Common scam leaves Overland Park mom without a place to live

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Dawn Perry packs up her family's belongings as they get ready to move out of their Overland Park home. But Perry has a problem. She has no place to go.

"We've lived in this home for three years. For us, to have to abruptly move, it's really hard to deal with," Perry said.

Their landlord will soon sell their rental. Perry found an Overland Park home for rent on Craigslist that caught her attention, four bedrooms and two baths for just $900. She wasted no time contacting the listing.

She received pictures of the interior and an explanation from the poster saying he needed to move his family to London.

Perry did a background check. Everything seemed to check out. She even talked to the man on the phone.

"He assured me that it was not a scam,” she said.

Perry knows a realtor who checked further and found the real owner of the home. She soon learned the house of her dreams was not for rent.

This type of Craigslist scam is not new. The scammers often lift information on houses that are for rent or for sale then try to rent them themselves.

"It was devastating because we had wasted two and a half weeks of looking for a place, waiting to get into a place that had already been rented,” Perry said.

Perry did not send the scammer money, but she lost a lot of time. Now her family is rushing to find a new place to stay.

Call for Action alerted Craigslist to the bogus listing. It was quickly removed.

Here are some ways to avoid the Craigslist rental home scam:

1) Ask for more details and talk directly to the owner
2) If you get a call or email from owner saying they had to leave the country for a while, chances are it is a scam
3) Try to only deal with people who are local
4) Remember the old saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”