Well another one of the properties I have listed had been “relisted” by a scammer. Thank goodness I put signs up at the properties I have listed so if someone goes by, they can see my information and call me. My big hint there is a “scam” out there – when I tell the inquiring party that the home is listed at $X and they respond but I saw it on Craigslist for $N. When I hear that I refer them to my company’s web site for property management (www.AVantageProperties.com) and ask them to read the information about rental scams (near the bottom of the first page). The next thing I do is go to Craigslist and report the ad so it is removed.
Well yesterday I was catching up on some of my Inman News reading and read an article about someone, Sarah Stelmok, that had this happen to her but she followed through with conversting with the rental scammer. This morning I visited her site and read the dialogue between her and the scammer. It is very similar in syntax to the emails that have been forwarded to me in the past by others that have been almost “duped” by other scammers. For that reason, I wanted to add a link to her web site so others could read the dialogue that occured over a period of 3 weeks. It’s just another tool to look for when the price is too good to be true on a home for lease.
This first link is the beginning of Sarah’s conversation with “Mr. Richie” as she first inquired about the home. http://sarahiouslyspeaking.com/2009/06/internet-real-estate-scam-update/
This second link is more details about how “Mr. Richie” was working to get Sarah to forward funds to him via Western Union, what the application looked like, and when she finally let him know that she was the one that owned the property. http://sarahiouslyspeaking.com/2009/06/internet-real-estate-scam-update-2/
Tags: rental scammer, Vantage Properties
