MBG-2020-11-0504
On November 23rd, 2020, at approximately 12:46 pm, a victim contacted the police department after being scammed out of $50. The victim, residing in the 300 block of West Keller Street, advised they located an ad on Craigslist for an apartment. The victim responded to the ad by email. They were asked to send $50 through Venmo to “hold” the apartment. An application was sent to the victim for the rental of the apartment. The victim filled out the application and emailed it back. The victim was contacted and asked to send an additional $750 prior to the victim “seeing” the apartment. The victim did not send the money requested and reported the incident to the police department. It was determined to be a scam. Individuals should check the validity of rental ads located on sites such as Craigslist. If the only communication with persons “renting” or “selling” houses can only be completed through email or text messages, you should consider it is most likely some type of scam. Posting ads for rentals and house sales is a common scam where the person posting the ad is not the actual owner of the apartment or residence unfortunately.