Well, new to me at any rate. We advertise properties weekly on Craigslist and other onliine classified sites.
Someone evidently picked out a few of our for-sale properties out from ads we posted in kijiji and reposted their own version of the ads in Craigslist as for-rent -- with a low rent amount -- and the statement they decided to rent the home out, and to contact them directly in the U K for "documents and keys" ... and no doubt, wiring instructions to send them your money.... :-O
Reply to: XXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXX
Date: 2008-05-20, 2:19PM PDT
Thanks for your mail. I own the house located at 41027 San Pascual Avenue, Highland Park, 92880 .Location:San Pascual Valley. The house was placed on sale but i was advised by my wife not to sell it, so i decided to place it on rent. So you can go and view and get back to me.
Details:
This handsome traditional home is located in the San Pascual Valley, adjacent to South Pasadena. Close to parks, golf course, and the beautiful hiking/riding trails of the Arroyo Seco. 2 bedrooms, plus sunroom. Central heat and air. Hardwood floors throughout. 2 car attached garage, plus plenty of additional driveway parking. Easy care garden lush with fruit trees and roses borders a private patio.
I am on a 5years Contract Work to the United Kingdom.So all documents and keys are with me since i could not get an agent to put it on Rent.So i will like to know how many Months/Years you want to rent. This are my direct phone number: +44.7XX.5XX.9XX6 /You can call me anytime you feel free.
Regards...
TO VIEW PICS,PLEASE REFER TO THE LINK BELOW..
This happen to anyone else?
I figure I'd better start searching Craigslist daily to make sure more of our listings don't get reposted by scammers.
P.S. I contacted Craigslist, and they've zapped the phoney ads already. So, kudos to Craigslist for being responsive..
How low can people go?
This is a twist on a scam where people would take deposits - locally - and then disappear. This is a reasn never to put combo codes in the MLS.
There is always new ways to scam people. It is amazing what the scammers will do.
What is really sad is that innocent people fall for these scams. I would think they are obvious because of the grammer and writing style, but it must work for them or why would they keep going?
Cheryl, I read a post about exactly the same scam a few weeks ago on AR. Will try to find.
Miriam -- Thank you! I'd like to read that other post!
At least you did catch them these days all the con artist come out
If people would just put all that energy and creativity into something productive instead!
Wow, good to know !
Thanks to Miriam's comment, I thought I'd search Active Rain for other blogs about this scam ... andseveral Active Rain members have reported it: http://activerain.com/search?cx=016483636732923014967%3Ajjjq9jpey6w&cof=FORID%3A11&q=craigslist+scam#1158
I'm almost embarassed that I wasn't up to speed on this particular twist yet. :-)
Wow, Cheryl, most people advertise and think they can at least expect their ad to be left alone if they have no takers. That is apparently not the case. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
That is very interesting to know. Could it also be one of the numbers that if you call it, you get charged? Guess I'll leave Craigslist off my list of advertising places.
Barbara, They didn't get the ad off Craigslist, it looks like they found it on Kijiji, since they linked back to the photos we had uploaded to Kijiji. After they got it off Kijiji, they posted their own new ad on Craigslist using my text and my photos,.
As soon as I received a call about the "property for rent", I searched for it on Craigslist, and sent an email to abuse@craigslist.org -- they zapped the ad within 10 minutes.
But think about it, what's to stop a scammer from finding a listing on Realtor.com and copying the info to create a new ad ... or pulling a flyer out of one of your flyers boxes ... or copying a description from any of your print ads ?
So , no, I wouldn't take Craigslist out of my marketing because of this.
Just be aware you need to monitor all advertising sites as frequently as you can.
There is always someone out there screwing it up for the rest of us. At least Craigslist handled it well.
Hey, CJ - I posted on this at this AR post which in turn referrenced a post on Sellsius about this thing. evidently it's been around for awhile. There's an AR group Marketing Using Craigslist that just got started about a month ago. Hopefully, it'll grow with people sharing posts like ours about the scams as we learn about them and about how to effectively market on Craigslist.
I know a lot of people read you. So thanks for sharing the info!
I have not seen this but it is another benefit of Active Rain . Thanks for the heads up.
First I've heard of this one, thanks. I have had some email flak from Craig's list, but this is so dangerous.
Although I had heard about it before (maybe it was the prior post, or an email in the office - I can't remember) I have not really looked into it locally yet, but I am about to. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
We had something similar going on in our area. Scammers were placing vacant properties that are for sale for rent on craigslist. They would collect deposits and rents and then disappear. Some people do some crazy things.
Our MLS posted a warning over a month ago, as I recall. From here on out whenever we have something like this happen, I'll first look to see if anyone else on ActiveRain has posted about it and, if not, get it out here right away! The sooner this type of information gets out to as many people as possible, the better.
The challenge is separating the facts from the pranks. - John
I never heard of this, so thank you for the info.....I will go look at some of our listings.
Cheryl,
When we get a step ahead we then have to look back to protect ourselves......good luck.
Georgina, THAT has me chuckling. Only in Maui where life is laid back and doors aren't locked! Around Seattle everyone keeps their doors locked and, without keys, the innocent, scammed renters would not be able to move in. - John
John -- The "solution" to locked doors that I heard on a different blog is ... The bogus homeowner tells the tenant/victim that in order to "save time" it is OK to just have a locksmith come out and get the doors open ... and also that since the bogus "homeowner" had to leave town in a hurry, it is OK to remove the furniture and put it in storage...... :-)
Crooks never sleep! They constantly have their mind tuned to getting over on others. Imagine if they focused their thoughts on productive and positive efforts.
The world would be a better place.
I remember a similar scam in Detroit a few years ago, the person would meet tenants at a vacant home they didn't actually own take a deposit and disappear.
Seems the bad guys never stop. If they applied some of that creativity in the real world who knows how far they could go.
Thanks for the heads up on this new or recycled ( can't keep up anymore ) scam.
Sincerely,
Grace
Cheryl, Thanks for that very useful information. I have considered adding my listings to Craigslist but wasn't sure. I will definatly be more aware if I do and I will inform my co-workers on this scam. Again, thank you and have a wonderful week.
Wow Cheryl-that is pretty scary. I'm always amazed at how low people will go. Thanks for sharing this because I had no idea!
Shannon, don't let this keep you from entering your listings on Craigslist. Just be sure to check frequently to make sure that there are no bogus copies of your listings appearing.
And think about it: Someone running this scam can get the for-sale property information ~anywhere~ including from Realtor.com, or from a flyer in your flyer box. So not posting on Craigslist won't stop them. :-)
"Hard times flush the chumps!"
- Everett in O Brother -
What a crazy scam!
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