CIchecked Available for Craigslist Users



CIchecked, the identity verification service developed by Commercial Investigations LLC, is now compatible with Craigslist; the leading online classified website devoted to employment, housing, personals and sales and services. Craigslist has come under significant scrutiny in recent years for its "anything goes" classified advertisements which have ranged from sales of legitimate services to requests for hitmen and escorts. The controversy seems to have culminated in April 2009 with the arrest of proclaimed "Craigslist Killer" Philip Markoff. Markoff, a UAlbany graduate and current Boston University Med Student accused of luring a 26 year old masseur to a hotel room where she was murdered in what police theorized was a robbery gone wrong. The transaction that brought the victim and the accused killer together was a masseur advertisement posted on Craigslist.

Online transactions such as those found on Craigslist are not to be taken lightly. In an age where consumers are ever more skeptical and conscientious of those we conduct business with, that defense we have conditioned ourselves with seems to be let down when we find ourselves at our computers rather than in a traditional business setting. The bottom line is when we purchase or respond to a request for service via any online venue and a face-to-face communication will occur, one has no idea who will actually show. Your request for masseur services could result in having Philip Markoff as a client. Yet one can never know what to expect as the theme for online transactions always seems to be "anonymous."

Not until the consequences of these anonymous transactions are seen does the community begin to realize the virtual community is nothing to be taken lightly. We have the same right to know who we are doing business with online just the same as we would in any other business setting.

CIchecked allows internet users to verify limited but important information about themselves in an effort to establish trust and credibility in an otherwise lawless setting. Through the use of our online identification verification product, CIchecked, users can "Screen In" to establish a sense of trust in those they conduct business with, and let others know that the person on the other end of the computer truly is the person they say they are. The internet has been a virtually unpatrolled area which has turned into a playground for predators of all types and through the use of CIchecked, we can help restore a sense of legitimacy to the tarnished web and build it into a reliable marketplace for which it is was once envisioned.