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Scammers Target Rental Property Owners

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 11, 2007

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Scams directed at people trying to rent homes or apartments seem to be on the rise as 2007 gets underway. Most of these scams originate overseas, with the victim being sent a large check, with instructions to deduct the first month's rent and send the rest back.

The check is a clever counterfeit, which isn't discovered until the victim has wired funds to the scammer. By then, it's too late.

ConsumerAffairs.com highlighted one of these scams, which utilizes the popular craigslist.org Web site, in the "Top 10 Scams of 2006." It soon brought this response from Faith, of Washington, DC:

"I have listed my units for years on craigslist with no problem until this month, when I got 3 identical sounding emails from an overseas tenant," she told us. "Your information helped me trust my instincts, thanks."

Meanwhile, police in Amherst, Massachusetts, report a rash of similar scams, with a number of individuals and businesses victimized in the latter part of 2006. Police say in each case victims were sent an authentic-looking U.S. Postal Service money order, which turned out to be fake.

Police say most of the initial contacts were made online.

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