DJ Tracy Young is used to fans coming up to her in the clubs and out on the scene, but some started showing up at her house for reasons other than her talents on the turn tables or a Madonna autograph.
Young, who is moving to Los Angeles to test her skills, placed an ad on Craigslist to rent her posh Belle Meade home for $2,600 a month. But when people started showing up to the house demanding the keys for $900 a month, she knew something was up. And she was right.
Young became one of the many victims of a Craigslist scam in which con artists takes real "For Rent" ads and alter them to suit their criminal enterprise. Here's how it works. A legitimate ad gets copied and re-posted, often word for word. The fake homeowner or Realtor is on a religious mission in Nigeria. Seriously, who still falls for scams that originate in Nigeria these days, anyways?
Back to the scam. The phony realtor approves your bogus application and insists you wire him first month's rent and he'll overnight you the keys. The money goes. The keys never arrive.
"It was creepy because people actually came to the house," Young said.
So to recap, if you see a sweet rent deal on Craigslist that seems to good to be true, it probably is. No, you can't have DJ Tracy Young's home for the price of a one bedroom efficiency.
And if you have to send your rent to Nigeria, it's probably a scam.
