Oakland County, Michigan, September 22, 2009 -- Criminals are using Craig's List to scam potential renters in a "Nigerian" style scheme that asks them to send money overseas, warned Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson and the Berkley Police today.

"We have so many people who have lost their homes to foreclosure and are desperate to find a home to rent," said Johnson. "Some of these families, vulnerable and already in financial crisis, could really be hurt by this scam."

Berkley Public Safety Detective Sgt. Mike Crum said the Craig's List scam has been seen in other parts of the country. "It comes in waves - South Carolina, Chicago, California, the East Coast and now it seems to be hitting here in the Detroit area," Crum said. "When they get caught, they simply go to another city."

The scam works this way: Criminals pick a home, often those listed for sale so they are not occupied. The scammers, posing as the real homeowner, put an advertisement offering it for lease on Craig's List, a popular online classified service where members of the public post items for sale - everything from furniture to pets, housing opportunities and job listings. The fake ad shows a real photo of the home.

"Our office was notified by an Oakland County employee who was concerned because her daughter, trying to rent a home in Berkley, was told to send $1,400 to the homeowner who was supposedly a pastor working in Nigeria," Johnson said. "Since then, our Register of Deeds Office has received calls from two other potential renters trying to verify home ownership."

In the email to the daughter, the scammer posed as a missionary worker and "a true man of God and a man of his words …If you are really interested in renting my house, I want you to promise  me that it will be well kept and neat at all times." He then directed her to send $1,400 for a security deposit and first month's to him rent via Western Union.

In the Berkley case, Sgt. Crum said the home's genuine owners on Kipling had no idea that their house was even listed on Craig's List. A man who was renting their home legitimately told police he was surprised when potential renters started stopping by to look at the house.

 "People need to be very careful about what they see online," said Sgt. Crum. "The last thing people should do is send money overseas to someone they've never met."

Crum said he contacted Craig's List, which immediately pulled the Berkley ad off their website, but inevitably, other fake ads are liable to surface.  "I heard about one case in another community where nine different people thought they had rented a home. The criminals sent them keys - of course, none of them worked."

The 30-year-old Keego Harbor woman, a professional chef, who had inquired about the home in Berkley said she fell in love with the house, especially the kitchen. Her mom, an Oakland County employee, called the Oakland County Register of Deeds Office to verify the home's ownership because something didn't sound right.

"It was gorgeous and I was so excited," said daughter. "When I found out, I was more than angry. It's heartbreaking - why do people have to be so dishonest? Why can't they earn their money like the rest of us do?"

The scam was so pervasive in South Carolina, that the FBI issued a press release in July 2009.  The FBI advises anyone similar complaints to file an Internet Crime complaint on their website at www.ic3.gov. Craig's List advises users never to wire money using Western Union or any other wire service and that "anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer."

"Our best advice to people is to be wary and very careful at all times - whether they are being asked to send money out of the country or even out of the state," Johnson said. "If it looks to good to be true, it probably is."