Internet Scam: Rental Scams on Craigslist

Here's a classic internet scam on Craigslist that someone sent me today.

Scammers will post an ad on Craigslist for a rental available. They will typically leave an email contact or phone number (but then say only "text messages"). The ads will often have matching photos of real addresses and lots of details about that place. It looks real. The places they list for rent are not owned by the scammer nor do they have any legitimate ability to rent the home or apartment. The scammer is most likely not even local. They like to hide and do their scamming activities in foreign countries where the authorities can't go after them.

Once a person replies to the ad, the scammer will then go into some convoluted story about some kind of hardship and why the place has to be rented immediately (how the scammer moves the scam into urgency so the victim will act without thinking much about what they are doing). In this urgent state, the scammer will then try and collect the rent deposit and first month's rent via wire transfer (such as Western Union or MoneyGram). Some even try and get the victim to send the scammer a prepaid credit card through a service like green dot. In return for sending the money, the scammer tells the victim they will receive a package giving them access to the home or apartment and all they need to do to complete the agreement and receive the package is to send an ADDITIONAL month of rent (how greedy scammers are).

To avoid this scam, only deal with local people and only rent places that you can physically inspect BEFORE giving anyone any money. And never use wire transfer or send anyone a prepaid credit card for payment.