{"id":955,"date":"2020-03-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/?p=955"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:42:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T16:42:45","slug":"friendly-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/friendly-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendly Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week, during National Consumer Protection week, our\nstaff members are opening up and sharing stories of when they were scammed.\nBecause no one is invincible to being #scammed. Let\u2019s keep the dialogue moving,\nshare this post and your own scam stories and lessons learned.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the internet is an incredible tool, it\u2019s also a scammers\u2019 playground.  I encountered a Craigslist scam while searching for a new apartment, and the experience has stuck with me. I hope that others can learn from my encounter with a scammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, I found myself scouring the internet almost\ndaily as I searched for apartment leads in the Burlington area. One day, I came\nupon an amazing find on Craigslist, and I knew I had to act fast. It was a\nbeautiful two-bedroom apartment near the lake with a brand-new kitchen and a\nbackyard. It looked amazing and the price was irresistible! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the Craigslist \u201cemail\u201d option, I contacted the person\nwho had put up the post. I provided them with my phone number and expressed\nthat I was very interested. Shortly thereafter, I received a text message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for your interest in the apartment. I am in\nFlorida on business so I can\u2019t show you the place right now, but if you to send\nme the deposit in the mail the place is yours. Get back to me as soon as\npossible.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Something didn\u2019t seem right. Feeling uncomfortable and\nconfused, I showed the text message to my friends. \u201cThat\u2019s a scam!<\/em>\u201d they\nsaid. My friends encouraged me to look on Zillow.com to see if photos from the\nCraigslist ad had been stolen from someone else\u2019s listing\u2014and they had!<\/em>\nThe person who posted on Craigslist had copied all the photos from a legitimate\nZillow.com listing and was attempting to get money from desperate\napartment-seekers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point in the story, I felt embarrassed and angry.\nWhy would someone do this? How could I have fallen for it? And how are they\ngetting away with something so wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, I was lucky. I didn\u2019t send the deposit and I\nflagged the ad for Craigslist. My friends were there for me and provided much\nneeded advice. Sometimes a second-opinion is all you need to spot a scam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are my scam lessons learned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Be careful when searching online listings \u2013 if\nit looks too good to be true, it probably is!<\/li>
  2. Always see an apartment in-person before\ncommitting to a lease.<\/li>
  3. Do not provide a deposit until you have signed a\nlease.<\/li>
  4. Get a second opinion: if you come across\nsomething that doesn\u2019t feel right, ask a trusted friend or family member for\nadvice.<\/li>
  5. Never pay for online purchases using cash, money\norder, bank check, personal check, wire transfer, gift cards (outside the\nmerchant\u2019s website), peer-to-peer payment, bitcoin, and any other option that\nis not a credit card or known transmitter.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Have you ever been scammed? Tell us about it. Share this post and your own scam stories and lessons learned. The best form of prevention is awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contributing Writer: Madison Braz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Content Editor: Crystal Baldwin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This week, during National Consumer Protection week, our staff members are opening up and sharing stories of when they were scammed. Because no one is invincible to being #scammed. Let\u2019s keep the dialogue moving, share this post and your own scam stories and lessons learned. While the internet is an incredible tool, it\u2019s also a… Continue reading Friendly Advice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[505556],"tags":[626561,627320,481474,627129,483996,626997,627494,482450],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-consumer-protection-week","tag-scammed","tag-apartments","tag-consumer","tag-craigslist","tag-internet","tag-online-listings","tag-rentals","tag-scams","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1226,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}