While Craigslist is great for lots of things, it has its dark side and is fertile ground for those looking to fleece the unwary.

We’ve just been targeted ourselves, as we received several calls yesterday and today about one of the homes (300 Brittany Park) we currently have listed for sale as being for rent at a great price. Problem is, this home isn’t for rent, and neither us nor the seller was aware of it being advertised for rent. But there was an ad on Craigslist, complete with our photos and description, offering this home for rent along with an email to request more information.

So the next time we got a call, we asked the caller for more details. She said she had emailed the poster, and he had replied with an email saying that he was in West Africa on a mission trip and needed to rent the home out. He also included a “Rental Questionnaire” that asked several personal questions, obviously a phishing scam. A quick Google search found that other instances of a legitimate home for sale being hijacked with a “For Rent” listing on Craigslist. The bogus homeowner ends ups asking the potential renter to send him the first and last months rent via  Western Union, and he will email the keys to them. Of course, that’ll never happen.

Here’s a link to the fake Craigslist ad and our real Craigslist ad. I assume they got the pictures and description from our website and just made their own post.

You just can’t be too careful these days!

UPDATE:
It looks like this happened to a couple in Simpsonville recently. WYFF-4′ s Mandy Gaither did a nice story about it.

UPDATE 2:
After we contacted WYFF4 with this latest scam, Mandy Gaiter came out and did an interview with Elizabeth!