For Rent Scams On Your Listed Home
I read about this a few years ago where schemers would put a listed house up for rent on Craigslist. Now it happened to one of my listings.
Last night someone called me to see if my listed house was for sale.
She said she had found it online on Hotpads.com and the address was posted but only gave an email address to respond to. I texted the seller and she said it had not been posted by her or her husband for rent. That's when I knew a scam was brewing.
Today another agent phoned me to ask about the house.
The schemers had responded to her California client that emailed them about the house.
I did get a copy of the email they sent to the CA couple about the house.
Meanwhile at the listed house...people are now coming to the door! And asking to come in!
Below is the crazy letter to the prospective renters from the schemers.
(I wonder if the schemer's address and phone # are real?? I X'ed out the real address and client's name.)
Date: Saturday, July 3, 2010, 8:21 PM
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Hello
Thanks for your interest regarding our House, Hope you are having a wonderful day with your family? Our 5 bedroom is still available for rent; we are looking for a responsible and neat person and family who has the fear of God and treat our house as his or her own. Well our house has been for sale before my wife advices me to put it out for rent for a future reason. Since we have no one that we can trust and rely on with the same properties, after the agent that help us take care of our house died 28th Nov 2009, that is the more reason why we have to let our Church members stay inside till we get back from Green bay Wi.
The main reason why the house is for rent is that I got transfer from my place of work to Green bay Wi ,Me and my family will be away for good 3 years or more and we cant just leave the house for 3 good years, that's the more reason why we are looking for good person or family that can take very good care of the house, we will be very happy when we get back from Green bay Wi, and see our house kept clean and neat as promised, I know we will still be good family friends in the nearest future, so if you are interested in taking good care of our house the way it will please us, then my family will be ready in accepting you as our new tenant who be fully in charge of our house. Since we are not pleased with the way our house is been taking care of by our church members, hope you know where we are coming from..?
And we have also let them know that we would be renovating our house by end of July 10, because if we let the know we are renting it out they will want to us to rent it out to them and we are not pleased with that, we are looking for a God fearing person or family whom we would trust and rely on with our properties. If you really impress us by taking good care of our house then you will be allowed to stay as long as you wish okay. These 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms are very specious and 2,644 sq ft for you and your family.
Below is our address of the House for you to go view the house and surroundings.
ADDRESS :XXXXXXXXXXXXX, Richmond KY 40475
Pets Allowed: Yes (Dog Cat)
Monthly Rent: $ 1500
Security Deposit: $800 (Refundable
So get back to us on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in renting. Hope you are okay with the price of $1500/month with heat laundry facilities, air condition, Etc. and the security deposit fee is $800... PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We are looking forward to hear from you ASAP.
NAME: Mr. & Mrs. Micheal XXXXXXXXX
PHONE: 920 264 0991
ADDRESS: 1032 Coprinus Ct, Green Bay, WI 54301
Hope you had a nice day and remain blessed.
Advice from LBAR was(if it is posted on Craigslist):
When one finds their listing that is for sale on CraigsList for rent you can report it at abuse@craigslist.org. You'll need the CraigsList number. The FTC number to report the abuse is 877-382-4357. In one of the many calls I've received a member told me you should also call the police in the city that your listing is in to alert them as well.
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The internet really is like the wild wild west. WE have seen these here as well. I got one the other day and called the person and they said they were the owner and of course the owner was sitting right next to me. Click was the next thing I heard.
The Internet. Unbelievable. The criminal mind never sleeps.
Thanks for the sad but true information. RIP CL and HotPads.
Sarasota Florida
Lizette, Wow! There are a lot of scams out there. I've had people call listings for sale asking if the owner would consider renting but nothing like this scheme.
Lizette,
I get so much spam from Craigs, the same sort of stuff, that it is hardly worth using but I just filter through it.
I never did like Craig's list. One more reason not to use it.
Hmmm... I've not heard of this scam but Im also not surprised by it. Seems many people are out there trying to make a quick buck and lying to the people.
Ouch, they are out there. One reason we should be able to watermark our photos. I read the language of the letter, a dead give away.
The crooks even opened a Yahoo account in the sellers name to make it seem more legit!
Unbelievable!! Thanks for posting, What happened to just getting an old fashion job and working for a living instead of trying to scam people out of their money!
Barbara
Lizette - Yeah I get quite a few of these quote unquote Renter/buyers everytime I put something up on Craigs List... Just my luck and now yours as well... Ahh the wide wicked world of the internet.. Thanks for posting this disturbing story...
Lizette thanks so much for posting the contact information to alert Craigslist. The scam and many others have plagued my market area as well. Reading the scam response I see a Fair Housing Violation in there for limiting to a God fearing family.
One thing that has been driving me nuts is our listings being advertised by another agent at another firm on Craigslist as their own listing. The broker claims ignorance of his agent's activities and Im constantly checking Craigslist just to report this person and screen capture the evidence.
Had no idea, Lizette ~ so thanks for putting out the word!
That is very scary! I know there are scams out there but this one takes the cake. Thanks for posting this.