Aug. 08–FORT DRUM — In 27 years in the Army, Lynn H. Armwood has seen several soldiers become victims of housing scams. She figured she’d never fall for one.
But the housing shortage in Watertown is prompting soldiers to take more risks when they see a house for rent online. An elaborate scheme of fake rentals on the Watertown Craigslist website has cost Ms. Armwood $3,300.
The civilian community also is being affected. Houses being listed for sale on reputable websites are being copied onto Craigslist — with unsuspecting homeowners suddenly finding people at their door telling them they have “rented” their house.
Lance M. Evans, executive director of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors, has seen housing scams on Craigslist consistently for the past year and a half.
“There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason,” he said. “It just seems to continue to happen.”
Soldiers are at a higher risk of becoming victims because they sometimes have short time frames and a long distance from which to make arrangements, he said.
“The higher the transient population, the more likely it is that it will hurt,” Mr. Evans said.
As part of normal duty-station cycles, soldiers from across the nation and now deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq are making their way to the north country. The intense scramble to find housing led to Ms. Armwood being scammed.
The first sergeant is in the process of retiring and coming to town this month with her boyfriend — who preferred not to be named — from Fort Hood, Texas.
“They know we have to come there and we have to find housing,” Ms. Armwood said. “I’ve never seen anything this bad.”
The problem has come to the attention to the state attorney general’s office.
“We are aware of the issue, but we can’t comment on any potential investigations,” an office spokesman said.
Craigslist is a popular online classified ad service that allows people to post ads almost immediately for free in most U.S. locations, including Watertown.
The site is regulated not by paid moderators, but by the public. Users are expected to “flag” content they believe to be inappropriate, illegal or false.
The site carries ads for many services, including an “adult” services section. South Carolina’s attorney general is investigating Craigslist for aiding prostitution. On Friday, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit filed by Craigslist against the state’s attorney general.
News stories of housing scams on Craigslist and other sites are easy to find nationwide. Users commonly warn others of scams within the housing sections.
Ms. Armwood browsed Craigslist posts in late July and responded to a promising housing ad.
She checked Google’s satellite and street views of the address and contacted the people who posted the ad.
The potential landlord gave her a name, which matched what the register of deeds had on file.
“We really thought we’ve taken all the steps with verifying the name,” she said.
She spoke to her potential landlord twice on the phone and corresponded through e-mail. The person even spoke to Ms. Armwood about the storms Watertown was experiencing that week.
It all seemed to check out, she said.
She sent her three cashier’s checks for $1,100 each — first and last month’s rent plus a deposit.
Then she started calling about connecting the utilities. They were already turned on for another family.
Ms. Armwood called the “landlord” and the phone was disconnected. She sent an e-mail, and immediately received a default error response saying the e-mail address didn’t exist.
She then knew the situation she was in.
“That money’s gone,” she said.
She doubts she will ever see it again, but she filed a report with the Watertown Police Department. She said she also is relieved she realized the offer was fake before moving her belongings.
“We would have gotten up there thinking there was a house we were going to,” she said.
Local homeowners trying to sell their houses online have unknowingly become part of the scam.
Watertown resident Shari L. Scott has had her house listed on Craigslist for sale since June and, in the manner consistent to what Mr. Evans has seen, her house was posted by an unknown person as a rental.
About four people have come to her Sunset Ridge home asking about the ad. One would-be renter forwarded Ms. Scott an e-mail with her name in the signature block.
“My name and address is out there associated with this scam,” Ms. Scott said.
The message claimed she was working in Africa for the U.S. Agency for International Development and urged a reply so the sender could supply an application.
In the last week, two military families drove up to ask about the house.
“I felt so sorry for them,” she said. They were both “young families looking for a place to live.”
The families avoided that particular scam because they had the luxury of being able to see the house in person.
A safety page — visible above Craigslist’s housing listings — warns against sending money. The page claims that if potential renters can “deal locally with folks you can meet in person,” they will avoid 99 percent of scams attempted on Craigslist.
Ms. Scott flagged the ad as “prohibited” and e-mailed the company.
She hasn’t seen the ad since.
San Francisco-based Craigslist did not return repeated requests for comment left Thursday and Friday.
Mr. Evans said that many reliable companies post online and potential renters should confirm their existence with the local board of Realtors or the chamber of commerce. He also advised to look at newspaper websites, which he said are more reliable.
By Daniel Woolfolk, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
www.watertowndailytimes.com.
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