If you have responded to a Craigslist rental advertisement and the are told that the NAR is going to handle the transaction, it is a SCAM.
Yep, some enterprising con artists are asking potential renters to send a deposit to a Western Union office and then a representative from the National Association of Realtors will quickly race over and deliver the keys to you.
The scam claims that on receipt of a deposit, NAR will deliver the keys to the property to the tenant. Prospective tenants are instructed to send money via Western Union to NAR’s purported agent in the United Kingdom.
Some of the listings have been posted on Craigslist, which reportedly has had difficulty in tracing the original listings. NAR does not have an escrow service, or function as an intermediary to receive rental deposits.
Consumers who have encountered this scam may file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center. FOXBusiness.com.
What I wonder is when the person get’s scammed, do they see the Realtor logo on a real estates office and go in looking for their keys?
That would be an interesting conversation for whomever has desk duty.
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Who would send money to the United Kingdom for a rental they are looking at here? Some of these scams are so dumb you wonder how they get anything from people, which is a good thing. I’m sure the story is mildly convincing, but think before you pay.
i’am from germany, can you explain what this mean?
Horrible scam. I know someone who saw it and almost didnt recognize it as a scam. Luckily “western union” should tip anyone off. Western Union probably does not conduct many legal, non-scam transfers these days.
I checked out Coldwell Banker, they have good leasing properties worldwide. If your looking at Dubai check out http://www.coldwellbanker-ae.com, rents over there have really fallen.
Well… this new scam is much more credible then some potential new tenants telling me they were told to mail a money order to some address in Nigeria after responding to an ad on Craigslist for a Las Vegas Rental.
I created a rental scam detection tool if anyone is interest in seeing if they are getting scammed.
http://www.pickrent.com/stuff/scamquiz.cfm
Dave Dugdale
Very nice site, i love it!
Scams are on the rise. RentalScams.org is hoping to educate renters and landlords on the various rental scams on the market.