GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) — An Evans man is out nearly $10,000, after sending what he thought would be six months worth of rent to a scammer, for a Greeley home.
Shane Gaston is still in disbelief he fell for a Craigslist scam.
“I’m sorry,” he said, tearing up during the interview. “It’s been a real rough couple of weeks.”
He had responded to an ad for a Greeley rental property back in January, which he intended to rent to own.
“The stipulation was to put it under a U.S. Bank account that they claimed was their in-laws, so that was a little weird,” Gaston admitted.
But, he did his own research first and verified the woman who co-owns the property was the same woman the scammers claimed to be.
“It’s an attorney here in Greeley. They basically did the same thing I did. They probably did a title search, found out this name, had all that information.”
The attorney had listed the rental property online, which explains why there was a lock box on the door when Gaston initially did a drive-by of the property.
“I thought I had researched my stuff pretty well. Obviously these people spend a lot more time thinking how to steal your money than I think about how to protect it.”
What he didn’t do, though, was demand the property owner meet him in person, before depositing his cashier’s check—or have a conversation with them on the phone.
“That probably was my biggest mistake,” he told Fox31, showing all of the communication between him and the scammers had been done through e-mail and text.
“I should have said, ‘I’ll give you the funds when you give me the keys and I have access to the house.’”
Gaston eventually made contact with the real property owner, who had no idea the home was part of a craiglist scam.
“She was shocked,” he told Fox31. “They forged her signature and everything.”
The home, which is along West 14th Street in Greeley, is currently being rented out—according to Gaston.
He says both U.S. Bank, and Canvas Credit Union—where Gaston banks—have done little to help, or investigate.
“It makes me feel like the banks really don’t have a concern about what happens at their locations.”
Gaston says he went to Canvas Credit Union about a week and a half after sending the money, suspicious he was being scammed.
“They told me there was nothing they can do, and to contact U.S. Bank.”
He says U.S. Bank eventually put a freeze on the account, but wouldn’t give him additional information. Gaston ended up hiring an attorney, who filed a request to have the money in question sent back to Canvas Credit Union.
He says that request was later denied, because the account had already been emptied.
Gaston also filed a police report, but the Evans Police Department says these types of cases are nearly impossible.
“Many times those IP addresses will either lead us to a dead end or another country. At that point, it becomes so resource intensive, ,that we don’t have the resources to trace them down to African nations or whatnot,” said Operations Commander Dan Ranous, with the Evans Police Department.
Ranous says these types of cases are becoming more common in recent years—warning people of several red flags to keep in mind.
“If they’re right away asking for personal information and funds, without any type of [in person] interaction, that should be your red flag,” Ranous told Fox31.
“Any type of real estate transaction or a rental property that isn’t a vacation rental—like Airbnb or something—there should be a face-to-face interaction at the very early stages to look at the property,” he added.
Gaston was reluctant to share his story with Fox31, because of the criticism it would draw.
“I was played like a piano,” he told Fox31. “I’m ashamed that I let myself be a victim in this sense.”
Gaston ultimately decided to do an interview, in hopes that it will keep someone else from losing their life savings to a bogus craigslist ad.
“It’s going to keep me from being able to move,” he said, choking up. “It’s bad. It’s quite a major setback. I wish I could change it, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to correct this at this point.”
