Rental scam on Craigslist uncovered in St. George

ST. GEORGE — A woman in Montana who planned to rent a home in St. George recently uncovered a scam when she took a closer look at the property and the man behind the rental listing.

It turns out, the man acting as the landlord did not own the home and does not live anywhere near Utah.

Early this month, the home on South River Road was listed for rent on Craigslist. The woman emailed the owner for more details, and a person calling himself "James White" sent her a friendly response.

White asked for a security deposit of $1,000 and monthly rent of $1,000. He wrote, "It's a perfect home to stay and nice neighborhood." 

White wrote that his wife advised against selling it, and they "decided to rent it out to a good and God fearing family that will take our home as theirs." He said the two were out of town in New York on a job transfer.

The woman asked her mother to drive by the home to check it out, and that's when she discovered it was in a 55-and-older community with a "for sale" sign out front.

When the woman questioned White in an email, he was evasive and replied that he would have the real estate agent take care of the sign.

He also wrote, "We have decided to give you the preferential consideration amongst other interested persons," and added, "You can stay in the house as long as you want just make sure your rent is paid as at when due."

The woman also decided to call the real estate agent's number on the for sale sign. That's when she discovered James White does not own the house, Rich Potter of St. George does.

"I obviously was very curious," Potter said. "The scammer was trying to act as a landlord, trying to rent my home."

Potter is a real estate broker and was selling his own home. He said he has since closed on the sale of that house. "It was quite obvious that he was trying to scam this nice lady out of $2,000," he said.

The scammer cut and pasted the sales details from Potter's listing right onto Craigslist. Potter said, word for word, it matched his realty listing.

The potential renter and Potter got on a conference call to contact James White in New York, but Potter didn't say a word as he listened in to the scammer.

"He was explaining that he would give the 'preferential treatment,' and she would get the home," Potter said. "This was very concerning."

Potter contacted police in New York, who are looking into the scam. As a real estate agent, he offers this warning: "Know who you're renting from. Know who's on the title.  If it's too good to be true, and they're giving the property away, obviously there's a scam."

Craigslist advises that you deal with people you can meet in person. It says that helps avoid 99 percent of scams on its site.

E-mail: jboal@desnews.com