Ever searched for an apartment to rent or house to buy in New York City?
If so, then you’ve probably started on Craigslist, the 17th most visited website in the United States.
What started as an Email distribution list in 1995 by Craig Newmark has become a trusted Internet destination for 50 million visitors a month.
It owes its success to thousands of people logging in and posting classified ads for jobs, cars, housing, and anything else you can imagine (literally).
But in recent years it’s become a haven for Rental Scams, Bait and Switch Offers and False Advertising.
And Craig can’t seem to stop the abuses from happening (so consider yourself warned).
Problem no. 1 – Rental Scams
I have some experience with this, as a property listing I posted For Sale a few years ago was used in a rental scam.
The con artist lifted the photos from a classified ad my staff posted for a single family house in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
We started receiving phone calls at the office asking if the house was for rent or for sale. After advising that it was for sale, each caller began describing their experience with an individual about leasing the house.
They read a Craigslist “apartment for rent by owner” classified ad, posted by an individual from Nigeria who wanted to lease his house that offered a tenant 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, garage, spacious backyard and finished basement FOR $700 A MONTH.
Those interested had to complete a rental application, furnishing their full names, address, current employer, etc…and return it to him by email as soon as possible because there were others sending their applications in and it’s all being handled on a first come, first serve basis.
Now all the signs were there that this was a scam. Yet the easy prey for this scam are young women living in shelters with small children who are desperate to find an affordable apartment.
From what we could tell, all 3 women who phoned had each wired $350 by Western Union, the deposit required before he would FEDEX the keys.
Problem no. 2 – Bait and Switch Offers
Consumers have a long history with this sales strategy used by store front retailers of electronic equipment and jewelry.
But what if you replied to a real estate classified ad posted by a licensed broker, for a property listing that met all your criteria, only to discover that it’s either been leased, has an accepted offer or in contract?
Would your first thought be that you fell for a bait and switch offer?
Chances are you wouldn’t because the nice person on the other side of that phone call or email reply let you down easy and was kind enough to mention that there was something similar that’s just come to market.
Problem no. 3 – False Advertising
You click on a Craigslist real estate classified ad and read the following property listing
2 Family Brownstone in Bedford Stuyvesant with Original Details located on Decatur Street in the heart of historic Stuyvesant Heights and in walking distance to the A/C subway line at the Utica Avenue Express stop.
You view the photos and everything seems to match your criteria. You phone the broker, view the property, make an offer and pay an engineer to inspect the house.
You’ve now incurred out-of-pocket costs when your attorney phones to tell you that the Department of Buildings says it’s a LEGAL 1 FAMILY HOUSE. But how could that be? The broker’s ad said it was a 2 family.
What you may not have caught in the ad is that it never stated the building’s legal use. It was advertising the owner’s CURRENT use of the building.
In the end…
Craigslist does its best to warn visitors to exercise caution to avoid being a victim of any scam on their site but there’s only so much they can do.
(well, as far as real estate classified ads go, we think we may have a solution that we’ll be sharing with our friends at Craigslist)
Until better safeguards are implemented to prevent posters from perpetrating frauds and scams, Craigslist will be a dangerous place for the naive and inexperienced visitor.
And unfortunately, that’s a lot of people.
