Rental scams on Craigslist

people are getting hundreds of dollars stolen from them- off of a craigslist rental scam. today abc-7’s jerry najera spoke with a real estate agent who found out a home he was selling was being used to con unsuspecting customers. “there’s a lot of people who ar very gullible and assuming just because they see something in the internet that it’s true and factual” charles clar is owner of clark brothers rentals it’s an agency working under century 21 homes. “we’v received a couple of calls during the last few days from people asking about a property for rent” this is the property we’re talking about. there is one problem though “we don’t have a property for rent on saigon we have a house for sale in saigon” but if yo look on graigslist- there it listed at 800 dollars a month: “somebody ha gone on to the internet and copy or cloned our listing and all the information about the property we have for sale and now they are promoting it as a property for rent” it’s a scam people go see the home, the person making the deal gives an excuse for not having a key. even tells them to look through the window and says if you give me a couple hundred now-you can move in by the weekend. “in one case we have a situation were someone gave some money to some people and then they called us about getting the keys and we weren’t involved in the rental of the property at all” so how can you stay away from the situation? “first thing i would do is work with a realtor someone who is licensed by the state” if you’re dealing with an owner “you always want t view the property” also do backround check “it’s public record the can get that from the county clerks office or the tax office so that they can verify that the person they are dealing with is actually the owner” jerry najera abc-7 clark also says you should never pay cash – use a check or money order. police are investigating the rental ad.