• People continue to find new uses for the website Craigslist
• On Monday, two men were robbed after being lured to a location by an ad placed on Craigslist
• The news of the robbery is troubling to students around Marquette who have used the site in the past

It turns out great deals and proximity are not the only benefits that the website Craigslist provides EDITORIALIZING. Recently, the site has served as a source to commit robberies through.

On Monday at 4:40 p.m., two men were robbed in an alley near North 24th and West Burleigh after responding to an advertisement on Craigslist. Sergeant Mark Stanmeyer, explained how the robbery took place. NEED BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CRAIGSLIST

"The victims, a 25-year-old man from Michigan and a 25-year-old man from northern Wisconsin, responded to an ad placed on Craigslist about a car that was for sale," Stanmeyer said. "When the victims were directed into an alley one of the suspects produced a handgun. The suspects took money and property from the victims and fled on foot."

Craigslist users around Marquette said they found this robbery chilling, as they too have met with people that they were buying things from.

Colin Bowe, a junior in the College of Communication, said he just bought a flat screen TV from Craigslist. He said he never thought that something like this could happen.

"I thought that the Web site tracked the people who placed ads to prevent things like that from happening," Bowe said. "Looking back at my purchase, I think it is kind of stupid that I picked up that TV by myself. Who knows, I could have been robbed or seriously hurt."

On the Craigslist website, a list of precautions are given in order to sidestep scammers. The number one scam deterrent they cited was, "DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON – follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on Craigslist."

There is nothing on the website about being potentially robbed. All it takes is for someone to create a web address for one time use and they can post their ad for free.

Bridget Comeau, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, thinks Craigslist needs to address things like this happening more frequently and to take more safety measures in order to prevent them. THIS SOURCE IS IRRELEVANT

"If you think about it was really a bright idea by these guys who did the robbing," Comeau said. "It is a great way to trick prospective buyers into coming to a place where they are vulnerable to being robbed. It's a surprise things like this do not happen more often."

Stanmeyer stressed that it is important for people who use sites like Craiglists to be cautious when meeting people they have met online and provided advice on how to avoid these situations.

"The buyer should try to meet the individual who placed the ad at a location selected by the buyer. A location should be chosen that is in a busy public place. Large retail stores or gas station parking lots often have video cameras that may also scare away on-line predators," he said.

Stanmeyer said that the Milwaukee Police Department is still in search of the two suspects.