Craigslist Real Estate Scams

I was reading 360Digest's post about real estate scams on Craigslist and I was slightly shocked out how creative criminals are becoming. This criminal took an MLS listed home and created a "For Rent" ad on Craigslist. He would reply readily with any prospective tenant and was very informative. When the tenant decided that they wanted to rent the place, he instructed them to send him a deposit via check.

Reading about this new case of fraud reminded me about all of the fraud on Ebay and how little by little Ebay began to see a decreasing number of auctions and traffic. Many people were fearful of Ebay altogether. Craigslist could see a similar trend as fraud becomes more apparent.

Which leads me to my next thought, I believe that our apartment search can be a place for prospective tenants to shop fraud free. My logic behind this is quite simple. In order to list a unit for rent you have to be a subscriber to our property management application, in which all but one account will require a credit card to pay for the subscription.

We will also require a verified checking account before a property manager can list a unit for two reasons. The first is because we will require an application fee for prospective tenants so that we can ensure quality leads for our property managers. The second is because we will be accepting online payments for security deposits and rent.

With these two levels of security, I am quite confident that we can offer a fraud free environment for people to find a place to rent.