This scam has been going on on Craigslist, and probably other sites for years, but it hit one of my listings yesterday. Fortunately someone alerted me early that the listing was being offered for rent at about a third of market rent. Of course it was a scam, perpetrated by someone off shore. It generated 9 calls from my yard sign from people who had seen the ad and driven by the house, so, obviously, lots of folks search Craigslist for rentals and they all seemed to think they had found the ultimate deal on a rental.
I replied to the email address on the scam, and got back an email from “Kristina Kilgore” , who claimed to be the owner, written in poor English, with overseas phone numbers, the mention of Nigeria, and a Rental Application designed to get personal information. At the end of the application, this: “Please do understand that, a refundable deposit of $600 MUST be put down first before receiving the keys and paper work from me as to secure the house for you while you go through.”
This scam is actually pretty transparent. It has been going on for quite a while. Does that mean that it is successful enough that people are actually sending the deposits to foreign addresses to people they have never met, to get a good rental deal on a property they have never been inside?
Craigslist provides scam warnings here. Real estate listings all have a scam alert in the header which takes you to this useful information:
You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:
- DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON – follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
- NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service – anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
- FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
- CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer “buyer protection” or “seller certification”
- NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
- AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL “GUARANTEE” YOUR TRANSACTION.
- DO NOT RENT HOUSING WITHOUT SEEING THE INTERIOR, OR PURCHASE EXPENSIVE ITEMS SIGHT-UNSEEN – in all likelihood that housing unit is not actually for rent and that cheap item does not exist.
- DO NOT SUBMIT TO CREDIT CHECKS OR BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR A JOB OR FOR HOUSING UNTIL YOU HAVE MET THE INTERVIEWER OR LANDLORD/AGENT IN PERSON.
Don’t say you haven’t been warned!
For more on this type of scam, see Jay Thompson’s post Anatomy of a Rental Scam for his in-depth follow-up with the scammer.
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