Rental scams on Craigslist

Are you considering a renting a home soon? Well you should read this.

Hundreds of dollars are allegedly being stolen from people off of a Craigslist rental scam.

Wednesday ABC-7 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 are very gullible and assuming just because they see something in the Internet that it’s true and factual” said Charles Clark.

Clark is the owner of Clark Brothers Rentals. It’s an agency working under Century 21 Homes.

“We’ve received a couple of calls during the last few days from people asking about a property for rent,” said Clark.

There is one problem though.

“We don’t have a property for rent on Saigon Drive. We have a house for sale on Saigon,” said Clark.

But if you look on Craigslist the home is listed at $800 a month.

“Somebody has gone onto the Internet and copied 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,” said Clark.

Clark says 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 where someone gave some money to some people ( a deposit) and then they called us about getting the keys and we weren’t involved in the rental of the property at all,” said Clark.

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,” said Clark.

If you’re dealing with an owner: “You always want to view the property,” Clark told ABC-7.

Also it’s worth the time to do a backround check.

“It’s public record they 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,” said Clark.

Clark also told ABC-7 you should never pay cash, use a check or money order.

Police are now investigating the rental ad.