Rental listing on Craigslist hijacked; 'owner' wants funds sent to Nigeria

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT) - The man who answered the telephone said his home in Hartford, Wis., was for rent immediately.

At $700 a month, the snappy-looking two-bedroom, two-bathroom house seems like a steal.

And in fact, it is.

"He took my properties. He took my name. He's a scam artist," said Scooter Laufer, who found out last week that someone electronically swiped his property by advertising it for half price on Craigslist, a free Web site.

Public Investigator called the alleged scam artist, who answered the phone in a thick accent and insisted that he was Scooter Laufer. He even had a Yahoo e-mail address to prove it: Scooter_Laufer(at)yahoo.com.

He said he and his wife had moved to west Africa to work in an AIDS orphanage with missionaries from their church. They wanted to rent out their home. The future tenants, he said, could wire money to west Africa.

When asked how we could be sure this home rental wasn't a scam, the man replied: "Make a choice and believe, with God, you will make the right choice."

Back in Wisconsin, the real Scooter Laufer posted ads to Craigslist a few weeks ago hoping to rent out his duplex in Hartford. Laufer, the owner of Picture Frame Homes in Slinger, Wis., asked for $1,695 for one side of the home and $1,495 for the other.

Last week, he started getting calls that his property was being advertised for much cheaper _ $700 to $800 _ in the sea of ads on Craigslist. Told of the actual amount, some angry potential renters claimed he was trying to scam them.

The scammer's ad used an identical description of Laufer's new duplex, posted the same photos and included the e-mail address of Scooter_Laufer(at)yahoo.com.

The real Laufer uses his company e-mail, not a Yahoo account, for business. But potential renters didn't know that.

Brian and Gabrielle Wolters were searching Craigslist to find a bigger home for themselves and their two young boys. They were excited when they saw a home advertised for just $700 a month. But they became a little skeptical after they drove by and realized how nice it was.

"It seemed kind of odd," Brian Wolters said. "I thought maybe they forgot a '1'" in front of the $700.

The Wolters e-mailed the man who claimed to be Laufer and received an e-mail back stating that they could live in his house. They just needed to wire $600 to Nigeria for a security deposit. The man who claimed to be Laufer said he would send keys to the house and a lease agreement by FedEx. They could even cancel the deal if they got inside the house and didn't like it.

Brian Wolters was suspicious but ended up getting the fake landlord to call him on the phone. Wolters asked for an address to send the money, and the man refused to give it.

Back in his office, the real Scooter Laufer was scrambling to stop the scammer.

He flagged the posting on Craigslist, which alerts the company that something fishy might be going on.

He also contacted Yahoo and asked about the e-mail address that was being used to impersonate him. Officials at Yahoo confirmed that the e-mail address was in use but couldn't give him any more details.

Yahoo officials told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they would not comment on specific cases but said the company can deactivate accounts if someone is impersonating someone else.

Laufer, however, said he has not heard back from the company. Yahoo said the issue would be handled "very quickly."

Craigslist warns people on its site to only deal locally with people they can meet in person and says to never wire money. The site says its flagging system also helps remove millions of postings each month, but company officials did not respond to a request for an interview.

In the meantime, Laufer also is posting a warning at the top of all his ads, alerting potential renters that the lower-priced rental is a scam.

The fake ads for Laufer's properties have since dropped off Craigslist, at least for now.

"Maybe he got his couple of down-payments and he's gone," Laufer said.

But another reader who was scouting out Laufer's properties and contacted the scammers received similarly worded e-mails while inquiring about another property in Shorewood.

When reached on Monday and Tuesday by the Journal Sentinel, the man who claimed to be Laufer was still fishing for renters.

The house is "very much available," he said, and requested $800.

But when asked why someone else in Wisconsin also claimed that they own the property, the fake Scooter Laufer asked a reporter to stop calling him on the phone.

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© 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.