We thought we would share with you a real life example of a Craigslist Scam from one of our gracious customers. This is complete with actual emails and papers (names removed to security). If you see anything like this be sure to inform law enforcement as these types of acts are coming more prevalent in our digital age. At the end you will find a sign image our friend uses to deter those suspected of being scammed.
Note: Special Thank You to Park Company Realtors in Fargo ND for sharing this and allowing us to spread the word.
THE SCAM
The seller came into her kitchen after showering to find two people in her kitchen…they had entered through the unlocked patio door in the back of the house. They had found her home online for rent and a lease agreement in their hands.
As a company, we’ve had several problems with this sort of thing happening, however we’ve never had anyone actually enter the home when the homeowner is home.
When this does happen we have a sign we put up in all entrances of the home with a stop sign on them explaining that the home is not for rent and that if they have sent any money or personal info, they should contact law enforcement officials.
The hardest part is actually finding the listing after we find out about this – they steal the photos and portions of the description but don’t include the address – you have to email them for that. By the time we find out, the “renter” has already lost track of where they found it at, but the common ones are Craigslist, Oodle.com, Rentals.com.
Here is the legitimate looking email that the customer received from the scammers:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Subject: YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED
Dear Benjamin,
We read through your application and we are happy to tell you that you have been accepted for the house. From your email we know and believe that you are the right person to occupy our house. We will like you to know that, it is not the money that really matters to us but that our house be taking proper care of, that is why we made the house so affordable because we believe everybody deserves a home both the rich and the poor. I hope you understand where I’m coming from.
We are excited and willing to let you move in our house whenever you are ready and we have concluded on accepting the payment for the first month’s rent which is $700 and the security deposit of $400 to make a total of $1100 which is required for you to move in.
The package containing the below items will be delivered to you within 24 hours to the address you provided on the rental application form or it can be shipped to any other address of your choice once the payment is confirmed.
Here are the contents of the package;
Entrance and the rooms Keys
Paper/Permanent house form(Containing your reference details)
The house documentary file
Payment Receipt
Attached is the lease agreement, print it out, sign, scan and email it back to us. Get back to us on how and when to make the rent payment.
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Remain blessed
Mr. Randi and wife Mrs Gloria Caulfield.
(813)964-7239
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AN EXAMPLE OF THE RENTAL APPLICATION
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No pet deposit and Kindly fill out the rental application form below and email it back to us so that we can start the necessary paper work.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
“I hereby certify that all information provided is true and correct. I fully understand that my lease or rental agreement may be terminated if I have made any false, misleading or incomplete statement(s) in this application. I hereby authorize verification of all information provided in this application, including financial and credit information, via credit bureaus and/or contact with current and previous employers, current and previous landlords and personal references. By signing this online application I certify and agree to these terms and conditions.”
Any one with * is compulsory
Home Rental Application
First Name:: * ————————————————-
Last Name:: * —————————————————-
Work Email:: *—————————————————
Personal Email:: *———————————————-
Home Phone: * ————————————————–
Work Phone:*——————————————————
Cell Phone:* ——————————————————-
Work Address: *———————————————-
Drivers License Number:————————————-
Current Address: *———————————————-
Employer: * ——————————————————-
Employer Phone #: * ——————————
Length of Employment: * ————————–
Income: * —————————————
Additional Occupants & Ages: * ————————————–
Pets: * ——————
Do You Smoke?* ————————–
Evictions: * —————————–
Felony Charges: * ———————–
Bankruptcy: * —————————-
2 Personal Reference’s /Names & Numbers: ————————————————————-
How Long Lease are you looking for : * —————————
Your move in date :* ———————————
Applicant Signature ( Write your Name) : * —————————
Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that I can have it in my file in-case of issuing the receipt and contacting you.
Await your reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you so that you can move in.
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Remain blessed
Mr. Randi and wife Mrs Gloria Caulfield.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Example Sign and Wording Below Along with Page 1 of the Lease Agreement. Sure looks legitimate to us.
