Barrington Home Part of Rental Scam
Hazelton Road home listed on Craigslist as rental property in Barrington; homeowners find out from would-be renters.
The owners of a Hazelton Road home got some unexpected visitors late Sunday afternoon, June 24 – a couple looking to rent their house.
The Barrington homeowners, however, are not renting their house. They were surprised when the visitors told them it was listed on Craigslist as a rental property.
The visiting couple spotted the Hazelton property on a Craigslist posting, they said, which was reportedly tied to an address in Nigeria, according to Barrington police.
The would-be renters said they were told to send a $900 deposit to the Nigerian address if they were interested in renting it, police said. It is unclear if the couple sent the money and were scammed by the ad.
The Hazelton homeowners contacted the police to report the scam at 3:48 pm. By that time, the ad for the home could not be found on craigslist, said Police Chief John LaCross.
Kristine
8:55 am on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
I found a suspicous rental listing for a home in Barrington on CL as well, not Hazelton Rd, but still...the same type of email and price.
BBB of Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island & Vermont
7:44 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Better Business Bureau often reports on this type of scam. Usually, If it's too good to be true, then it probably is. http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-03/business/31956148_1_scams-warning-signs-bbb
Jack Baillargeron
1:53 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Anything from Nigeria, or any foriegn country for that matter should be ignored on its ace in things like this. A true rental from an out of state or even another country, would be using local realters or a nationally reconized realter.
It is really amazing however, how many people in this day and age fall for these scams or any scams The old axium of "if it sounds too good to be be true, it probably is" comes to mind and is good advice in my opinion.