APARTMENT FOR RENT AT AN UNBELIEVABLE LOW RATE

Someone listed my apartment on-line, using my name and actual apartment address. The rental offer was "too good to be true" - very cheap. The perpetrator then waits for people to respond, tells them he is out of state and will have to mail the keys to them. Once the victim responds - ok, send me the keys, the perpetrator says he is having "second thoughts" and needs to be sure the victim is trustworthy and has the money to rent the place. To "verify" the victim's ability to pay/trustworthiness, the perpetrator asks that the victim send money to a "trusted friend/relative", in the full cash amount of the first month rent & deposit. All the victim has to do, is to e-mail a copy of the receipt to the perpetrator to "prove" they are trustworthy and have the money. The victim, who is still enticed by the ridiculously low rent for the area, sends the money to their trusted friend/relative, and pays the large amount in cash. The perpetrator then can actually use the receipt the victim sends them, along with likely a fake ID, to pick up the cash anywhere in the world. This fraud is made worse because the unsuspecting real apartment owner may be blamed for the scam and be sued, or perhaps physically harmed by a disgruntled victim. Please post this - it is a recurring and increasingly frequent scam in the San Francisco Bay Area and people should be made aware of it.

Steve, CA