Boise man nearly falls victim to rental scam on Craigslist

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — A Boise man has been on a search for a new home using Craigslist, until he was nearly scammed out of a place to live.

Colin Wolf placed an ad on craigslist, seeking a rental in Boise and waited for a response.

"The response from the individual was reasonable, within my price range, and the part of town that I wanted," Wolf said.

So, he started doing research on the listed property area.

"And just more trying to find more pictures of the unit available that he was providing me," Wolf said.

When he was told he can check out the property, he did. But, the man he was in contact with then said he had an emergency. And had to go out of town.

"Later on, a few days later from there, he asked me if I could send him the deposit money but he was in surgery with his daughter. So, he had the emotional appeal," Wolf said.

Colin was asked to send the money via MoneyGram to the man's brother, which Colin found to be a real person.

Buthe was still skeptical and called the listed property manager.

"I asked if this individual had owned the property or the scammers name that he provided me. They told me no. I told them that someone was trying to rent the property to me and they said that they were the only ones in charge of that property. Renting it and managing it."

According to the Better Business Bureau, avoiding the rental scam can be as easy as following these tips:

-Verify the seller: search name, phone and address.

-Meet the seller and see the property, in person.

-Never wire money to someone you don't know: It is untraceable if something were to go wrong.

-Don't fall for emotional pleas

-Don't be pressured to act immediately

In Colins case, he says there are many legitimate properties listed but now he’s even more cautious that he doesn’t fall victim to the next scammer.

“It’s super difficult to sort through all that. You spend a lot of time talking to someone trying to get a rental with a scammer and not a legitimate company,” Wolf said.

For more information on what you can do to better protect yourself from a rental scam, click here.

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