If you combine a bad economy, a large glut of abandoned homes and a high number of people in need of housing and you've got a recipe for a rich ground for con artists that pose as landlords and targeting renters.
The article on MSNBC outlines this new scam being perpetrated on renters. It outlines what to watch out for and how to protect yourself. Even if you're an owner of an empty property, you still need to protect yourself and your property.
But in the end, the renter is left with nothing or ends up squatting on someone else's vacant property while paying "rent" to a fraudster, all unbeknownst to the property's real owner. There have been a couple of documented cases; in Las Vegas, a woman arrested for just such a scam had provided a contract and written rental receipts to a mother of two. Tenants in such cases did not intend to occupy a house illegally and aren't going to be charged with a crime, police say. But the renters are going to have to move on short notice and are unlikely to see their security deposits again.
In Miami recently, a con artist went so far as to create a fake warranty deed and introduce himself to neighbors as the new owner. "He showed me the house. He had a key. He knew the floor plans of the house, everything about the house. It was convincing," the alleged victim, a teacher who handed over a $3,000 deposit.
You can read the whole article "Renters: Beware of new twists on an old scam" here.
There is no end sometimes to the work people will put into a scam - if only they would put that effort into a real job ...