Last modified: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 2:18 AM EDT 14 Glenwood Circle, Attleboro Renters warned of Craigslist scam BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Jennifer Rollins has been searching for a new place for herself and her dog to live since last year. So when the Attleboro resident saw a four-bedroom home off Read Street advertised for rent on Craigslist for $1,000 a month, plus a $400 security deposit, she was intrigued. The purported owner was a minister named Ken Gregg, who claimed he and his wife had started missionary work in Nigeria and couldn't find a real estate agent to represent them. But the ad was a scam. "There was nothing suggesting that anything was wrong," Rollins said. "It was just a pretty simple ad. "I know of scams, but I wasn't thinking it was going to be a scam. I was thinking, 'This was great. I'll take care of your house.'" Gregg replied to Rollins' initial e-mail by asking her for the $1,400 total first-month's rent and security deposit by Western Union money transfer, sent to him in Nigeria. "You can do that in any Grosery Store or Wal malt (sic)," Gregg wrote. Upon receipt, Gregg would send Rollins "the entrance and room keys, the paper/permanent house form, the house documetary (sic) file and the payment receipt." In the end, Rollins wasn't taken in. The real owners are asking $329,900 for their home at 14 Glenwood Circle, which they've listed with North Attleboro-based ReMax agents Janet and Erin Morrissey. Rollins said she discovered that two weeks ago, when she drove by and saw the real estate sign on the front lawn. "Somebody clearly lived in there," Rollins said. Janet Morrissey said she learned of the scam when she started getting calls about one of her two listings recently. Callers asked, "'I see you have the house for sale. Are you also handling the rental?'" Morrissey said. One person walked up to the owner of the Glenwood Circle home and asked, "Are you Rev. Ken?" Morrissey said. The real estate agent said she hopes people aren't falling for the scam. "You'd be hard pressed to get a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom house for $1,000 a month rent," she said. "You'd think these people are smart enough not to be doing this, but obviously they're falling for it." Morrissey said she has not reported the scam to police. "I don't think they can do anything because the people are in Nigeria," Morrissey explained. Attleboro police Lt. Richard Dion and North Attleboro police Detective Lt. David Dawes said they were unfamiliar with this particular scam. However, the Massachusetts Attorney General's office is urging people who have encountered such scams to contact them, spokeswoman Jill Butterworth said. The Attorney General's office has seen similar scams but not this particular one, she said. Massachusetts Association of Realtors spokesman Eric Berman said his 20,000-member group likewise hasn't had any reports of this scam. Yet the National Association of Realtors warned members in March about a similar scam, in which consumers are offered the keys to a rental property upon sending a deposit to Britain via Western Union. The ad, sometimes on craigslist, indicates that the national group is an intermediary for the deal. Berman said he would alert his members to the scam that hit Attleboro. "I think that they have to be ever-vigilant, and if they see their listings on craigslist to file a complaint with the (federal) Internet Crime Complaint Center," he said. The same scam was reported this week in North Auburn, Calif., northeast of Sacramento. There, a couple says people have knocked on the door of their 2,900-square-foot home, which includes a 500-square-foot guesthouse, pool and spa, after seeing the exact same ad on craigslist, according to published reports. The house is for sale and listed at $799,000. Locally, once Rollins realized that Gregg wasn't legitimate, she decided to play along. After receiving Gregg's initial e-mail, Rollins filled out - with bogus information - the rental application: her name, birthdate, phone numbers, current address, monthly income, rent and duration of residence, and previous address. "I think it's ridiculous. They didn't ask for nearly enough information," Rollins said. Rollins said she responded to a similar ad for a four-bedroom home in Cranston, R.I. In that case, the purported owner said her name was Jean and that he and his wife and daughter had to move to Nigeria to do missionary work. Berman said buyers need to beware. "Keep everything local. Talk to a local realtor. Talk to people in your community," he advised.