LEWISTON — You might say that Lisa Frandsen’s house is haunted. It’s not the restless spirits of the dead that plague her, though, it’s the hapless spirits of the living.
Just weeks after buying her first home, Frandsen finds herself in the middle of a housing scam.
“My dream house has turned into a nightmare,” she said Friday.
Frandsen closed on the house May 15, she said, and moved in almost immediately with her daughter. Moving into the neat, two-story Cape Cod on Dumont Avenue was a happy occasion.
Then the strangers started showing up.
“I’ve had people just walking around the house, looking in the windows,” Frandsen said. “At first I thought maybe they’re just admiring it. But it kept happening. People keep showing up.”
As it turns out, Frandsen’s dream house is listed on Craigslist by somebody claiming to be the owner. People who respond to the ad are told to go ahead and look the house over, to ignore the people living there because they will soon be moving out. The faux house owner invites these shoppers to send along a deposit and first month’s rent to secure the home. One local man may have done just that.
It’s a total scam and not an uncommon one. Frandsen, who has contacted the police, Craigslist and her Realtor, has had to turn into an amateur sleuth to get to the bottom of it.
She started by responding to the ad.
“I am interested in this property,” she wrote. “Can I get more info please?”
She got a response a day later.
“My house is available and pets are ok. My maintenance personnel will be on duty today so you can also drive by to look through the house since I’m based in California. Look around the house properly , or through the windows if you missed the showing. We recently purchased this house and we are looking for a tenant that will take good care of the house although the house is currently occupied but will be move in ready once the new tenant is ready. Long/short term lease is available. NOTE: Attached is the home rental requirements along with the house pictures for more details. Thank you, Franklin & Theodore Boisvert.
“He sent a rental agreement with my address on it,” Frandsen said. “He sent me pictures of my house, inside and out.”
The photos appeared to have been taken from the Zillow page where the house had been listed for sale. The page now lists the home as sold.
The con artist has taken pains to appear legitimate to anyone shopping for local rentals on Craigslist.
“He’s obviously gone through a lot of trouble,” Frandsen said.
And a lot of people have taken the bait. Frandsen said she has discovered people wandering her property in the morning, in the evening and at odd moments, like when she’s stepping out of the shower.
“It’s just me and my daughter here,” she said. “It’s creepy.”
And still, the hapless house shoppers keep coming.
“I feel bad for them,” Frandsen said. “They’re just hardworking people looking for a house. I want the public to know that this is a scam.”
Unfortunately, she has had to handle the matter mostly herself.
She sent information about the scam to Craigslist and, after three or four days, she has heard nothing in response.
She discussed it with her Realtor but nothing much came of it.
She reported it to the police — including the perpetrator’s phone numbers lifted from the advertisement — but was told there was nothing they could do.
“They said this guy is probably sitting in India or in some Third-World country,” Frandsen said. “I’m just afraid that somebody is actually going to pay rent on this place and try to move in.”
It’s not such an absurd idea. Frandsen said that after speaking with a postal official, she learned that a local man — a stranger — has changed his address to that of the house Frandsen is living in. That could mean the man sent his deposit and first month’s rent, more than $1,000, to the person behind the scam.
Frandsen suspects she won’t know for sure until somebody shows up at her house with a U-Haul.
The phone number listed by the person claiming to own the Dumont Avenue house carries a 424 area code, which covers parts of Los Angeles County and a small section of Ventura County. It appears to be a Google Voice number, which can be used anywhere in the world.
One call to the listed phone number Friday went unanswered, a recorded voice message advising that the Google customer was not available. A second call was answered by a woman who did not appear to speak English. She broke off the conversation after a few seconds and further calls went unanswered.
Messages left at that number were not returned.
As far as Frandsen can tell, her only recourse is to continually watch for arriving strangers and to advise them that the house is not for sale. It’s not exactly how she envisioned spending time in her new home.
She also set up signs in her front yard, to caution away trespassers and to explain the strange situation.
“I’ve done everything but get a mean old bulldog,” she said.
According to both federal and private consumer watchdog groups, rental rip-offs of this nature have been around for decades. A significant upsurge has been reported in recent years following the economic downturn in 2007-08. It’s not always done via Craigslist, although it happens often enough that way, that the company includes warnings in its scam advisory page.
On Friday afternoon, Frandsen was trying to settle in for the weekend, which should be easy in a sleepy neighborhood where the occasional barking dog is about the loudest thing you’ll hear. She remained on edge, though, wondering when the next wandering soul would arrive to peek in her windows and circle her yard.
“This house,” her sign reads, “is not for rent!”
As of early Friday night, the ad offering Frandsen’s house for rent was still posted on Craigslist at maine.craigslist.org/apa/5050463524.html.
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
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