Craigslist is a popular place to go for people looking for a home to rent. It is also a popular place for scammers to place phony ads to cheat unsuspecting victims. Scammers place phony listings and trick people into wiring money as a security deposit or rent for the home or apartment rental before the victim finds out that the scammer does not own the home. It is a simple matter for a scammer to copy and paste a legitimate real estate advertisement or listing into the scammer’s Craigslist ad, often indicating a temptingly low rent. Unfortunately, once the victim finds out that the scammer never owned the property and the ad was a scam, it is too late to get his or her money back. The Gloversville New York Police Department recently issued a warning about Craigslist rental scammers offering rentals in the area. The scammers provide a variety of reasons why they cannot meet in person to show the property or even speak by phone. The scammers lure their victims into paying by Money Gram or even gift cards for a security deposit and first month’s rent.
TIPS
The vast majority of the listings on Craigslist are legitimate, but you only have to be cheated once to feel the pain. When the rent looks too good to be true, you should immediately be skeptical. When the owner is out of the country and wants you to wire money, you should be even more skeptical and if by out of the country we mean Nigeria or Russia, you should really be skeptical. Scammers prefer people to wire money because unlike a check or a credit card payment, it is almost impossible to stop payment or get the money back. As for gift cards, it is always a scam when they are the requested form of payment.
If you are considering responding to a rental advertisement on Craigslist, confirm that the person who says he or she is the owner by going to the tax assessors listings for the city or town where the property is located. This information is readily which available online. If the names don’t match, that is a recipe for disaster. Also, go on line and see if you can find a duplicate listing for the home advertised on Craigslist.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”