Craigslist Alert On Rental Scam.

Craigslist Alert On Rental Scam.

Yet again another Craigslist Scam and a very good reason for you to work with your local experience professional Realtor and/or Property Manager. 

Read below.....

We Inquired about a cute little house for rent that was on Craigslist, the contact info was supposedly the owners email address. I received a quick reply along with a "rental application" asking all kinds of info.. ss#, dr lic #, etc etc (they wanted this done before i've even seen the place!). If they chose me & upon payment of the Sec Deposit & 1st months rent then t...hey'd send me the keys to the place, hmmm they live in Nigeria! lol!

Did some further research and the place is listed for rent with a Realtor, same exact pics & address as the Craigslist ad. Wow, slime bags everywhere you turn trying to rip us off! They're taking actual listings & pics for legit rental properties, putting ads in Craigslist and representing themselves as the owners! Obviously I didn't complete their "rental application", let alone send them any $! Anyway, just a heads up, I've heard of many kinds scams out there but it's the first I've come across this one.

Here is one solution for Real Estate Agents and Property Managers from Guru Property Manager and ActiveRain member Wallace S. Gibson in Charlottesville, Virginia.

• HEADS UP Landlords and PROPERTY MANAGERS * WATERMARK your photos - if your website won't do them * my HERO listings are watermarked automatically * then do this step BEFORE uploading a listing to CL.....This is the MAIN reason that most professional property managers no longer utilize their local MLS * the MLS rules prevent watermarking photos in such a way that the photo can not be SCAMMED *