I applies to an insurance company on Craigslist and got like 3 personal assistant propositions saying they needed my name, address, and phone number to be processed within 48 hours and all 3 said they were out of town. Are these people idiots trying to steal information?

These are all identity theft scams. NO employer needs your personal information until after they have interviewed you IN PERSON at their office and you provide the information to HR. NOBODY hires a personal assistant without a single face to face interview. A personal assistant job is never a work from home job. You work directly with your boss running personal errands. And nobody is ever going to hire someone to work with them day to day that they have never met

EVERY Craigslist job that does not interview you first at their office is always a scam

yes you should never use craigslist for things like that if you need a real job try going to the places in person you want to work at and fill out the applications there and show people you are serious by showing up in person looking to be hired. Otherwise you risk online be stolen from and scammed

The common scam is to "hire you," send you a fake check for $500, tell you to cash it, keep $100 and send the $400 to someone (actually them) using Western Union. Then when the check fails to clear, you owe the bank $400.

scams. The 'insurance company' reference is a lie. Regrettably, CL has no way to control this kind of fraudulent posting.