Oh my, I have heard of this but to have it happen to my own listing would knock me off my chair.

These rental scams are pervasive here in Silicon Valley.  The problem is trying to track down when your listing shows up, if at all, and trying to track who is posting is very difficult.

You have to give thhe crooks credit, the better the laws the better the criminals.  That scam almost shut down parts of the southern NJ shore rental market.  So many folks showing up to a home that they "rented" on craigs list from absolutly noone with the rights to rent. 

Have heard several other stories similar to this out there in the world on line -- the scammers are out in force it seems.

I've been hooked by these scammers but not with a listing (since I'm an EBA), but with my own rental property.  Now I watermark all my photos.  And continued shame on Craiglists for allowing this type of thing to continue. 

Great to know!  It just seems the scammers keep finding more and more ways to work people over.  Thanks for the article and the heads up on this type of scam.

Jeff - as much as we are all tech savvy, there are people out that that have bad intentions. We just have to be careful and educate the public.

I notice there are a lot of folks condemning CL for allowing this to happen, I would be more likely to blame places like Western Union who know full well that most of the money being wired to places like Nigeria are probably scams and they do nothing because funding the scams puts a commission in their pocket each time.

Every time! Whenever there is a good idea like CL there is a scammer waiting to pounce on the unthinking! It would also be nice if you could stop the spam that comes back to you from people trying to scam us and using email head lines like, "I saw your add on Craigslist" or " interested in your property" you open it up and it is just a solicitation. LOL REVERSE SCAMMING. You got to give them an "A" for effort they cover both sides. Good luck to you and I hope you get the home sold.

My client yesterday said she was part of a scam like that, the response was from someone saying to ignore the sign in the picture, he was with that agent, but it didn't work out and to go on their own.  Then she got an email saying that the owner, a Dr., got called unexpectedly to East Africa and to go ahead and put the check in the mail for the deposit.   This needs to be addressed by craigslist, but perhaps we as agents need to keep scanning Craigslist and flagging those that seem to be stealing pictures from MLS> 

Jeff:

I have had several of my listings turn up on Craigslist as rentals.  As far as I know no one lost any money.  And Craigslist had usually taken the ads down even before I had a change to see the ads.

I am always getting calls from people asking if a particular Craigslist ad is for real.  You would think people would be more savvy, and many have gotten scammed by them.  It is just so sad that people make their living on the backs of others this way.

It's amazing how often this is happening these days.  Word of advice for renters...DON'T LOOK for them on Craigslist!  

Jeff, you can do couple of things --

1. Report spam (not sure why it did not work for you)

2. Set up a list-alert so that you are alerted when this happens.

Talk to your local board and the news.  We have this happen here off and on.  when it does our local board gets it out to us and out to the news.  If they have posted your ad info they have posted another Realtor's ad in your area.  Have a great week!

Jeff, this has also happened to me several times.  It's really frustrating that Craigslist is either very slow to or simply make no effort to remove the scam rental listing...I get at least a call or two every month from someone asking about a property for rent that they found on Craigslist.