Sioux Falls Man is Victim of Scam
It was a bogus online ad about a house for rent, and now a Sioux Falls man is out close to $900.
Information Officer Sam Clemens says the 40-year-old man told police he had seen an ad on Craigslist about a house for rent in the 1000 block of North Conklin Avenue.
The man sent an application along with the first month's rent and a damage deposit, and he was told the keys to the house would be mailed to him.
You guessed it--the crook posing as a landlord never sent the keys.
Clemens says this type of scam is not unusual. He says a crook will pull some pictures from a legitimate ad and plug their own contact information into a phony ad.
He says it should be a "red flag" if the would-be renter is required to pay money before being able to even see the property.
So the Sioux Falls man is out nearly $900, and some crook somewhere is spending stolen money.