There Are 18 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Comment by Wealth for investors on 13 September 2008:

   People i invest with had the same problem with craigs=list and it is a constant place for SPAM!
   I have found legit people to buy and sell homes though.
2. 

   Comment by Paul in Las Vegas on 16 September 2008:

   Other scams include renting out homes in foreclosure that have been abandoned. Just helped out some people in Las Vegas that were just notified by the Bank that the home they have been renting out for the past four months was not owned by the people renting it out.
3. 

   Comment by Tammi on 1 December 2008:

   Do people not check into things anymore? Its people like this that give craigslist the bad name… I make sure to report these types of scams to craigs hitmen, craigshitmen.com when I see them, cause they will actually flag down the ads for me.
4. 

   Comment by Sean on 2 January 2009:

   I have had great success using craigslist. Renters need to be careful and make sure they check out their landlord like they are supposed to check out renters. if it almost seems to easy to get into the apartment that may be a sign that something is not right.
5. 

   Comment by Mimi Gabriel on 8 January 2009:

   Not only renters should be aware, but landlords need to know…

   My husband and I put an ad in Craig’s list for a property we own in Kula on the island of Maui. We received an e-mail from a Herod Jin, from London! He stated that he was being sent by his insurance company to open a branch in Hawaii, asked to be sent pictures of the house and wanted us to reserve it for him. We asked for a month deposit ($1800) and he sent a cashier’s check for $3000 asking us to give $1200 of this money to a decorator in Hawaii who would fur get the place ready for his arrival!!!
   Thank God, my daughter and her husband who live in Santa Fe New Mexico had a friend who lost a few hundred dollars in similar circumstances when the check turned out to be a fake and when we told them about this man, they warned us it was probably a scam! We have not deposited the check and we have not heard from Herod Jin since he was notified what we thought of him. He did write the following:
   Thank you for your prompt response. Likewise me, I will stand to
   protect myself from all sorts of scams running on the internet but not to mention into this because I will not involve myself in any thing that will jeopardise my ambition. I am A God fearing person and wont decend low in my dealings.(!!!!!)
6. 

   Comment by patricia bishop on 9 January 2009:

   I put an add on Craig’s list last month and had a response the next day from a person claiming to be an exchange student. He gave me an international phone # and asked that I call his Father at this # to close the deal. He said that he was studying to be a Vet at a college in Montgomery and would send money orders to pay for the rent and deposit and asked that I take out my part of the money and pay the rest to the people that would be delivering his furniture and car. My daughter said that she had heard of several scams that entice you to call an international # and they zap you with a huge bill that is added to your local telephone bill, but cannot be traced. I answered back that his “Father” could call me. I never heard from him again.
7. 

   Comment by Erin on 13 February 2009:

   I have posted a room online and received an email from someone claiming to look to rent the room for his 23 year old daughter. I sent him 9 questions and this is the response I got back.

   Hello,
   Thanks for the mail ,I do really appreciate your efforts towards this.You sound very nice i am also an easy going person as well. i appreciate your urgent response towards this and the explanation you have made.i will want you to remove the posting from craigslist so that i can be rest assured that the room is reserved for me,Furthermore, I will like to pay $1000 down as deposit to reserve the house,I appreciate the efforts you have made and also the explanation you have given.I will be arriving in the next two weeks,but i will let you know my exact move in date as soon as you recieve the deposit.I will like to pay the deposit because that really shows that i am serious about this and its secures the room.Please lets meet online so we can discuss better.I am perfectly okay with all what you have said so far,i do not have any questions for now,but i will let you know if i have any as time goes on.As regards payment i will sending you a cashier’s cheque or money orders ,so i will be making out a Check out in your name and as soon as the check gets to you take it to your bank or as soon as you cash the check, then i will ask my daughter to get her things,well i need the name as you want it to appear on the check and also the address to send the check to,I would require your contact telephone number as well..I will expect your immediate reply.
   Regards
   Bradley
8. 

   Comment by Louise DePolo on 14 March 2009:

   I think there is another scam going on in the opposite direction. We have a high end condo for rent for $1,850. In the last week we got two emails from both coasts with a story of how they can only pay $1,000 a month but are very clean, etc. It’s just too strange to have both offering the same lowball price, and I wonder what the scam is.
   Will they re-rent it or is it some sort of internet “game” to see how many owners they can get to bite in this tough market? Anyone else getting a version of this? Thanks
9. 

   Comment by Joe on 30 March 2009:

   Hi,
   I wanted to thank everyone for posting information here. I have rental property in South Jersey and I have it listed on Craig’s List. As it turns out, I was sent an inquiry about the property from one Herold Jin. I did a Google search on him and came across this information. Thank you goes to Mimi Gabriel for posting this here. I have submitted the information to the FTC for their records and I’m going to let Mr. Jin (if that’s really his name) what I think of him.
   Thanks again!
   Joe
10. 

    Comment by Tom Royce on 30 March 2009:

    Joe, Awesome to hear that we helped!
11. 

    Comment by Emily on 18 May 2009:

    We almost fell victim to one of these scams ourselves but quickly realized it was wrong, then we posted our own rental add and have had 4 different scams try to use our info! This has to be stopped. One way is to imbed HTML into your posting, it is impossible to copy it if you do that.
12. 

