Occasionally, the Illinois
Association of Realtors gets information from listing agents about sales posted
on craigslist.org as rental listings when these properties are not for rent at
all. The listing agents believe their listings are being posted on craigslist
as part of a scam, or plan to dupe those who accept the fake rental ads and
have over out of money.
We have had this
happen to listing at Supreme Manor Real Estate Services on many occasions. Here
are a couple of examples.
We had a bank owned
property for sale. We received a phone call from a person asking us if the
property was for rent. She saw an ad on Craigslist. She went to the property
and was met by a gentleman who had the lockbox code and took about 5 people
through the property. He wanted $1000 security deposit to hold the place for
rent. Something made her uneasy when she saw our for sale sign in front yard. We
called police and set up meeting with man. When he was apprehended, he had over
100 receipts in his brief case of security deposits on properties across the
city.
In another instance
we were contacted by 2 people who actually sent money to an account in Africa
as security deposit on a place we had for rent. The scammer had placed an ad on
Craigslist. There was a phone number to call. He gave instructions on where to
send the money (these people never saw the inside of the property). After he
received the money he would mail them the keys.(Really?!)
If you suspect this
has happened to you, or if you want to get more information in order to avoid this
from happening to you, you should go to: www.craigslist.org/about/scams. This site provides helpful information for discerning different
scams. There are also various agencies who will investigate these situations that
you can contact through this site.
I
hope this information is useful.
Should you need assistance with any
of your real estate needs, please contact
Have a Supreme Day!
Sheila M.
Wilkinson-Sanders
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