By JON BAKER

LINCOLN --- Police Chief Brian Sullivan has issued “Buyer Beware” announcements before. This time, there’s a twist.

He now urges those interested in renting homes in town to be particularly wary of those posting such notices on craigslist.org.
Since early November, police have investigated two incidents where people looking for housing nearly have been bilked out of rent money, security deposits and more by phony “homeowners.”
“Both were attempts to gain money under false pretenses, and both of these cases are felonies,” Sullivan said Tuesday afternoon. “We want the public to know there are scammers out there who are using any means they can to do that, and that includes craigslist.”
Craigslist is a network of bulletin board Web sites that does not charge for its postings, which include personals, help wanted ads and rental listings.
Sullivan cited the first case, which began in early November when a “30-something” couple had used the Web site to search for a rental home.
“The husband and wife had contacted the person who was renting a property on Walker Street in Saylesville, and that person (an alleged pastor named Thomas McNulty) requested a deposit check for $500, and another for first month’s rent at $950. He claimed he trekked to West Africa — in particular, Nigeria — for a crusade.”
The couple began to discuss details with McNulty via e-mails. They suspected a scam when they tried to phone the apparent homeowner, who claimed to be reachable at two numbers. Both failed.
“In a nutshell, the people interested in renting the house drove by it and noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign in front,” Sullivan said. “They also could see a dog inside it, along with furniture, and that’s when the warning flag went up.
“They called the (real estate agent) a woman with Century 21, and they were told it was a scam, that the house was already owned, so to call police,” he added. “The Century 21 official also indicated other people had reported the same kind of scam to that office … The information we received from the couple -- the potential victims -- was that the money was supposed to go to Nigeria.
“There are all sorts of scams out there, but quite a few seem to originate from Nigeria. If people are worried about such a thing, all they need to do is ‘google’ Nigerian scams, and they will find all sorts of scams including those via e-mail, lottery and housing.”
The good news was that the couple stopped short of sending checks/money orders to McNulty, who Sullivan described as rather brazen. In one e-mail to the couple, McNulty wrote in broken English, “Pls, i want you to note that i am a kind and honest man and i also spent a lot on my property that i want to give you for rent, so i will solicit for your absolute mentenance (maintenance) of this house and want you to treat it as your own … It is not the money the main problem, but want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it near when i come for a checkup. I do that once in a while.
“I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word,” the man continued. “Please note there’s compulsory security deposit fee of 500 to move in and i need someone that is ready to secure it asap. You are welcome for inspection If you like. You can go look at the neighborhood and exterior part of the house because you will not be able to go inside to see the interior, hence I have all the keys and security code here with me.”
The alleged pastor then asked the family to fill out a rent application form, which never happened.
Sullivan also noted an initial incident occurred about four months ago, when a woman chose craigslist to find a home on Woodland Street, also in Saylesville.
“There was a home up for rent, and a woman was interested in it,” he said. “She did some research, and determined the person was trying fraudulently to rent the house on the list. Sometimes, technology can be a good thing, sometimes bad -- or misused in a criminal way.
“In both cases, there was good news, and that’s no one lost any money,” he added. “We haven’t seen too many reports come in regarding this type of thing, but I’m sure it’s happening in other communities … It’s our job as a police department to get the word out. If this news helps somebody stop and think for a minute about renting a house, then we’ve done our job.
“I’m sure there are legitimate people who use craigslist.org appropriately, but others aren’t. I’d also like to say that Officer Brian Molis brought this to my attention, and completed the reports. He’s the one that suggested we get this out to the townspeople, and I told him he was right.”