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Craiglist Honolulu is the Latest Avenue for Nigerian Scams

By
Real Estate Agent with Harcourts Island Real Estate RB-20368

I've had several people contact me recently asking about properties they saw on the internet.  Initially, I was excited to work with another buyer, however they were not asking about a property to buy/purchase.  They called me as a third party source to see if a listing they saw for rent on Craig's List was for real and if the owners are really looking to rent it. The reason that spawned their calls was that the "so called" seller would only communicate through e-mail and ask them to wire $ to them for a depost- FIRST RED FLAG! They also said the owner was in Nigeria- SECOND RED FLAG! As a courtesy I looked these properties up & they were actually in MLS.  The owners however were here in Honolulu! What it seems these scammers do is pull photos off active listings, then post the info. on Craig's List as if they were to the owner.  What seems to draw them more candidates is they put the rent really low to get a lot of takers.  2 of the calls I got were on a home in Niu Valley that would normally rent for roughly $2500/month.  They had posted it at $1100/month.  They probably have no idea however since they are potentially half way around the world... To date, I've probably received at least 4 of these types of calls & in all circumstances I suggested they contact Craig's List and the authorities (ie. HPD, FBI, etc.).  BE CAREFUL! There's a lot of crazy stuff out there!

Comments (4)

Robert Havana
Park and Protect- Alberta Real Estate License Parking - Calgary, AB
Alberta Real Estate License Parking

my local craigslist and kijiji are 90% scam posts, with the majority of the posts being 25k dollar cars being offered for sale for 5k.  A total joke, but i can see how some get sucked into the same old story. 

Nov 29, 2008 06:36 PM
Carol Swain
Keller Williams Real Estate - Langhorne, PA
Realtor, -www.swainsells.com- Bucks County, Pa

Those Nigerian scams are all over craigslist.  I get more Nigerian responses from criagslist when I sell personal items on there, such as a car.

Nov 29, 2008 10:02 PM
June Tassillo
Owner/Broker RE/MAX Elite Realty - Franklin, NC
Let me help you with the next phase of your life!

I have recieved similar e-mails for someone claiming to be in Nieria and working for the Gov. and wanting housing here in NC.  They also said it had to be a secret due to the gov. wanting to kill him and his family.  The name was real.  I looked it up on the internet and wrote a letter to the real man telling him someone was using his name here in the US.  Never heard anything after that.  I have sold land from Craigs List that was real.  The old saying gos "If its sounds too good to be true" well you know the rest. Everyone has to be careful!!! I am sure they are thinking of new ways as we speak.

Nov 29, 2008 10:37 PM
Michael Setunsky
Woodbridge, VA
Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

David, these scams are are appearing more and more on Craigslist. Just another avenue for them to scam the public. Hopefully people are smart enough not to respond t them.

Nov 30, 2008 12:39 AM