Anchorage Daily News

Overseas Internet scammers are including Anchorage residents among their targets in the latest scheme to hit online sites featuring classified ads, according to Anchorage police.

The scam, which involves residential rental ads being listed by someone other than the property owner, has been making its way around the country for some time, but has just recently been reported here with at least three homes being fraudulently listed on Craigslist, said Detective Sgt. Ron Tidler, supervisor of the Anchorage police computer crimes unit.

"I haven't come across anybody that has actually been duped by it, but sometimes people can be too embarrassed to report it," he said.

Here's how it works:

A house for rent is listed on Craigslist or a similar classified advertising site for a low price, with the "owner" claiming to be out of the country -- away on missionary work in Nigeria is one scenario.

Victims might get a look at a photograph of the outside of the property. The ads asks that a security deposit and rent be sent to a third party, usually through a money wiring service like Western Union.

The victims, thinking they've successfully arranged to rent the house, show up to move in and find out the person they paid is not in fact the owner. Often, the property is a foreclosed-on home that is owned by a bank.

The scammers, in most cases, really are out of the country -- and out of U.S. jurisdiction -- leaving victims with little recourse other than filing a report alerting officials to the crime, which can be done at the Internet Crime Complaint Center, www.ic3.gov.

The best thing to do, according to police, is be cautious before any online transaction: Deal only with local people you can meet face to face, don't deal with cashier's checks, and never wire money for an online transaction.

"Any time you use the Internet to buy something you're subject to being scammed," said FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzalez. "We preach due diligence. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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