We hear a lot about scammers. This is the downside of internet. It is so easy to cut and paste an ad from the internet and PRESTO! you have hijacked an ad that you can exploit. Just last month, I had two different people call me about an ad I was running for a very nice home renting for $3600. Each told me that the owner had contacted them and told them they would rent the house for $3000 if he got a very large cashier’s check to them right away.
Finding this peculiar, I dug for more information and found that the “owner” was in TN. Well, I knew the owner was living outside the country. It’s pretty easy for someone to look up the owner’s name through public records if they know the address of the property.
The scammer opened an email account on Gmail or Yahoo with the owner’s name in it. Needless to say, I told the callers that they should report the scam to Craig’s List and the Federal Trade Commission. There really isn’t much that anyone can do except warn consumers NOT to wire money anywhere without meeting the owner or the property manager in person at the house first. Scammers will continue to thrive as long as there are people out there who don’t take the precautions to safeguard their money.
