Robert Smith A & Sandra B

Victim Location 98502

Type of a scam Rental

I contacted a person (Robert Smith A & Sandra B) at [email protected] to inquire about a rental house that was available in Tacoma, WA. I found the listing on Craigslist. The poster responded and had me fill out a rental application and told me to ignore the realtor sign in front of the house because they decided not to go through the realtor anymore because the realtor kept raising the fees/rental price. The poster also said that him and his wife were currently in Texas on a Experience Mission trip for the next 6 months so they wouldn’t be able to show me the inside of the house. They said I’d have to directly wire them the deposit and they’d overnight ship me the keys via FedEx. They said that if I entered the house and didn’t like it then I could request a refund and they’d send me the money back and I’d ship the keys back to them.

After consulting with others at the ScamPulse.com I discovered that this was indeed a popular scam where people make fake listings for rental properties and pretend that they’re not using the realtor anymore to trick people into wiring money to them instead. The poster removed the listing the day after I tried to pull it up and get the listing number.