MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Marion County realtors said online housing scammers are using pictures of homes they've listed, claiming to sell or rent them out for a lower price than what's actually available.
An Ocala couple said they were victims of the scam last week.
June Kingsley rented out her Ocala home two years ago, but she said someone took the pictures of the home from the Fontana Realty website and advertised her house for about $900 a month on sites including Trulia, Craigslist and Zillow.
Kingsley was renting the home for $1,800 a month.
"Well, I was concerned that they would come in and sit there and I wouldn't be able to get the property back, and then my income would be diminished," Kingsley said.
Realtor Sue Hansen asked Trulia to remove the home from its website, but a couple of weeks later, it was added again.
"It creates a huge problem," Hansen said.
Hansen said the scheme happens more often than people realize.
"A lot of it is because people want to get the best bargain for their dollar, but the problem is the best bargain is not that person who is claiming they can get it for a very low price," Hansen said.
Hansen and other realtors said they spend a lot of time searching Google and other websites for the fake property listings.
She urges renters to do their homework and never blindly send money.
“With any legitimate listing, there is going to be an approval process, where the people give their name, their security clearance background check, and everything is done with back-up paperwork,” Hansen said.
Another realtor who deals with HUD homes said she has had to replace about 50 signs over the last three years, mostly from people removing the signs from the yard because scammers are trying to rent the property out illegally.
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