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Scammers Impersonate Abilene Realtors On Craigslist

By: Brendaliss Gonzalez
Updated: June 29, 2012
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There's a home on the market in Abilene for two different prices, and one is too good to be true.

"I just hate that people are being scammed, people that are honest, hard working serious folks who are just looking for a place to live," said Kay Spiva a realtor for Stovall Realtors in Abilene.
 
Spiva is the realtor representing the home's buyer and realized someone used her name and information to try to rent out the house on Craigslist.

"We had a young couple that showed up in our office who had gone out, driven by the properties, seen our sign, looked us up and  come to our office all very excited," she said. 

The home which actually sells for $200,000 appeared to be available for rent for just $900 a month.

One of the biggest advantages scammers have is that they're using information from homes that really are for sale. 

They're just changing the contact information and placing a price that's more affordable to make you believe they're the real deal. 

More and more realtors around the key city have had their listings used for scams on Craigslist.

"It's terrible,you know i'ts thievery, it's impersonation," said  Paula Jones, a realtor for Remax in Abilene.

As much as realtors like continuously report the scam to Craigslist representatives, there's not much they can do to prevent it from happening again.

"We can't ever chase anybody down, its all out in cyber space somewhere," said Spiva.
  
Spiva says a home like this one will never be listed for less than $1,000 a month, no matter how good the market gets.

Which is why realtors continue to warn home shoppers to remember:

"If it sounds too good to be true, it is, it's not true," said Jones. 

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