rental scam

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Rachael Marie Smith

Craigslist scammer admits to bilking would-be San Francisco renters:

Rachael Marie Smith was arrested over a year ago for scamming people out of rent deposits on craigslist. She would place an ad on craigslist renting out her place then would collect the deposit then she would tell people that they couldn’t move in because her mom had cancer. Of course that was not true.

Last month she went on the lam and did not show up for her scheduled court date.

She turned herself in two weeks ago and has pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Under the plea deal she’ll spend two years in jail and be able to pay restitution to her victims.

Again I say that anyone who uses cancer as part of their scam should be given cancer but that’s just me.

UPDATE 10/31/2011: She got two years in the federal pen.

Craigslist crime post #1504
Real Estate post #106

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Rachael Marie Smith

Alleged Craigslist scammer skips court dates, goes on the run:

I originally posted about 30-year-old Rachael Marie Smith here. She was arrested last year for allegedly scamming people out of rental deposits for a property that didn’t exist. Of course she did this by posting an ad on craigslist. Then she would tell the renters that they couldn’t move in because her mom contracted cancer.

She’s back in the news because not surprisingly she skipped her court date and is now on the run. I say this it not surprising because this is what scammers, con men and grifters do. When their marks get wise to them or when the heat is on they run being the cowards that they are.

Thanks to Barbi for the tip.

Craigslist crime post #1486
Real Estate post #105

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Prison, payback for rental scam:

It’s not every day that we hear about a craigslist scammer not only being caught but being sent to jail for their crimes. However today is one of those days.

In West Chester, Pennsylvania 33-year-old Darryl Knight was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in Chester County Prison for scamming people out of deposits for a rental property that Knight didn’t own.

Knight used the alias of Tony Lal and advertised the property for rent and collected deposits from various people. The problem is that Knight didn’t own the property. As a matter of fact Knight was actually living there renting the property himself.

Knight is a father of seven who was fired from his retail job for stealing. I know desperate times can call for desperate measures sometimes but what gives you the right to steal from these people who were also in dire straits?

Hopefully Chester County Prison is as bad as the city of Chester is. This scumbag gets everything he deserves.

Geebo.com reviews every ad to try and avoid having its users ripped off.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1421
Real Estate post #102

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Police: Woman took rent for home she doesn’t own:

30-year-old Amy Michelle Klopfstein of Bakersfield, California allegedly advertised a property for rent on craigslist and collected deposits from at least four people.

Except she didn’t own the property which had actually been foreclosed.

It is possible to screen ads so that things like this are far less likely to happen. Try Geebo.com, where they screen all their ads before they are ever posted on their site.

To help educate people on these scams you can win a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1282
Real Estate post #101

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S.F. woman accused of bilking would-be tenants:

Gossamer over there is 29-year-old Rachael Marie Smith of San Francisco. She’s been accused of placing an ad on craigslist renting out a property and ripping off the respondents.

Police say that Smith would ask for a $5,600 deposit and then would tell would be renters that they couldn’t move in yet because her mom had cancer.

Police are trying to determine if other people were defrauded. Anyone who believes he or she may be a victim is asked to call Inspector John Monroe at (415) 553-1936.

People who use cancer as part of a scam should contract cancer in a just world.

Thanks to SFist for the tip.

Win a cancer free t-shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1269
Real Estate post #99

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Scam Alert: Cheap off-campus student housing:

Students enrolled at the University of Toledo, beware of craigslist ads promising cheap off campus housing. They are just the usual rental scam.

In this instance the scam artists said they were moving to Warsaw and asked perspective tenants to wire a deposit to Nigeria.

Remember kids overseas, cheap rent and wiring money are all three signs of a scam.

Knowledge is power.

Don’t forget your chance to win a free CCL t-shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1256
Real Estate post #96

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Scam offers apartments that aren’t available:

The rental scam is not exclusive to craigslist or the U.S. In Saint John, Newfoundland, Canada the rental scam has turned up there on Kijiji.

In this flavor of the scam the scammers say that the landlord is unavailable but they’ll send the keys once they receive the deposit. Of course there are no keys and they run off with your Loonies.

However this got me to thinking. Geebo.com, be patient you’ll see where this is going, to my knowledge has never been in the news in a negative light. And I’ve searched, I hold Geebo to a higher standard than the other sites since I’ve given it my seal of approval.

Anyway I asked my friend Geebo CEO Greg Collier how does Geebo prevent these real estate scam ads from popping up on Geebo since it would require more than a visual inspection. This was his reply…

Geebo receives virtually no fraudulent listings because we spot them coming a mile away. Scammers tried in the early days to get them up but we would immediately remove them so after repeated unsuccessful efforts to post that stuff to our site they finally gave up. Now that everything goes into a queue first before going live it is even more difficult for them to slide that stuff by.

Even our personals category sees very little scandalous activity for the same reason. We simply no what to look for.

Craigslist and others simply don’t care which is why you see so much of that stuff going on over there. We are committed to keeping our safe clean, even more committed to keeping our users safe.

Isn’t that refreshing to hear instead of the usual PR crap we get from other CEOs?

I’ve said it before community policing can’t be trusted on sites like Kijiji and craigslist. It just doesn’t work.

Kijiji crime #19
Real Estate post #95

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Local Buyer Beware: Craigslist Property Scams:

Residents of Amarillo, Texas are being warned to be careful of the craigslist rental scam being perpetrated in their area.

This time in the e-mails the scammer goes by the name of Kennet James and claims to be a TV reporter on assignment in, where else, Nigeria.

The article I linked to contains the entire broken English e-mail from ‘Kennet’ and the address of the property to avoid.

Craigslist post #1238
Real Estate post #94

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Craigslist rental ads part of scam:

The craigslist rental scam has once again reared its ugly Nigerian head, this time in Concord, NH complete with African Missionaries.

What separates this article though is that we have yet another new scammer name to add to the collection and that would be the name used of Judith Iversen.

Craigslist post #1237
Real Estate post #93

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Scams plague locals:

This article is basically about how the craigslist rental scam has turned up in North Platte, Nebraska complete with fake African missionaries.

However the article does bring to light something I had not heard before. According to the article the scammers may even try to pose as former owners of the property using the former owner’s real name.

While clever you still have to look out for the other red flags of the sob story and the request to wire money.

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