How Social Media Stopped a Craigslist Scam“WANTED: COOL ROOMMATE TO SHARE AWESOME APARTMENT!” It’s your worst nightmare: you give up all your worldly possessions and move cross-country to start a brand new life in South Beach, only to discover that the prospective roommate you met on craigslist is a scammer who ran off with all your money before you could even move in. You’re out your deposit, don’t have a place to live, and you’re many miles from home. This happened recently to a friend of one of our forum members, FL_Style. Most of us could identify with the story he told. Many of us left our old lives behind to pursue that fantasy by the sea, and somewhere in the process discovered that con artists in South Florida are about as plentiful as the little green lizards scurrying across the sidewalks. Most of us are hip to the less imaginative con games: the Nigerian scams invariably require you to send your payments to someone who’s off doing “missionary work” somewhere in the Congo. Or they send you a check from overseas that you’re supposed to deposit into your account and send the difference to their “accountant” in Tasmania. We think that once we’ve met with someone in person, gone over the fine print, and been provided with a signed receipt that we’re home free. Think again. MEET MONICA BROWN Monica has a clever little technique. She’ll allegedly move in with someone who spends a lot of time away from the apartment and then place a roommate-wanted ad on craigslist. Then, we’re told, she’ll show the unit to several people while the roommate is away, explaining that she is about to move out and wants to rent out her room. She presumably asks each applicant for a hefty deposit to hold it, but just before move-in day, disappears with all the money and moves in with someone else, so she can start the process over again. The victims don’t usually have a clue until they all show up one morning with their suitcases in hand. The only problem with her ingenious little scheme is that she has a rap sheet and didn’t think to use a different name… IT’S MIAMI BEACH 411 TO THE RESCUE  When FL-Style first contacted the forums, he figured his friend’s money was gone and that Monica was untraceable. He simply wanted to warn others so the same type of scam didn’t happen to them. He also filed a police report and posted a warning in the roommate section of craigslist. Monica was kind enough to answer his craigslist warning ad. She had a sob story about how she couldn’t call him because her cell phone and the deposit money were stolen. She claimed she no longer had that apartment. When she found out that they filed a police report on her, she agreed to meet with them to return the money, but never gave them the final instructions as to where they would meet. So, despite their best efforts, FL_Style and his friend were at a stalemate. However, the situation would shift unexpectedly in their favor: our own Maria de los Angeles was able to locate a mug shot and prior arrest record for a Monica Brown on the Miami page of a website called whosarrested.com. Since that website has a disclaimer about accuracy, Maria looked up the information in the Clerk of County Courts website to verify it. FL_Style confirmed that the person in the mugshot was indeed the Monica they had dealt with. He provided the information he got from Maria to the prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor added the new information to his case. Using her email addresses and cell numbers, we were able to find other rental ads she’d placed. Some of the buildings were practically across the street from one another. This led Maria to hypothesize that Monica may have been working with other people in this scam—possibly even building owners. She has to have a way to access these different units, after all. Then, on March 9, a Younshique in San Francisco posted in the scammer thread to let us know that someone named Monica using the same email address had answered her roommate ad. Monica wrote Youshinique that she was planning to move to San Francisco and needed a place to stay while she was looking for a place. Younshique Googled her email address and found the thread about Monica on Miami Beach 411. Will FL_Style’s friend ever see his money again? Will Monica Brown be caught before she flees to California? You’ll need to stay tuned to the BEWARE: Craigslist Scammer Monica Brown in South Beach thread in our forums for the answers to these intriguing questions. But one thing is for sure: social media is an excellent way to stop scammers in their tracks! YOUR BEST TOOLS AT SCAM DETECTION Even though this may be the end for Monica Brown, there are many more out there just like her, and they’re always thinking of newer and craftier ways to separate you from your hard-earned cash. Here are a few ways to avoid them:
Don’t try to take the law into your own hands if you feel that you’ve been scammed. Often, these people work in groups and could possibly be armed. Your best bet is to file a police report and to share your story on a public forum such as miamibeach411.com. Facebook will only alert your friends, but a public forum like ours will get the word out to people all over the world.
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rk says:
Nice summary Doug. I like your list of tools at the end about how to protect yourself from a scam. You mention checking if they claim to be the owner. I would go a step further and say that one should never rent from anyone but the owner (or their authorized agents). Tenants are not allowed to sublet apartments on their own without the owner’s specific approval. Anyone renting from a non-owner “roommate” is asking for trouble one way or the other.
Posted on 03/11/2011 at 3:21 PM