Ashley Masters, a 20
year-old from Kelso, almost experienced homelessness and the loss of her money,
when she fell victim to a scam artist who attempted to rent her a home that was
not his through Craigslist.
Masters was searching
for a place to share with her mother and stepfather. She found a listing on Craigslist near Dallas that seemed perfect. When she contacted the man, he told her that
the property had originally been listed through Catlin Properties but that he
had decided to rent it himself.
Masters reported that
she visited the website of Catlin Properties and saw the house still listed.
However, she thought that the company had not gotten around to removing it from
their site. She says she went a step further and called the company but that
she didn’t get a response and no call back.
After she personally visited
the house, which was allegedly unlocked, Masters contacted the man and was
instructed to send the first month’s rent and a security deposit through
Western Union.
He further instructed
her to move in once the deposit was done and claimed he would send the keys through
FedEx. She claims to have received all the required documentation including a
rental agreement from him through email.
On the day she was to
move, Masters wire a total of $1300 to cover the security deposit and first
month’s rent.
Everything was
proceeding as planned until Ray Pyle, The owner of Catlin Properties came
knocking on the door while they were moving in.
Pyle was, quite
fortunately checking out some other rental properties he had on Nebraska Street
when he happened to notice a car parked in the driveway. He stopped to investigate
and found the vehicle full of furniture.
Pyle observes that
this was the furthest he had ever seen a Craigslist scam progress even though
there were usually about two or three per month.
Fortunately, Masters
was able to retrieve her money from Western Union because the man had not yet
collected it. They were also able to go back to the house they had just
vacated.
