ATLANTA — An Atlanta man said someone listed his Buckhead home for rent, without his knowledge, and some people stop by and even walk in to try to rent it.
Channel 2 Action News has done stories on this before where a home shows up for rent on Craigslist, but in this case, it showed up on some legitimate rental websites.
"We've had at least eight people come to the door," homeowner Hans Kline said.
Kline said in one instance, people tried to walk inside without knocking.
"They're aggressive and they've opened the door. I've been in the process of opening the door, and the screen door has already been opened with their kids and animals coming into the house," explained Kline.
It's reached the point now where Kline has placed signs on his front door and his mailbox saying his property is not for rent and to do him a favor by calling the police, since someone is trying to steal from them.
"I've watched people stop and read it and not come up to the door," Kline said.
Kline said he's Googled his address, and it pops up for rent on several well-known realty websites.
"Like Trulia, Redfin -- some of the sites that are just automatically fed by other listing engines, and that even includes one of the local Realtors who does a lot of business around here," Kline said.
When Kline called police, he said they came by, but said 'they were confused, and they didn't understand.'
Atlanta's Fraud Unit commander told Channel 2's Craig Lucie that these types of scams are against the potential renters and not the property owner.
The commander said Kline and other homeowners need to contact the listing websites immediately to have them taken down.
But Kline said he's done that once and his home will show up for rent again.
He said he thinks that's because the people behind it have been successful taking money-order deposits from people trying to secure the home to rent.
http://bcove.me/w9lnwk8t