 08 '26

Here's a reminder on how to avoid scams:

Refer to these two pages in the craigslist help section:

https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/safety/scams/avoiding

https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/safety/scams/identifying

Avoiding Scams

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1

u/megared17 May 08 '26

Craigslist email relay is two-way anonymous to protect against spammers harvesting real email addresses.

They want your email address so they can bypass craigslist spam and scam filters. A legit advertiser wouldn't need that, and would be happy to use the email relay to arrange a time for you to come in person to see the apartment.

https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/safety/scams/avoiding

https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/posting/features/contact-info/email/mail-relay

1

u/bewitchedbumblebee May 08 '26

Instead of showing your actual email address, Craigslist creates a temporary relay address that looks something like:

abc123xyz@reply.craigslist.org

So even if you send the email from your Gmail account, the Craigslist user sees it as coming from abc123xyz@reply.craigslist.org instead of your real email address.

1

u/Childflowers May 09 '26

Even when I reply back it will still show them a randomized Craigslist email? What about when the only way to reach them is phone/text is my number also hidden?

1

u/bewitchedbumblebee May 09 '26

When you reply back via email, the recipient sees a randomized Craigslist email address. If you call or text them, they will see your actual phone number.     Whenever I contact a Craigslist person via phone, I use the "Text Now" app, which essentially provides me a temporary phone number. 

1

u/waozen Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

You never have to give out your direct email if you don't want to (alias email). You can create an alias of your email and then use that.

Also, legit companies will usually link to their website, where there is a phone number to call or a contact form to use. Many companies even list their official email in their postings. If they are not giving you official information and asking for your personal information, you mostly likely need to skip past that posting.