Maybe some of you have heard about this scam before and this is old news, but for the rest of you, watch out for this. Last week I posted an ad on Craigslist for my listing on Aviador in Millbrae. The house is for sale. On Saturday, somebody else took one of the photos of this house and created a "for rent" ad offering the place at $1000.00 a month. They also had a "reply to" e-mail address that used the seller's name attached to a Yahoo address. This e-mail address was created for this particular scam. My clients knew nothing about their house being for rent. As this scam goes, you as an interested party will be asked to send money as a deposit to hold this property...and of course you'll lose it. Here's what you'll receive when you reply to the ad:

Hi,
Thanks for emailing me regarding the house is still available, but presently I'm on business trip to Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. I bid for a portion of petroleum land sometimes ago in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia and fortunately I won, so I have to move quickly down to Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia to have my company set up. I came over here with my wife, we both bought the house when we got married. As soon as we settle down here I had a thought of selling the house, so I have to look for an agent and getting one we strike a deal but later my wife advised me on selling the house. I reasoned with her and accepted her advice. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents. Later we decided to have the house rent out, we would have given the same agent this job also but the truth of the matter is that the agent would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be able to reason along with him later and more some I do not have anyone in the area I can leave the keys behind with so that is why I posted ad myself. If you notice, you will discover that the price we are offering is far below standard price and I this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the absolute care for the property. I know there is no way I can be sure that you are the right person to live in the house because we won't be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to occupy the space. The house is available for as long as you want and if you drive by the house you may see a sign there, you have nothing to worry about it belongs to my previous agent so you have absolutely nothing to worry about and you don't have to call them because they do not have access to the house anymore.Please if you are ready now to occupy the house kindly provide the information below for record purpose

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
Full Name__________________________________________________ Home Phone ( ) ________________________
Date of Birth_________________________________
Other Phone ( ) ___________________
Current Address_______________________________Apt#________ City__________________ State______ Zip________
Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone ( ) ____________________________
Are you married____________________________
How many people will be living in the house____________________________
Do you have a pet____________________________
Do you have a car____________________________
Occupation____________________________
Move In Date____________________________

P.S: YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VIEW THE INTERIOR PART OF THE HOUSE BECAUSE I HAVE THE KEYS HERE WITH ME BUT I CAN SEND YOU PICTURES.
You Can Contact Me On
+60102360059
          0r
0060102360059
Best Regards.
 

There's something I've always noticed about these craigslist scams, The english in the text always seems to not quite be correct. The syntax seems to be off to me. Anyway, I must have fielded 10 calls from this scam because so mmany people were intrigued by the low price that they drove over to the house to see it. When they did that, of course, they saw my sign and called via the phone number on it. It's all really pretty creepy and I can sure see how easy it would be to get taken in by this. Once again, if something sounds too good to be true...it probably is. Craigslist, when informed about this, took the ad down.