Have you been thinking about posting a property for rent on the popular classified site Craigslist? Or have you been looking for potential housing on the website?

According to local Realtors, you might want to reconsider renting through Craigslist with the number of scams they have encountered on the website.

Brown-Carrera Realty in Leesburg has been actively trying to combat the problem by reporting cases to Leesburg Police and the Federal Trade Commission.

According to Robin Frank, office manager for Brown-Carrera Realty, she has been trying to document and report each case reported to her.

“I have been trying to report and document this type of scam since August 13, 2008, when I began to see a pattern. We reported it to Leesburg Police and then the FTC,” Frank said. “It is a scam and we report them as soon as they are identified.

“What they do is look at tax records and pick a fake email address with the owner’s name in it to look legitimate,” Frank said.

Frank also noted the problem isn’t just affecting people in this area.

“This problem is not just in our office. I speak to many Brokers that complain of similar Craigslist scams that their agents have also dealt with. I really fear for how many people are being essentially robbed of time and money by this criminal practice,” Frank said. “I wonder how many are too ashamed to come forward and I feel a bit helpless on who can stop this from occurring.”

Despite her efforts to report as many cases to the FTC as possible over the last five years, many of her attempts have been neglected.

“I was very disappointed to learn just recently when talking to the FTC that each time we have called to report these scams the FTC has not taken down a note, nor instructed us what to do further. We thought we were helping to show a pattern of criminal activity,” Frank said. “Our office has contacted them more times than I can count. When I last called I asked how many calls they showed and for how long and they said they had no record of calls. Frustrated is an understatement.”

Frank said when she asked why no records had been kept, the FTC told her she had to start with a case number from the local police department, which was the first time that request was made.

Frank immediately called Leesburg Police to start that process and they complied.

According to Frank, Leesburg Police were baffled as to why the FTC needed a police case number since they obviously don’t have jurisdiction in another country. The police assigned a case number to the report, which is 2012-13509.

Liz Mills, spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, noted they have seen some cases in the last five months relating to real estate scams.

“We have had about six cases of real estate scams since January,” Mills said. “Unfortunately, what they do is pose as people who are overseas and ask people to send deposit checks and when renters do, that money is gone. They don’t get it back.”

Frank said the same after hearing from a family about a year ago.

“I had a father call me because his daughter had taken a job as a school teacher in Loudoun County. In her excitement to take a new job and relocate to the area, she trusted one of these alleged fictitious owners through Craigslist. She lost a $600 deposit,” Frank said. “Her father called me very upset since we had the actual listing for the property his daughter thought she had rented. I did all I could to file a complaint on behalf of our property owner and worked with the dad to contact the local police.

“Our office then has to go on Craigslist to flag the bogus listing as a scam numerous times to get them to take it down. This is very time consuming, but necessary to protect the public. I can say that we only have this problem with Craigslist. Why that is, I don’t know,” Frank said.

Tips to avoid scams on rental properties

Scammers on Craigslist have evolved into a major problem for citizens of Loudoun County.

•There is often an application provided asking for all the normal information such as name, address, bank info, Social Security number and other information. The applicant is to complete the application and send with money orders to the owner at the provided out of the country address. Once the money is received, keys will be sent to them. Unfortunately the funds are kept and the keys are never provided.