Travis Saxton is the marketing and technology manager at REAL Trends. Prior to operating this arm for REAL Trends, Travis was the director of online services for a newspaper consulting company. He greatly enjoys working with real estate companies adapt new cutting edge strategies and perfecting their online presence and systems. He has experience in the following areas: Websites, SEO/SEM, CRM/Lead Generation Systems, Traditional Marketing and Social Media Marketing, Real Estate Technology Consulting.10 Responses to “Case Study: Real Life Example of a Craigslist Scam”
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Unbelievable!
If you guys need corrugated yard signs, door stickers, placards, decals, etc…for signage needs such as this and more, please let us know. We’d love to help!
This was going on four years ago in our area. Told Craigs list about it – nothing happened. Still going on.
Interesting, this is the first I have heard where it worked.
Most people here drive by the house and see that there is a For Sale and call me, only to find out it is not for Rent.
We found one of our listings being offered as a “rental” on Zillow and on Trulia last week! But it wasn’t on Craigslist. Both platforms removed the listing.
Found a rental listing on Trulia/Zwillow as well and hitting the contact button resulted in a return email from a person posing as the registered owner (same name) and we received the same contract info. Checking the phone number gave us this site and calling the realtor verified that the property was not for rent.
Kind of assumed some of these rental sites vetted their listings or at least their contact info, but clearly not.
With these scams all yo have to do is read the documents carefully, the wording is always wrong. The contract language is that of a six year old and certainly not of a qualified attorney or other Real Estate prefessional. It is easy to pick these out, you just have to read the entire thing carefully, you will find many errors in basic contract language. Note on this one the mans name (Randy) is spelled with an “i” at the end, and the name is always Mr. & Mrs. so and so. Just be aware and you won’t get taken for a ride.
One of my for sale listings in Tacoma WA was “skyjacked” on Craigslist.org by a similar incident. They used my photos and offered a $325,000 for sale house for a $1,200 rental amount. (Note: I have noticed that most of the scam ads use round numbers)
The house was very distinctive and on a main street with my large red KW sign prominently posted. Most visitors called me to “show them the rental” which is how I learned about the scam. One city employee recognized my name and called me to report that she was in communication with the “scammers” and we worked together to get them banned from CraigsList (at least with that account’s email address).
In this case the scammers even set up a special email response address that really sounded legitimate: “williamkeller@yahoo.com”
So agents, be cautious and let’s shut these scammers down.
They only hurt our industry.
Fay Ainsworth
My niece responded to an ad on craigslist for a house for rent. He presented is name as James Moser. He placed an ad for rent on a house that is not his nor is it for rent. The house is for sale. He told her to western union the money to Georgia after he told her he lived in Florida. In researching his guy has listed houses all over the Country for houses that he finds online for sale. The State Police has been notified and hopefully he will be caught. Thank goodness no money was sent to this POS!!
I found a completely identical scam on craigs list for the Hagerstown, Maryland area this past week. Same phone number, but different names used. The rental application, lease contact and emails were all identical as well. Definitely have to be careful these days. Im trying to milk these people for information right now so that i can get the autorities involved. Sounds like a solid internet scam/theft situation going on right now that the FBI should be looking into…
in addition…i looked up the tax records for the property these people were trying to rent to me. They were actually using the name listed on the current deed. They even put the name on the “fake” lease and emails that they had been sending me. Even though the records are public and are available online, you still have to know they exist and know where to look for them. They have definitely done their homework…
I too almost got burned by these scammers. Contacted the real estate agent to find out it was not for rent.
The following may be their canned letter…BEWARE
From: Melissa Dunkel
Monday, February 11, 2013 5:48 PM
Subject: RE: RentalAds.com Tenant Inquiry – Listing #3506034
Thanks for your interest in our house.
We live in Florida and we bought this house over there in Rock Hill SC, as an investment which we wanted to resell but the selling was taking longer than expected along with the economic recession, we then decided to rent it out so you don’t have to worry about the sign you will see on the house while driving by or on any website because we are not selling the house anymore.
Remain blessed
Mr. Jeffrey and wife Mrs Melissa Dunkel