So is Craigslist a handy free alternative to newspaper classifieds — a sort of virtual flea market and community bulletin board — or is it a haven for criminals and creeps looking to rip you off or worse?

What's gotten me thinking about this perennial question is a lurid and depressing expose of the Craigslist criminal underworld in, of all places, Maxim magazine, generally more known for its exposes of the scantily clad bodies of Hollywood hotties.

The story, by Frank Owen, delves into some of the more notorious crimes associated with Craigslist, spending the most time on the case of accused "Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff, who allegedly targeted victims for robbery in the site's "Erotic Services" section. But Owen also delves into the less sensationalistic scams that proliferate on the site, interviewing one scammer who says he collected thousands of dollars from an ingenious bed-and-breakfast bait-and-switch:

[The scammer] wrote a carefully worded posting [advertising] an "amazing bed and breakfast in the heart of Paris.” The address he gave was a nondescript apartment building where he’d once stayed. Then he downloaded a picture of a cozy-looking interior from a magazine, clicked on a button, and, presto ….

Immediately Church was inundated with queries. People wanting to book a room were instructed to send a 50-Euro nonrefundable deposit to Church’s PayPal account. On receipt of the money, Church e-mailed a fake invoice. More than 300 people fell for the scam.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Owen describes all sorts of other scams, and a quick Google search will bring up countless others; this site keeps an ongoing tally.

Of course, as fans of Craigslist point out, the vast overwhelming majority of Craigslist posts don't lead to fraud or murder; they lead to the same sort of person-to-person bartering or buying that newspaper classifieds lead to. As Owen himself acknowledges, "Craigslist is an indispensable resource for tens of millions of people worldwide: With 40 million posts a month and sites in 570 cities and 50 countries, it is one of the icons of Web 2.0, as recognizable a brand as Facebook or Google."

So the answer to the question I started out with is, then, both: Craigslist is floor wax and a dessert topping — a handy free alternative to newspaper classifieds and a haven for crooks and creeps.

For some, who have a basic trust in human nature, buying and selling stuff on Craigslist makes perfect sense, especially with the economy in its current parlous state. It's an easy way to pick up new (well, new-to-you) stuff on the cheap or to make a little extra money unloading stuff you no longer need or want.

But I'm not buying it. Literally: I've never bought or sold anything on Craigslist, nor do I plan to anytime soon (and yes that includes "Erotic Services"). It's not that I'm scared to buy from strangers online; I do that all the time, through eBay and Half.com and Amazon Marketplace. The difference is that, on these sites, I'm dealing with sellers who are accountable for their actions; they have reputations (and feedback scores) to protect. That doesn't guarantee they'll behave honestly or in a businesslike manner — I've dealt with a couple of bozos — but it vastly improves the odds.

Do you have enough faith in human nature to use Craigslist, or do its unsavory aspects keep you away?

For an elderly person with few assets, a reverse mortgage can be a lifesaver: It enables cash-poor retirees to tap equity in their house for living expenses, home repairs or health care needs. If you’re 62 or older, reverse mortgages allow you to borrow against the value of your home and not repay the loan until you sell the house, move out or die. If the amount owed is more than the value of the house, the lender eats the difference. If it's less, you (or your heirs) keep what's left over after paying off the loan. In the meantime, the loan provides income, which you can take as a lump sum, monthly payout or line of credit drawn on as needed.

But make no mistake: Reverse mortgages, which come with high fees and hefty interest charges, are a costly option and often sold by aggressive salespeople who push inappropriate financial products on vulnerable seniors. That’s why Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) held hearings Monday in St. Louis on reverse mortgages. A year and a half ago, Sen. McCaskill began investigating problems associated with reverse mortgages, including predatory lending, aggressive marketing and the potential risks to the federal government — which insures 90% of reverse mortgage loans. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan earlier this month said reverse mortgages bear a striking similarity to the risky sub-prime mortgages that got so many Americans in financial hot water. The Federal Housing Administration estimates it may lose $800 million from insuring these loans in the next fiscal year.

Yet the number of people getting reverse mortgages keeps rising. Even as home values are falling (leaving seniors with less equity to tap), more than 112,000 reverse mortgage loans were made in 2008, up from about 22,000 in 2003, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. Monthly reverse mortgage loan volume is setting records too, with nearly 9,000 reverse mortgages made in May.

My colleague Walter Updegrave wrote about the problems with reverse mortgages last year, spelling out how greedy salespeople not only persuade seniors to take out high-commission reverse mortgages, but also convince them to spend the proceeds on high-priced financial products such annuities, boosting their commissions even more.

Retiree advocates at AARP say that predatory lenders are also attempting to get seniors to use proceeds of their reverse mortgage to buy expensive long-term-care insurance. But in most cases, it makes more sense for seniors to use the payout for actual long-term care, not a hard-to-use insurance policy.

