The real estate market is seeing more short sales and foreclosures because of the recession. Due to this, the number of scams involving real estate is increasing as well. Because so many people are no longer able to own a home, the amount of renters is increasing.
Melodye Colucci-Stackpole, a Realtor with William Raveis Real Estate in Stamford discovered a fraudulent scheme last week when a potential customer called her about a rental property. The call raised some suspicion because Melodye did not have any rentals. After some investigation, she discovered the property the individual was calling about was a client’s property that she had listed for sale. Turns out, her craigslist listing fell victim to scammers looking to make a quick dollar.
The ad that she had placed on craigslist had been copied and resubmitted to the website as a rental property. In the new ad, all of the correct information was given regarding the address of the property, the owners name, and even the realtors name and number. The scammers also provided an email address which included the name of the owners as a means for communication.
The asking price for rent is generally much lower the market would allow to draw people in. In this case, this property could be rented for 3,000 but the scammers are only asking for 1,100. Once someone contacts the scammers via email, a intricate background story is given to explain why the “owner” had to leave the country. These stories vary but this particular case, the “owners” were forced to leave town to tend to business they have in Africa. Conveniently, for the scammers, the “owners” also took their keys with them to Africa so a walkthrough of the home is not available prior to renting. The “owners” elaborated further on their story by explaining that the rent amount is not their main concern, they just want someone who will be able to take very good care of their home while they’re away.
At this point, anyone interested is asked to fill out rental application that asks for a list of personal information. Of course, anyone who falls for this is going to be accepted, then comes the security deposit. If someone continues to fall for the act and sends the security deposit overseas, that’s the last time they will ever see that money. The whole purpose of this scam is to accumulate multiple security deposits and then the scammer disappears.
Stamford Police Sgt. Peter di Spagna said scams are as old as the Internet sites on which they appear. Spagna elaborates further on the matter by explaining similar scams he has seen in the past.
“They involve dogs, cars, furniture — there are constant variations of the same scams,”
To stay safe, anything involving anyone or any transaction that is out of the United States should be avoided. There is zero guarantee of what is going to happen to your money once it leaves the States.