Recently, a colleague posted a Blog about scammers using Craigslist to try to scam people out of their money. She, just as I do, uses the internet very heavily to promote listings and therefore we both repost all of our listings on Craigslist weekly. To good Realtors, this has been thought of as part of a good marketing plan. This colleague raised the question, “Is having your home listed on Craigslist worth it?” This colleague claims she only had one real buyer in 3 years contact her from posting on Craigslist. Well let me give you some details before I give you my opinion and then you can judge for yourself.
The scenario for the scam is done by taking real Home For Sale Ads and fraudulently reposting them on Craigslist in the rental section with a very cheap monthly rental fee. The scammer claims to have had an emergency that caused him and his family to leave the country, therefore needing to rent their property. When you respond to his anonymous e-mail, he replies that they are willing to send the keys over to someone to rent the property after sending them a $500 deposit by money order. I know this scam is really happening because it has happened to a few of our listing ads and I once e-mailed a scammer myself… He actually wrote back and did exactly what I described above. He didn’t even notice that I am the same person he stole the ad from!!!
Unfortunately, we live in a world that we have to always be on the lookout for fraud. It is everywhere. Much of it can be avoided just by becoming informed and using a little common sense. Statistics show that buyers are looking for their home on the internet. The most recent publication on the “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009”, posted by the National Association of Realtors, shows that “For more than one-third of home-buyers, the first step in the home-buying process was looking online for properties” and “Nine in ten homebuyers and 94% used the internet to search for homes”. It is also known to the well known internet vehicles how valuable Craigslist is to web marketing. It is reported by several that I’ve seen, including Visual Tour, that on the web “Craigslist generates 93% of all classified ad traffic!” Therefore, we cannot ignore the internet. Scammers are going to use whatever is most popular. Right now Craigslist is Hot, but scammers can find the same information anywhere on the web to copy. We just have to be cautious not to fall into their trap. Stop and think! Why would you e-mail an anonymous person, with no proof of affiliation, and be willing to send money to them to rent a home you never saw? Most people are smart enough to pass by the property and find the real estate sign or Google the address to see it is listed by a Realtor. I not only had more than one real buyer from Craigslist in the last 3 years, but I actually helped a renter that found one of my fraudulently copied ads to find another property! Having a Realtor is important. A Realtor is your first line of defense. Not only do we have a code of ethics we are sworn to abide by, we would lose our license if we worked illegally. The Real Estate Commission is ready to help if you have a legitimate Realtor complaint.
One more point for Sellers to remember: if you are a For Sale By Owner that is posting on the internet, this can cause more of a problem for you. I noticed that scammers also use information they find in public records in attempt to make themselves appear real. If a property is listed by a Realtor, this would not work so easily when a buyer realizes a Realtor is involved.
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