Last week I had visions of this sort of thing happening to me,I bought an RZ500 Yamaha from a guy near Sacramento, yes I paid in Cash, but I was a little nervous at first as I pulled in to his driveway with my loaded 380 beretta in my lap. Fortunately my fears were quelled rather quickly when he was sitting on the porch with wife and kids. It all worked out just fine.
We buy and sell on Craigslist and have never had a problem. We were boat shopping and looking at boats listed on there for $40-50k. I recently bought a great dinghy and motor on there for $1k. I’ve sold furniture, etc. you just have to be smart but that goes for everywhere anymore.