WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- More than 13,000 homes are for sale in Franklin County. Although home sales are down, buyers are still trying to find good deals.
A Westerville woman found a deal that was too good to be true when she saw an ad on Craig's List, which would help her move out of an apartment and into a house, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported.
Michelle Bitler said she had "that feeling" about a house in Westerville.
"This is perfect. This is too good to be true," she said.
Bitler found the house on Craig's List advertised for $800 a month.
"This is less than we're paying in rent," she said.
The person renting the home claimed she was working in Africa in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.
The ad claimed that if Bitler would send the first month's rent and a $500 security deposit to the renter, the keys would be sent to her and the house would be hers.
"The email said basically, 'We're doing work in Africa, some kind of land development. I'm going to be here two more years and I can come home in December and I decided I needed a tenant to up keep the house,'" Bitler said.
The problem is that the real realtor for the home was a Columbus woman whose ad was simply copied and pasted onto Craig's List with a different email address. The ad has since been removed from the Web site.
The house was really being rented for $1,200 per month and the lady in Nigeria had nothing to do with the rental.
"I was so excited and in the back of my mind, I was (saying) don't get this excited because this is too good to be true," Bitler said.
The Ohio Attorney General's office said it has received 11 similar complaints regarding Craig's List.
The same scheme has happened to the landlord in Bitler's case three times before and she has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
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