If you are considering taking out a reverse mortgage or have a parent or family member who is, don’t fall for a pitch from a salesman who cares more about a lucrative commission than determining whether a reverse mortgage makes sense for you. To learn more about reverse mortgages, check out resources at AARP and HUD.

Do you know anyone who is considering a reverse mortgage or has had a negative experience taking out a reverse mortgage? Tell us about that experience.

No one can predict exactly when Bernie Madoff will die. But the date of his death, I bet, will come far later than his lawyer says it will.

The question of Madoff's expected lifespan is extremely relevant to next Monday's scheduled sentencing for Madoff, who has pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme that cost more than 1,300 investors a total of more than $13 billion. The 71-year-old Madoff faces a maximum sentence of 150 years, and his victims want him locked up for the rest of his life. Earlier this week, Madoff's lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, asked that his client be sentenced to a mere 12 years in jail.

Given that it's hard to think of any white-collar criminal other than Madoff who has caused so much pain to so many people, Sorkin's suggestion of that sentence to the presiding judge in the case, Denny Chin, must seem like the height of gall. But, hey — Sorkin's a lawyer and that's his job: To make unbelievable requests on behalf of his client.

What I find outrageous about Sorkin's letter to Judge Chin isn't the sentence he asks for, but some of the reasoning he uses to back it up. Citing Social Security Administration data, Sorkin says his client has an "approximate" life expectancy of 13 years. "A prison term of 12 years — just short of an effective life sentence — will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public, and promoting respect for the law…." writes Sorkin.

Hmmm. Is twelve years really a near-death sentence for the scammer? I don't think so. First, let's look  at the Social Security life expectancy tables that Sorkin alludes to. Yes, according to the SSA, a 71-year-old male, on average, will live another 12.66 years. But that's on average; one-half of Madoff's cohort will live longer than that. And if, 12 years from now, an 83-year-old Madoff shuffled out of jail, he'd have a one-in-three chance of celebrating his 87th birthday. He'd have a one-in-five chance of making it to 90. Just short of an effective life sentence, my foot.

And the odds of Madoff making it to 90 may even be better than that. Let's look at another document on the SSA's web site — one that Sorkin somehow overlooked in the course of his legal research. This particular item is a 2007 paper by SSA researcher Hilary Waldron entitled "Trends in Mortality Differentials and Life Expectancy for Male Social Security-Covered Workers, by Socioeconomic Status." The punch line of Waldron's paper, as it applies here: Among the guys born around the year Madoff was (1938), the better-than-average earners who made it to their 70th birthday can expect to live until age 87. The lower-than-average earners likely have to settle for 83. Rich guys, in other words, live longer than poor ones. And guess what that means for Madoff.

Now, it may be true that the life-enhancing effects of Madoff's wealth will wear off once he spends a few years behind bars. (Unfortunately, the SSA doesn't provide longevity stats for wealthy crooks who are sent to prison at age 71.) And  it could be argued (in fact, Sorkin does) that  Madoff deserves some leniency for his recent apparent assistance in recovering for his victims some of the money he stole from them over the years. But don't believe that Madoff, a dozen years from now, will be at death's door. A healthy skepticism about the state of his future health is in order.

Ouch. Unemployment is now up to 8.1%, the worst it's been in 25 years, and everyone thinks it's going to get worse before it gets better. If you're out of work, there are no easy or simple solutions for getting a job.

You can try, however, to make sure that no one kicks you while you're down. It's an unfortunate thing, but as in any time of panic and desperation, well-meaning people hungry for work are vulnerable to various job-hunting scams. To prevent someone stealing your ID or otherwise ripping you off under the pretext of interviewing you for a job, or offering you one, the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center has a few tips for job seekers:

• Never put your social security number on a resume.
• Consider opening a separate email account for your job search and not using your primary email address. Putting your email address on a resume, says the ITRC, could open the door to phishing and other email scams.
• Check out a company you found on a website carefully before giving it information. Anyone can create a website, even a good-looking one.
• Avoid any website that requires you to "pre-register" with your social security number, home address or driver's license number. Be wary of companies that tell you, before you've had a series of real, face-to-face interviews, that they need your social security number to do a background check.
• Make sure the person who contacted you actually works at the listed company.
• Steer clear of companies, especially foreign ones, that want to hire you as a "payment representative" or "accounts receivable clerk." You may be asked open up a bank account for the firm, or you may be instructed to keep a percentage of the checks or money orders you receive. You'll likely end up handling (incredibly realistic) counterfeit checks, and you'll get burned. Similarly, avoid scams asking you to forward packages you receive to a third party. These may include stolen or illegal goods.

For more ID theft tips for job seekers, check out this ITRC fact sheet.