There have been a fair few stories lately concerning teenage parties that have descended into chaos after internet adverts and radio 'shout-outs' inadvertently invited masses of unwanted guests. But one poor man in the US recently returned home one day to find his house being looted.
According to the Seattle Times, the incident took place in Jacksonville, Oregon. The owner of the house, Robert Salisbury, had gone away for the weekend when a couple of fake adverts appeared on Craigslist claiming that Salisbury was leaving his home for good and everything inside it was up for grabs.
According to Salisbury, the first he knew about it was when a neighbour called him to inform him about what was going on. Beating a speedy retreat to his home, Salisbury was confronted by about 30 looters ransacking through his home, with many of his possessions already stacked up in their cars.
"I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," Salisbury is reported to have said. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."
Jacksonville police were called and eventually arrived on the scene to restore order, but by then many of his worldly possessions had been stolen.
It seems fake ‘help yourself…’ adverts are just one more thing we’ll increasingly need to watch out for in the future… along with ‘open party’ and ‘trash my house’ invites.
