The rental market is tight and you have been looking for so long for a nice place to live. To your surprise a property is available and it meets all of your requirements and it is dirt cheap to boot. Lucky you? Probably not. Advertisements are being stolen from Craigslist and other sites. These advertisements are being recreated with new contact information and usually a lower rent. Most of these high-tech hijackers are doing their dirty work from Nigeria and other far off places but it happens right here at home as well. Don't be fooled. Here are some common sense rules to making sure you GET what you PAY for.
-Be suspicious if you’re asked to only use a wire transfer service
-Beware of e-mail correspondence from the “landlord” that’s written in poor or broken English
-Research the average rental rates in that area and be suspicious if the rate is significantly lower
-Don’t give out personal information, like social security, bank account, or credit card numbers
Deal with only local companies whenever possible. Never deal strictly by telephone and never agree to send money without first making an appointment and entering the property with an agent or landlord. Any owner who wishes to rent his property out will have access to the property. The scheme is simple. The "Landlord" or owner, has been suddenly called away. He is perhaps, a missionary or he may work for the United Nations or for that matter the United federation of planets for all of you trek heads out there. Since his family had to leave so suddenly they were not able to prepare the house or hire a property manager. All of that is designed to make you dismiss any questions you might have once you actually drive by the property. The "Landlord/Owner" may actually have the owners name since that information is public information. If you do a title search for him you would see that his names matches that of the owner of the property. Don't fall for it
I have heard countless stories about this scam. So many people have lost thousands of dollars because they were not educated. I thought this information would be helpful. Lots of my information and my tips come directly from the FBI's website. Here is the article written in 2009.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/july/housingscam_072909
Thanks for reading my blog.