Craigslist Scamming Students

Ashleigh Hussein recently arrived to Hawaii to commence her final year at UH. Waiting at the airport for her luggage to be received caused a cocktail of emotions, the nerves were firing at the thought of a new university, the excitement of meeting new friends, but more so, moving into her new two bedroom apartment she got for a steal of craigslist.
Ashleigh reflected on her journey down Ala Wai Avenue, “I knew I could feel at home here, the channel views and so close to the ocean, it would have been perfect.” The feeling was short lived when Hussein knocked on the door to her new apartment and found her two ‘bedroom apartment’ was actually an occupied studio apartment. The humiliation and confusion led her to phone the Australian Federal Police.
“I supplied all the relevant documentation, as well as receiving lease agreements, landlord passport and current residence details.” Hussein added “although I never met the landlord in person, which was my trustworthiness and naivety I guess.” It appeared that all the documentation and proceedings were in order, except the one fatal mistake of not meeting the person in reality. “The police said that there was very little you can do to detect it prior except knowing the person and meeting them.”
Angeles Sol Miranda, a student advisor at the Universidad De Buenos Aires, constantly cautions students who travel to overseas destinations and use the site in order to reserve accommodation. Overseas student’s search the from their home country and this is inherently unreliable as they have no way of knowing which real estates are legitimate and which are not. Miranda warns about online scams in particular as “you do not know who you are dealing with.” Miranda said that the most common scam are actually legitimate realtors trying to “... lease properties that are not legitimately for rent.”
The scammers use online classified Web sites such as craigslist.com, and they post false photographs and information. UH student, Hussein, tried to avoid the scam by confirming the building existed and there were vacant apartments, unfortunately not the apartment that Hussein was applying for.
Complicating this is the fact that it is also nearly impossible to track the money, as transfers are done through Western Union and other non traceable wire services. Unfortunately some banks trace money exchange although most internet transfers are too difficult to follow trade.
Popular online rental site craigslist.com ahs dealt with many users complaining of being involved in scams by people who claim to be overseas real estate agents. As a result the site provides warnings on every internet page on the site on ways to avoid fraudulent transactions. The No. 1 warning stressed throughout the site is “deal locally with folks you can meet in person.” Follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99 percent of the scam attempts on craigslist.
Suzanne Smith of Suzanne Smith and Associates says that it is easy to get caught up in scams but it is just as easy to avoid them. “If you are using online services, then do not wire money to anybody.” said Smith. She follows her own advice; “I never lease an apartment to anybody unless I meet them face-to-face. It is that simple.”
Hussein who eventually found a place through a real estate agent after weeks of open house inspections has good advice to students who might be tempted to pout a deposit down on an apartment via online services, “If it is too good to be true, it is too good to be true.”