I hope everyone has heard about the craiglist scams going on.

I got a call from a woman a few days back inquiring about a listing. She said that she had been in contact with the owner about renting the property. The owner said that he was on vacation in Africa and that the woman needed to send her application to him in Africa before she could see the inside of the place. Not sure how long it's been since you've seen a rental application, but they include SS numbers, Bank Account Numbers, and everything else.

Luckily the lady called me, and I contacted the listing agent and found out that the owners were living in the home. The home was not for rent.

The Scammer took the ad in the "homes for sale" category, (that the agent placed), and copied it to "homes for rent" with his phone number and contact info. We've been told to cross referance our ads on craigslist and I'd suggest you do it as well.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate and all Central Oregon homes for sale. Bend OR homes for sale.

Wow; I guess they'll try to find any way to get you, hmm? Thanks for sharing.

How did the renter end up calling you if the ad had the scammers information in it though?

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Steve Castaneda, Realtor
Keller Williams Realty
The MyHomeHouston Team

Specializing in Houston Real Estate. Feel free to visit my Houston Real Estate Blog or read about Real Estate Technology for agents.

I happened to be at the office when the call came in and no one else was there. So I took the call because she didn't have an agent name.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate and all Central Oregon homes for sale. Bend OR homes for sale.

Thanks Dylan.


That is something definitely to be on the look out for. People will try any type of scam possible.

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Kevin O'Brien
Outer Banks Property Management | Outer Banks | Outer Banks Beach Blog
"It's always a great day in paradise"

They now have you verify a phone number before they will allow you to post in some areas.

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Sunnyvale Real Estate
Santa Clara Real Estate
Cupertino Real Estate

Verifying a phone number sounds like a good idea.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate and all Central Oregon homes for sale. Bend OR homes for sale.

Is anyone having any real success with craigslist? I mean, people showing up to your open house saying they saw it on craigslist? Or people contacting you via phone, email, etc. saying they saw your ad or whatever on craigslist?

Craigslist is an excellent way to drive local traffic to your website. I don't get many calls from craigslist ads, but I get tons of referral traffic. However, I've found that many of the leads I get from Craigslist are somewhat useless - there are a lot of windowshoppers. I still get an e-mail and phone number and do my follow up but usually I find they are not convertable and they co in my long-term follow-up drip system. But you do get the occasional diamond in the rough.

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Eric Rogers - REALTOR
Century 21 Pro-Team
Aurora IL Real Estate | Batavia Real Estate
Yorkville Real Estate

Thanks for the warning.

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www.mymortgagehelp.info - a FREE site dedicated to home owners like you and me, packed full of articles and updated daily. Fun tips and tricks to avoid financial ruin.

Wow...thanks for the heads up!

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Paul Caparas
Broker Associate/Realtor
Weichert Realtors Elite
San Diego Ca Real Estate
San Diego Foreclosures
San Diego Homes with a View