Winhall Police warn of Craigslist scam

Posted Friday, May 4, 2012 9:11 pm

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WINHALL -- The Winhall Police Department recently received a report of a rental scam on Craigslist involving a home in Winhall. We have not received reports of this type of fraud before and we would like to share this information with our residents and business owners so that you are aware. This scam is occurring nationwide.

In this case, a foreign national copied information from a local Realtor’s website and used it to create a fraudulent advertisement for a rental property in Winhall. The subject used information from a local home for sale, including its listing information and photographs, to create their advertisement on Craigslist.

The prospective renter contacted the subject that created the ad via email hoping to rent the home in Winhall. In the subject’s lengthy reply, he described himself as a pastor who was married to an attorney and that they were approaching retirement. He claimed to have joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses and now planned to spend the rest of his life spreading God’s word and assisting with building a church out of the country.

The subject stated that they were looking for someone who would take care of their home because there were no other relatives close by to do it for them. The subject stated that they hoped to find a renter who would treat their home like they would their own.

The rental fee amount that was advertised in this scam was low at $650 per month, utilities included and pets welcome. The amount of the security deposit required was listed at $500, which would need to be wired overseas. After the deposit was received it stated that a key would be mailed to the renter.

There was a rental application to be filled out and included in the email sent to the prospective renter. The contact information listed for the subject was an overseas phone number.

The email that the subject sent to the prospective renter was full of punctuation errors, improper capitalization, and misspellings as well as other "red flags."

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A note at the top of the rental advertisement of Craigslist states:

Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally, police said. Beware any arrangement involving Western Union, MoneyGram, wire transfer, or a landlord/owner who is out of the country or cannot meet you in person.

Commonalities with rental scam emails listed below:

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* Does the email start with Sir/Madam?

* Are there misspellings in the email?

* Are there character mistakes in the email?

* Is there excessive capitalization?

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* Does the email reference GOD, UK, Cashier’s Check, Doctor, Nigeria, Reverend, etc?

* Is the email from a free email provider, i.e. Gmail, yahoo, AOL, Hotmail.

* Does the email refer to another person or agent?

* Does the email reference wanting to move sight unseen?

* Is the rental price extremely low?

* Is the scammer out of the country on business?