Rising scam uses real home addresses in rental scheme

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Better Business Bureau is once again alerting us to a recent scam that has been on the rise.

Scammers are starting to use real home addresses in order to get money from other people. The worst thing is, the people who own the home have no idea.

Toddnetta Trice with the BBB of the Mid-South tells us exactly what is going on.

“They are able to post people’s homes and say that they are for rent,” Trice said. “What victims end up doing is, of course, they see something that they like, they’re impressed by the photos and they end up contacting the person that listed the actual rental property.”

This may be happening with your home and you would never know it. Trice tells what you can do to possibly find out.

“We want you to randomly Google search your address and see what comes up. So if you recently just bought a house and you’re still seeing pictures of it on these for sale websites, you want to contact them immediately and let them know this property is no longer for rent or for sale,” said Trice.

If this is happening to you and you find your home address being used for this scam, there are a few things you can do to stop the problem.

“Google, for example, they have a tool to remove personal contact information from the search results. So that is common as well,” Trice said. “Where Google, for some odd reason, is showing a different address that is on the website.”

You can also remove all images of your home online if you have posted them in the past. This can help prevent people from using your address to scam others.

You should always contact the authorities if you find this happening — do not take matters into your own hands.

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