How Nextdoor Became *The* Platform For Scammers To Rip Off Your Parents [View all]

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