Real Estate Scam Hits Lexington KY Real Estate Market
Posted Apr 22, 2009 @ 8:39 am, Viewed by 3773 Visitors, Read 3806 Times.A national real estate rental scam is now affecting the Lexington KY real estate market. The scam originates on Craigslist.org, a popular online classified ad site that allows people to post items for sale or rent free of charge.
The scam recently affected an agent in my office, Keller Williams Bluegrass in Lexington, KY. The agent had listed a home for sale on Craigslist, a practice that's becoming more common among web-savvy real estate agents. And while the originally posting of the home for sale was legitimate, what happened next was pure scam.
The scammer took all the information about the property -- pictures, description and location -- and listed the home as being for rent, posting his email address as the contact point. When people emailed him inquiring about the property, they were told he was traveling out of the country and that they should mail him a deposit. According to reports, he then claimed he would mail them the keys to the home -- no credit checks, no showings and no interview of the prospective renters was required.
The agent received dozens of calls about the home from people who drove past the house, saw her sign and inquired about renting it. To their disappointment, the house was already sold, but the upside to all this is that authorities say they're not aware of any interested parties sending any deposit money, so the scammer didn't actually profit from his efforts.
If you run across a home listed for rent on Craigslist.org, please feel free to call me, Sharon Roark, at 859-433-3676 and I'll be happy to investigate for you to help ensure the home is being offered for rent by a legitimate party.
Sharon Roark
Lexington KY Real Estate
Sharon Roark is a Realtor in Lexington KY specializing in residential real estate in Lexington KY and the surrounding areas. A lifelong resident of Central Kentucky, Sharon knows the real estate market in this area well and uses her market exptertise to help her clients, especially those relocating to Lexington KY find the right home in a neighborhood that best fits their lifestyle.
Sharon is also a trained, accredited home staging professional, a skill which has helped her sell many homes quickly and for top dollar throughout Lexington, Georgetown, Lawrenceburg, Nicholasville, Paris, Versailles and Winchester.
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Social Bookmarking7 Responses to “Real Estate Scam Hits Lexington KY Real Estate Market”
I guess the thieves chase the money -- they get more from scamming someone out of a month's rent than they do scamming someone out of Hannah Montana tickets (thought I'm not sure the difference is that huge in this example, lol).
This was (is?) also happening in Austin Texas.
I've come across this here in Las Vegas more then once...
And we've come across the situation more then once of people actually renting out homes they did not own (in the foreclosure process and abandoned), took the deposit and ACTUALLY collected rent until the home was foreclosed on.
Some of them do get caught...
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/sep/04/police-arrest-suspects-rental-scam/
It's sometimes amazing that wherever misfortune exists, there will be someone there to take further advantage of the situation. Lexington is such a nice, low-crime city that I guess I was surprised to see this scam hit our area, as you've pointed out, it's hitting people all over.
I wonder if this kind of activity will force Cragislist to start charging for real estate ads so they can track fraud when it occurs...
I've heard of this one and it is very scary. I just purchased a condo in Scottsdale, AZ that we might try to rent out to snowbirds until we're ready to be snowbirds ourselves. But I'm really worried about this scam.
I guess if I didn't post the ad I wouldn't be held liable, but the thought of having to prove your innocence is not something I want to have to deal with.
I never thought of that, Judy. I guess it has more victims than I realized...
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Sharon Roark takes you and your real estate needs seriously. She realizes that the purchase or sale of a home is one of the biggest financial transactions in most people's lives, and Sharon dedicates herself to helping ensure that the entire process goes as smoothly as possible.
As a lifelong resident of the Lexington Area, Sharon has in-depth knowledge of the local market and uses this knowledge to help ensure you find the right home in the neighborhood that best suits your needs. Read More
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Is it just me or does real estate specifically seem to be a constant target (proportionally) compared to other industries.