Medford, Ore — Realtors and law enforcement are telling the public to keep an eye out for a potentially dangerous scam.
A sign in the front yard is a great way to advertise a property, but it could also make you a target.
“If you don’t know them and you haven’t called a known service for someone to come out and talk to you, if it’s a cold contact at your door, i’d be very very leery of that,” said Sgt. Brent Mak.
Realtors with the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors say one of their clients were contacted by a man offering a free evaluation of their home.
“This individual said his name was Darrel Santiago and that he worked with Keller Williams here in Medford, but there is no agent at Keller Williams here in Medford with that name,” said Tina Grimes.
The realty association then warned clients that the offer was too good to be true.
“That was the big red flag to the clients that he contacted, he was being so pushy to come to their property,” said Grimes.
Detectives say these tactics are all too common among scammers.
“They want to get access to your house, to look around and they’re pretending to be selling something or maybe working for a marketing company or real estate company when in reality they could be casing your place,” said Sgt. Mak.
“He just wanted access to their home, who knows what he was wanting it for,” said Grimes.
Thankfully the clients made the right call and contacted authorities. Police hope you’ll do the same, so you don’t become prime real estate for scammers.
Law enforcement says rental scams using Craigslist.com are also very common and warn the public to be wary of any deals where you cannot meet in-person or through a rental agency.
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