Craigslist rental scheme proliferate

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Craigslist can be a minefield full of fraud and con men, and the sites covering New Mexico are no exception.

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The most common fraud often comes in the form of phony home rental ads. KRQE News 13 recently  discovered one such ad that appeared bogus for a three-bedroom, 2,000 square-foot home in a gated community in northwest Albuquerque for $555 a month.

KRQE News 13 created three fake e-mail accounts of people supposedly interested in renting the home and sent messages off to the person who created the ad. A man responded to all three aliases and said the home was available.

However, he told KRQE News 13 he would be in Los Angeles for the next five or six years and had the keys with him. Consequently, the man said we couldn’t see inside. However, he encouraged would-be renters to drive by the home in Ventana Ranch and check it out.

So News 13 did.

That’s when we ran into David Parise and his family. The recent transplants from Boise, Idaho were moving into the home in question after renting the home legitimately through a Rio Rancho real estate agency.

“Scams are standard fare, but I would have never thought it would be the house we’re moving into here,” Parise said.

KRQE News 13 then contacted the man from Craigslist again via email and told him we were interested in the home. However, we expressed concerns about sending him money. The man assured us he would immediately send over the keys once he received the first month’s rent.

"They happen all the time unfortunately," said Jennifer Kellogg, owner of the Kellogg Agency, which rented the home to Parise and his family. "We get phone calls from people that have sent money."

Kellogg said people on Craigslist frequently hijack their listings to swindle unsuspecting renters.

"It's heartbreaking,” she said. “I mean it's just heartbreaking. The only thing we can tell people when they call in is, ‘Please flag the ad when you see them.’ ”

Rebecca Branch, deputy director of consumer protection at the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, said it is nearly impossible to catch the imposters, so the state is doing what it can to warn buyers of tell-tale signs.

Branch said the con men’s stories are always similar to the one the man from Craigslist told us. She also said the people behind the fake ads are often out of the country. All the state can do is refer the cases to federal authorities to investigate, she said.

"They are very good at what they do," Branch said. "They can be very aggressive, very relentless. They can harass you. They can be foul-mouthed and very mean, bullying even. They'll do whatever it takes to get you to fall for their scam."