Craigslist Scam

[Mike Nelson]

Today I discovered someone copied my ad on Craigslist 22 hours ago and posted it for  $400 cheaper.  I contacted Craigslist immediately to remove it and take appropriate action.  Has anyone seen this happen?  I only know about it because one of my tenants brought it to my attention.  She was considering moving downstairs into the nicer unit.  She thought I might be renting it that cheap. I hope they can resolve it ASAP.

[Brett Tousley]

It used to happen to me often on Craigslist when I worked in the Seattle area.  I'm a Realtor and post my listings on Craigslist as well as various other sites on the web.  What I've seen most often is they will use my pictures and descriptions of the homes for sale and post them as for rent at very low prices.

One even went so far as to look up my client's name (homeowner's) and open a new yahoo email account using their name. 

As an example, if my home owner was "john smith" the Nigerian scammer would snag "johnsmith at yahoo.com"

The scam was that "john smith" was currently working as a missionary in Nigeria.  If the victim would send them a deposit, first and last, they could rent the home and the good doctor "john smith" would mail them the key.

I would get calls often from hopeful renters who had googled the address and found me as the listing agent.  

I even got one call from a livid client that thought I was sub leasing her home while I had it listed.