Craigslist scammer hits Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD )- - A Grand Rapids home has become the centerpiece of a scam swirling on Craigslist.

Charles and Cassandra Shehorn had hoped to score a deal and rent a home on the northeast side of Grand Rapids for $750 a month. But after further inquiry, they realized the home they were trying to rent was actually for sale and the woman they'd been talking to wasn't the realtor but a scam artist.

The scammer was posing as popular Grand Rapids realtor, Katie Karczewski. The scammer asked the Shehorn family to go check out the home on their own, stating that she was living in Africa and wouldn't be able to come. She then instructed them to send money, including a security deposit and as many months of rent as they could.

24 Hour News 8 spoke with Karczewski outside her office Sunday. She said she was upset that the scammer was using her name and said that the situation is making her second guess using Craigslist as a resource.

"It's pretty sickening actually," Charles Shehorn said.

The would-be victims became cautious of the deal when the scammer asked for so much money up front. But otherwise, they say, they were convinced and hopeful.

"On the actual web site it had the lady - the realtor's name on the web site." Charles said. "The lady we were talking to via e-mail was using the realtor's name."

Another point of concern, the fact that the owner of the home still lived there and received some unexpected visitors coming to look in her windows.

The owner of the home, who did not want to be identified, said that at least four people had come to the home in response to the fake offer. Some of them, she said, were very upset.

The Shehoms contacted 24 Hour News 8 because they worry that others would fall for the scam, in light of the desperate economic conditions so many families in the area are facing.

"I worry more about the individual that's looking for a cheaper place to live and they go ahead and feel safe enough," Charles said.

In an attempt to see of the scam was still going on, 24 Hour News 8's Leon Hendrix contacted the scammer using his personal e-mail without identifying himself as a reporter. Sure enough, within an hour the scammer responded using the same pitch even though the ads on Craigslist have since been taken down.