This week I listed 2038 Florida Avenue for sale. 

Yesterday I got a call from someone asking if it was for sale or rent.
At first it sounded normal- Frequently people call asking if a seller
would consider renting their property
Then they told me the owner was asking them to transfer a rental
deposit into their account….

They directed me to a Craigslist post advertising it for rent.
I checked with the seller and confirmed it is not them

The link to the Craigs list post is
http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/apa/2364087659.html
That the right house and address…just fake info.

The scammer grabbed the address and photos off the internet-
potentially my website.
I’m guessing they looked up the owners name on the property appraisers
website and got a Yahoo email address that  looks like his name.
The owners name is Mike Houghton… thus the Michaelhoughton@yahoo.com
email – not really the owners email address.
Now the scammer  is trying to get people to transfer deposit money
into his bank account. I wonder how often this occurs without the agent or owner ever knowing…

Just for fun I replied to the email asking about the rental and got a
very detailed friendly email back from the Scammer. I’ve reported it to Craigs list as a scam but its still up on their site.
And contacted the local police department- curious what they will do.

If your looking to rent in Tallahassee be sure to read this post

https://bevisrealty.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/rentals-in-tallahassee/

Barry Bevis, Broker/Realtor
C-850-491-3600
F-877-870-9066
www.BevisRealty.com