Beware of Rental Scams on Craig's List

Be very careful when looking for a rental on Craig’s list.  There are a lot of people that are posting rentals on Craig’s List and they aren’t even the owners of the home.  They search for listings that are currently on the market for sale and then take those photos and post them on Craig’s List as a rental.   Most of these scam artists are posting a rental amount that is half of the real market value so it makes people act quickly because they are nervous about losing the rental.  If the rental amount sounds too good to be true, it usually is.  NEVER send money without seeing the rental and meeting the owners.  You might want to do a little research to make sure that the person you are talking to or that you’re meeting is the owner of the home or at least a Realtor representing the owner.  A lot of these scams are asking you to send money out of state or even out of the country and you haven’t even seen the rental yet.  They want you to send the money so they will hold the rental for you.  Do your research before you send anyone money. Every town has their own assessor’s database where you can verify who the owner of a home is.  Also, if you find a scam on Craig’s List, please make sure you report it.