Prank Podcasters "GOOFCON1" post fake Craig's List ad offering to pay protesters

On June 9, 2025, screenshots of an actual Craigslist advertisement seeking "extremely tough, brave men" for $6,500 to $12,500 per week began circulating on social media. Users on X posted the screenshots as "proof" that ongoing Los Angeles immigration protests were "orchestrated and well-funded chaos."

The social media posts gained significant traction, with one example on X receiving 267,200 views and another garnering 374,300 views as of this writing.

The ad itself was real — in the sense that it was indeed posted on losangeles.craigslist.org at 1:20 p.m. PT on June 5, 2025 — one day before the immigration protests began in Los Angeles. An almost identical ad was posted on austin.craigslist.org just 37 minutes later at 1:57 p.m. PT.

(austin.craigslist.org)

Both ads used nearly identical language, seeking "the toughest badasses" for a "high-pressure, high-risk" operation with suspiciously high compensation.

The ads included other suspicious elements such as excluding U.S. Marines and references to helping crews "take down scores and get jobs done."

The Los Angeles ad was flagged for removal by Craigslist on June 9, followed by the Austin ad being flagged for removal on June 10.

A fact-check article posted by The Associated Press subsequently identified Joey LaFleur as the creator of both Craigslist ads.

LaFleur confirmed he posted them as content for "Goofcon1," a prank podcast he hosts with Logan Quiroz.

During their Friday episode — the same day Los Angeles protests began — the hosts conducted live prank calls with people who had responded to the ads.

LaFleur told the AP:

I literally had no idea it was ever going to be connected to the riots. It was a really weird coincidence.

He noted that the Austin version was more "militaristic" but received fewer responses.

Following the initial fact-check publication, Joey LaFleur directly confirmed to Snopes that the Associated Press reporting was completely accurate. LaFleur and his GoofCon1 podcast co-host Logan Quiroz also shared a clarification video on Instagram.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/06/10/la-protests-craigslist-ad/