If you're looking to rent, or have recently listed your home, beware.
According to police and the Better Business Bureau, scammers across the country are taking photos and descriptions of homes they find online and re-listing them as rentals, just to scam people out of cash.
NewsChannel 5 found a case in Avon Lake.
Joe Hamlin put his Avon Lake home on the market a couple weeks ago and was surprised when he got a call about a listing on Craigslist. His realtor said someone was claiming his house was for rent.
"She told me your house is for rent on Craigslist for $800," Hamlin told NewsChannel 5.
The scammer took photos of the house, and details from the listing, to create the rental post on Craigslist.
They even made up an elaborate story, saying the owner, "Reverend Hamlin Joseph," had to leave the country for charity work in West Africa and needed to rent the home out quickly. According to the Craigslist post, all a potential renter needed to do was wire $800- sight unseen.
Hamlin called it intrusive.
"To see pictures of your own home on Craigslist for rent, when it's not you, and see your name associated with it, it's unsettling!" he said.
Hamlin's realtor reported the scam to Craigslist and they took the post down immediately. Hamlin reported it to Avon Lake police.
The president of the Better Business Bureau, Sue McConnell, said Hamlin isn't alone.
"This is not uncommon at all," she said.
McConnell told NewsChannel 5, it can be tough to tell a post isn't legit.
"The scammers will make this look like a real listing," she said.
Exactly like what happened to Joe Hamlin, but she said, the really tricky part is when people fall for it.
"If you wire that money, for your advance deposit and your first months rent, you've wired that to a criminal and you'll never get that money back," McConnell said.
Scammers are nearly impossible to track.
Avon Lake police said this is the first case they've seen, but it's not the first time it's happened in the general area. If you see an online ad that just doesn't make sense, report it to the site and the police.