    Comment by Kelly on 26 May 2009:

    I have a concern about a recent ad posted on Craig’s List for a condo for rent for a ridiculously low rental rate. My sister is looking to relocate to Philadelphia. A typical high-end 2×2 in the Rittenhouse area goes for approximately $2200 plus parking for approx $200. She found an ad on Craig’s List for a 2×2 condo in the same area for only $1100 and includes all utilities, furniture and two parking spaces. The owner of the condo lives in the UK and can only make the transaction through a title Insurance Company since she does not know anyone in Philly to manage her property. The owner of the condo claims that she just needs to get it rented and is the reason for the low rate. Has anyone heard of any scams through First American Title Insurance Company? The thing that makes me even more skeptical is that they want personal info to get things started. She can not even see the property before submitting an application. Seems very fishy to me. She gets the keys and doesn’t pay for ten days at which time she is able to make a decision to pay and stay or return the keys and walk away. All transactions MUST go through this company or the deal is off! But it’s primarily a title insurance company…hmmm??!! Any suggestions?
13. 

    Comment by MN Short Sale Realtor on 1 June 2009:

    Craigslist rental scams abound in the Twin Cities Minnesota area. Typically, “landlords” who are not the owners of the property (typically the bank is the owner), try to rent out the property. Once you give them your money, it is nearly impossible to get back. I have a list of all the Minnesota county websites and the phone numbers you can call to verify the property owner and foreclosure status of the property on my site.
14. 

    Comment by Annoyed on 24 July 2009:

    I had the SAME experience while I was trying to rent my apartment as Erin (above) on craigslist. i had 2 people send me the following emails. They were from a JOHN CONROY “Canada” and one JENNIFER COLE “Australia”
    __________________________

    Hello,

    Thanks for your prompt responses and am okay with the price and
    explanations, I am Jennifer Cole, 28 female, from USA but lived and
    has been working in Australia for few years now, I am a graduate of
    Westwood College, CA, where I studied Marketing. I worked as a sales
    Representative in Adelaide, Australia. However, I will be coming to US
    later this month or early next month to advertise some of our
    products. I am very happy for your reply that shows the kind of person
    I am thinking of renting from and how kind you are..

    I will want you to send me some pictures if you have any so I can
    forward it to my Boss to see the room because he is presently based
    in England. The payment option is by a certified check and its not a
    problem at all because my boss will be highly responsible for all the
    expenses. All i have to do is to confirm the availability including
    the utilities and then get it sent to him including the information’s
    in which the payment will be issued to, So all I require is for you to
    send me your..

    FULL NAME
    FULL ADDRESS
    PHONE

    I await this information from you so that my Boss can make payment for
    the rental fee and any security deposit needed to be paid in advance.
    Pls note that your rental fee and my travel agent fee will be sent
    together to you So, you can get back to my travel agent who is in
    United state with the balance of the money via western union in order
    to get my flight ticket booked for me to be in the USA asap. If there
    is any application to be filled, I will fill that when am with you
    there. I will want you to consider the room/apt/house rented. I will
    also pay you an additional $100 to get the advert deleted from
    craigslist. Hope to hear back from you.
    Thanks
    ____________________

    When I wrote her back asking for her “travel agent” info or the name of the company she works for, I received this response:

    Hello,

    Am not working for any company. I am coming down from Australia…
    Ok? Get back to me if you still want to lease the apt for me.

    Regards
    _______________

    What do these people want? How frustrating…
15. 

    Comment by Kel on 6 August 2009:

    Yeah- unfortunately for me I did not research this until after the fact. One of them got me for 500 bucks. Said it was a security deposit and he would send me the keys after I sent it via money gram. Then I went to the house and there was a woman living in it already- so I called the guy back- and he said that she was his current tenant and she would be moving out. He then asked me to send the first months rent before he shipped a lease agreement and I kind of became worried so I called him back again and asked him to send my security deposit back to me. And of course….he hung up on me. Word to the stupid…dont look for a house on friggin craigslist. Damn Nigerians.
16. 

    Comment by Rick on 7 August 2009:

    I found this luxurious Manhattan apartment add in craigslist, it all seem too good to be true, but I thought they were just desperate due to the economic crisis. A person by the mane of Dmary Jane (djmarry11@yahoo.co.uk) got in contact with me and sent all the information for the rental agreement, after investigating the information provided by this person (building name, unit number and address) , results showed that this is all a “big scam” ; since there is only one building with this name in Manhattan; which is situated in a different location, the apartment number 14 does not exit and the building concierge does not know anything about the contact (djmarry11@yahoo.co.uk) or the apartment owner (ALPORT COOPER) whom requested a money order or transfer to foreign address (106-110 BELGRAVE ROAD, LONDON, SW1V 2BJ). Even the pictures that this criminals used to promote their scam were copied from a real estate website that is promoting the condos for sell; compare the two websites, address and pictures :
    Condo living (http://www.condo-living-west.com/nyblog/2008/09/m127-new-york-city-apartments-at-127.html)
    Craigslist.org (http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/vac/1294883156.html)
    it is a shame that Craigslist a network for online advertisement which purpose is to help the community is now been used by con artist to scam honest people.
    Sincerely,
    Rick
17. 

    Comment by autumn on 5 September 2009:

    I’m in a middle of a rental transaction, where I just place a $500 deposit to hold the condo because I won’t be moving in for another month. I did look at the place, it’s local. However, the gentelman showing me is a family member of the owner that lives in a different city in the same state. Should I be concerned?

    Thanks for any advice.

    Autumn
18. 

    Comment by Anne Lackey on 19 September 2009:

    As a professional property manager, we hear all kinds of these types of stories from other property managers and from prospective tenants. Scams like this one are the one of the best reasons to use a professional PM company whether you are an owner or a tenant. In GA to manage another person’s property, we have to be licensed real estate agents. This is very easy to check by going to the state’s real estate commissioner’s website. As a tenant, you can easily confirm that the firm is legitimate. Property Manager’s have to hold tenant funds in escrow accounts, so they are safe. For owner’s it allows us to qualify a tenant for you to make sure that you are getting the best quality tenant for the best rental rate. We cut through all the scammer’s because we have techniques and tools to prevent that from happening.

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