Five Money Scams to Watch Out for on Craigslist Williamsport

Craigslist is a popular online advertisement resource for people who live in the Williamsport area. They use the site to list things that they want to sell. Both sellers and buyers benefit from the classifieds which make it easy to find what you’re looking for. You can find trucks, cars, farm equipment, appliances, electronics, furniture, homes for rent or for sale and much more. It used to be fairly safe for both buyers and sellers but an increase in scam activity has made it hard to tell if you’re dealing with an honest person or a con artist. Here are five money scams that you need to keep an eye out for when using Craigslist Williamsport.

1. Rash of rental scams on local Craigslist

The people of Williamsport who are looking for a good deal on rent need to be aware of this terrible rental scam that is robbing people of their hard earned cash. Con artists are taking advertisements of homes that are for sale from legitimate sites and using the photos and detailed information to create their own ad to post the houses for rent on Craigslist. They ask you to complete a rental application but when it comes time to see the property, they explain that they are out of town or out of the country. It’s usually a sob story that’s meant to tug at your emotions. They tell you to drive by the home to make your decision, and disregard any real estate signs you see. To secure the rental you’re required to wire them rent and deposit funds and they agree to Fed Ex the keys to the home as soon as the money is received. After you wire the funds, you can ‘t contact them because they don’t respond to your messages or calls. When to finally contact the realtor who’s name is on the sign, you learn that you’e been scammed.

2. Beware of the White Van Scam

Thieves have taken to Craigslist to sell electronics items that they have stolen from breaking into people’s homes and burglarizing them. The robbers store all of the electronic items such as televisions, computer equipment and more in a white van. They post the ad for the items on Craigslist and make arrangements to meet the buyer at a gas station or other public place. Be aware that the items you’re buying are stolen. Avoid dealing with sellers in a white van.

3. Another home rental scam in Williamsport Craigslist

This is a rental scam that involves postings of properties that are for sale on other sites. Scammers offer apartments and houses for rent that don’t belong to them. The state police are involved in this case and they are warning everyone who uses Craigslist, face book and other social media sites to beware of rentals offered on the sites for a low monthly rate, especially when the poster claims that they are bypassing the realtor indicated on the sign on the property, and when they want to conduct all business through messages and wire transfers. It’s a scam that is designed to deprive you of your hard earned cash.

4. Fake jobs on Craigslist are a money laundering scheme

There was recently a highly sophisticated scam developed to scam the IRS out of large sums of cash. It involved hacking into personal US bank accounts from Nigeria. One component of this scam was to post Craigslist ads and have the people who responded recycle the money for them but the innocent victims who completed the assigned tasks of money transferring had no idea that they were serving as accomplices in a crime that could cost them thousands of dollars in fines and their freedom.

5. Beware of transport scammers on Craigslist Williamsport

If you’re looking on Craigslist to find an auto transport service you need to be doubly careful. There are several fake companies that assume the credentials of legitimate companies to scam people out of money. The scammers use these fake shipper sites to post ads for vehicles that they don’t really own. They tell you to send money to the company to have a vehicle that you purchased shipped. The car or truck never arrives and you never hear from the scammers again once you’ve sent them the money.