It’s no surprise that the terms “scam”, “Nigeria” and “CraigsList” are associated together – but what’s the real estate connection? Read on… this is very disturbing:
It is a fact of the Internet age. When the word “Nigeria” comes up in any proposition involving money, hit “delete” and run screaming from your computer. An item from WJAR-TV in Providence, RI, provides yet another cautionary tale, this one involving Craigslist, the popular classified ad site that has been taking a beating for being the hangout of the homicidal and merely disreputable. (“Need a hitman?” “Need a ‘massage’?” “Need both?”)
Adding to Craigslist’s PR woes is a scam artist who hijacked a legitimate listing for a rental house in Portsmouth. “Charles Burger” reposted the property ad’s information under his alias at a rock-bottom rent. He instructed interested parties to wire first month and security deposit to Lagos, Nigeria.
Sue Johnson and her husband, the real property owners, were surprised to see “tenants” walk up to the front door lugging boxes, ready to move in. No doubt these people indignantly told the Johnsons, “Don’t look surprised. We sent our money to Nigeria!”
This is crazy and disturbing on many levels. But here are a few tips that come to mind for those of you who may be looking to rent property for your own use:
- Never rent property sight unseen. The scam artist undoubtedly told ad respondents, “OK, you can drive by the house, but don’t bother the tenants.” Real smooth.
- Always conduct a thorough walkthrough of a rental property. Make a list of any damage or defects. This protects the tenant and the landlord and gets the relationship off to a good start. Not stepping inside a property prevents this important inspection (see above.)
- Always use a well-drafted rental agreement. If you’re not working with a real estate agent, boilerplate forms are available from a number of sources. Tenant and landlord expectations need to be set upfront, especially on important issues such as who pays for appliance repairs, utilities, and upkeep like gardeners. Some of these costs may be split. Everything should be negotiated, understood and agreed upon before signing.
- Don’t think the drop in home prices has created too-good-to-be-true rents. In many markets where sales are slumping, rentals are going strong due to people needing a place to live after having to sell or leave their homes. A quick scan of rental listings will tell you the price range for the type of property you’re seeking.
So repeat after me: There is no prince from Nigeria who needs my bank account number to transfer $10 million. There is no landlord from Nigeria who has a cute three-bedroom for rent at 60% off.
If you’re a landlord, you could be subjected to this type of scam. So it’s a good idea to make it very easy for prospective tenants to reach you:
- Be sure that your contact information is posted on the property in very conspicous places.
- Consider showing your properties by appointment only
- On your “For Rent” sign, consider indicating that a physical application will be necessary
None of these things can prevent a scammer from using your property as a conduit for ill-gotten gain. But these tips may help less-savvy tenants to understand what is expected of them a little more clearly and thus save you some confusion and distraction.
Thank you for reading http://RealEstate.BryanEllis.com – your comments are welcomed!
Bryan,
You might also caution your readers to be wary of sites and/or contacts from Russia and any part of Africa related to these scams. Russia is especially known for scam artists targeting us “stupid” Americans. Of course, there are no shortages of scam artists right here in the good ‘ol US of A. Bottom line…. Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see!
Good peace of information. I myself receive emails for scams from Nigeria all the time. I only Wish my email account had a key word blocker. and also by checking each email on a page that I wish to block at one time.
Hi Bryan:
You might want to add the UK to the above list. I spent a bunch of
time with an International Attorney re a scam involving one of the ‘larger UK Banks. It was a deal where I had inherited a large amount of money from a relation in the UK. Even the lawyers were almost
convinced it was real but when a UK attorney and his office was involved That blew the whistle. Thank the lord I had not put any money up and it just required time on my part and the attorney. This case put the player in jail. The UK is as bad as Nigeria and other
places. The FBI is watching it also.
Regards
Ron Hands
Good post, Brian
This happened to me a year ago when I advertised one of my rentals on CL. Fortunately for me, a potential tenant I had spoken to called me back and warned me of the scam advertisement.
I solved this problem by calling the number this scam artist a$$ h-le left on his ad and let him know how serious I was about my business! Also, I reported it to CL’s scam and fraud department!
Thanks for keeping the masses informed!
Kyree H. Shaw
Hi Bryan,
This post is to alert your readers of scams going on from craigslist in other real estate related ways.
If you place an ad on craigslist in the real estate sections (or any other for that matter) Beware of emails that you will get in 2 different topics.
1. is from a grant scam, you will get tons and tons of emails from scam artist replying to your post asking if you need help with your house payment, job, short on money or anything of the sort. The the very second you reply to tell them NO (or whatever) you will get a email in your inbox and now they have your email address. They try to get people to go to there oba ma saving grant page. but keep in mind once you reply they have your email address and they use 100′s of email addresses to mail to you from.
2. There is scam thats almost the same but I believe is from right here in America, its got to do with a real estate lead generation site that trys to get you to list your properties so they can sell it.
Same thing though, once you reply you will get a email immediately. So beware.
Due diligence is something that has so many meaning.
I have no sympathy for any of the people falling victim to these scams, if you are online to read them they are a huge number of ways to check out how valid they are without leaving your computer. Only the greedy or really stupid fall victim. For the people whom are truly mentally impaired I have some empathy, for the rest you get what you earn through your actions.
Good post, stay suspicious and really think about how the post is written.
Chris B
I’m not sure if it’s being greedy or stupid that people fall into these scam traps. Maybe, lack of financial stability shields a person’s receptors to the true fact that “if it’s too good to be true, it usually is”, or something like that. I think it’s bad luck and misfortunate that people are scammed out of their hard earned money, and we all need to just “be ware”, report these criminals to state officials and spread the warning.
My husband and I were just scammed from this, off Craigslist. The supposed “owner” of the rental house was with his wife in West Africa, doing missions work, so he/she said. We were cautioned by a friend and researched it, then realized that it was a scam! It is clear to me now, looking back at the emails, that this person had awful English grammar. My husband and I had to re-read the emails to figure out exactly what this person was asking or wanting from us! He/she never answered some of my questions either. Beware!