Craigslist Albuquerque is a valuable resource that allows people to list items that they have for sale or trade in an online classified site that reaches millions. In addition, homes for rent or sale, event tickets, job opportunities, and miscellaneous classifications are listed. The majority of people who buy, sell and trade on the site enjoy mutually beneficial experiences, but as with any type of commerce, scammers have also discovered that this is a place where they can find innocent and trusting people to victimize. There are becoming more and more scams on Craigslist throughout the nation. Here are five money scams that you need to watch out for on Craigslist Albuquerque.
1. Craigslist rental scams in the Albuquerque area
Rental scams in the area have become so bad that Hector Balderas, the Attorney General is warning New Mexicans about them. He refers to two incidents that happened. In the first case. a woman from Albuquerque saw an ad for a home that was listed as a rent to own property. She thought that she had secured the rental and had already put down $2,000 for a deposit. The keys she had given would not let her into the residence and she was locked out and unable to move in as promised. The scammer made off with her earnest money. In another similar case, a house was offered on Craigslist Albuquerque for rent and asked for earnest money to hold the property. It was discovered that the person who placed the ad was not the owner of the house and had no legal right to offer it for rent. These are just two of the multiple rental scams that have recently been discovered on the site.
2. Albuquerque teen victimized in scam car sale
Albuquerque teen Brendon Armstead saw an ad on Craigslist listing a 2011 Ford Taurus for sale. He responded to the ad and met with owner Jeffrey Murden to test drive the car, check out the mechanics and ensure that the registration, licensing and VIN number were in order. They were, so he signed a contract to buy the car on payments and gave the seller a down payment of $1,500. Murden asked the teen if he would drop him off at his wife's workplace and he agreed. when they arrived, he told Armstead he wanted him to meet his wife. When the teen got out of the car to accompany him, Murden jumped in and drove off with the car. To make matters worse, after he was told by law enforcement that this was a civil matter, he saw that Murden had listed the car for sale again on Craigslist to scam somebody else in the same way. It wasn't long before Armstead saw that somebody got video of the scam in action and this landed Murden in prison for his scam.
3. Another rental scam on Craigslist Albuquerque
The police are warning residents about yet another rental scam that is surfacing on Craigslist. Victims report that scammers are using the legitimate home for sale or rent ads and gleaning the pictures and information to place phony ads and use a fake contact name and number. Everything looks legitimate on the surface. They ask people to complete an application and rental agreement, then they come up with an excuse or reason why they can't meet them in person to show the property. They have them drive by the address, then if they are still interested, the victims are instructed to sent money via Western Union or some other type of electronic transfer. Some even ask for eBay gift cards. When the victims try to move into the homes they discover that in many cases someone is already living there, the keys they have don't work or they never get the keys in the first place and they've lost all the money that they put down to secure the home.
4. Real Estate scammer meets with victims and gives them keys
A man named Sean Sims poses as a real estate agent and Rio Rancho resident Faith Kerns responded to his Craigslist ad and followed through with the application process, signed a rental agreement and put down a deposit, rent and was given keys that gave her access to the home. In this elaborate scheme, everything was in order except that the man who claimed to work for Blue Door Realty was lying. They've never heard of him and nobody knows how he got ahold of the keys to the home. Sims gave him a total of $2,000 which she won't see again. She didn't find out that she'd been scammed until she tried to get the power switched into her name. She was told that the house had not had power since 2015 and that it was in foreclosure and could not have power turned on. The police were contacted by nobody knows who Sean Simms is.
5. Craigslist Albuquerque nanny scam
Law enforcement is warning the public about a recent scam that cost an Albuquerque woman $1,900. She responded to an ad to become a nanny for a man's son, who said that he was out of the country but wanted to set up childcare for his son upon their arrival. The fake employer would pay her in advance, but to
get paid, she was required to cash a MoneyGram that remitted her first wage payment, take the agreed upon amount out of the check and forward the remaining funds to a different address that was located in San Antonio. She cashed the money gram at her bank and did as she was instructed, but soon, the bank bounced the check because it was fraudulent. The woman was responsible for paying back every cent of the $1,900 with no recourse because the scammer disappeared after the transaction was completed.
