Fraud is Dogging Not Only House Owners But Also Renters
Photo by Posterize
In the Bay Area foreclosure is dogging not only house owners but also renters. A new group of scammers is peddling houses for rent even though they are not the owners and most probably has not even seen the property. Recently a condo with one bedroom located in close to downtown Walnut Creek having all the facilities was up for rent for $850 per month; even pets were allowed.
Generally the houses offered are vacant and or up for sale. The rent rate is cheap but the amount has to be deposited by the potential tenant to avail of the keys. Unemployment has increased the number of scams as foreclosures have peppered the neigbourhoods. People are desperate to have some sort of affordable roof above their heads.
Sherry Davis, legal secretary said she comes across regularly these types of scams on Craig list and other advertisement sites on the Internet. She has been looking for rented accommodation after having lost her condo in Walnut Creek to foreclosure. Her finances became strained after she lost her job and also had to be hospitalized.
Davis warned that the scam is rampant. One should be wary if the advertisers fail to take the customer inside the premises.
The office of district attorney of Santa Clara County has received many complaints. Some say they have deposited the money, shifted inside the house and paid the rent only to find out later that they have been stooges in a scam.
Paul Colin, deputy district attorney said, “With so many foreclosures on the market, we have had complaints of people lying and saying they have the right to rent the property, and they don’t; we’ve heard of situations where people have moved in”.
It is difficult to prosecute the offenders. The person who reports the crime cannot say anything about who cheated them. How can the culprit then by pursued? Steve Mun of San Jose representing Keller Williams Realty said he has seen that some houses that are on his list for sale are being offered as rentals on the Internet.
Mun said they make use of his listing to advertise houses as rentals. The potential tenants are told to wire funds to an account that is overseas. He referred to one of his houses ton Alisal Avenue in San Jose hat asked for a sale price of $760,000 but the scammers had listed it as a rental for $3,000 per month!
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