Grand Rapids Michigan rental scam costs family hundreds

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http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/gr ... y-hundreds

Video on the story as well...

Nigerian man pretends to be a reverend

Updated: Friday, 04 May 2012, 7:31 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 04 May 2012, 7:31 PM EDT
By Dani Carlson

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A rental scam right here in West Michigan has already cost one family hundreds of dollars and their hopes of moving into their dream rental home.

Angela Smith said she first saw the ad on Craig's List a few weeks ago, that was posted by a man claiming he was a reverend who was sent on a mission trip to Nigeria.

Smith showed 24 Hour News 8 e-mails they exchanged where the man said his name was John DeRuiter, and he was on a missionary trip to Nigeria that could last several years --so he needed to rent his home.

Everything seemed legit, Smith said, until the man wouldn't let them go inside the house, or send them the keys or a lease without a $1,500 payment.

Smith said she asked him repeatedly, through e-mail and phone calls, to prove that he was the legitimate owner.

"He kind of sounded upset that I didn't believe him that it was his house," said Smith. She even went as far as to ask the man how she could know for sure that the rental wasn't a scam.

In one e-mail the "reverend" wrote to Smith, explaining he would not be dishonest.

Here is the exact phrase he wrote to Smith: "The truth and only the Truth shall set you free,thus says the lord of host".I'm telling you the truth now as a dedicated Christian is against my doctrine to rip people off there money which they labored so hard for, i did not leave my home all the way to Nigeria to rip people off any one money."

"Part of me wanted to believe it was all legit, and the other part of me was like something's not right," said Smith. "You want it to work out, but you don't want to get screwed on it either and that's pretty much what happened."

Smith wired him $200 in order to hold the home for her family.

She told 24 Hour News 8, she and her husband stopped by the house to check it out a few times, and each time there seemed to be more and more stuff outside the supposedly vacant home.

Smith said one time they even walked up to the front door and found it unlocked. They didn't go in, but instead emailed the man, asking him if they could.

"This guy, if he would have given us permission to go in there, and we would have started doing stuff we would have been in so much trouble," said Smith.

At a later visit, Smith and her husband saw a man on the porch of what they thought was their new rental home -- smoking.

According to Smith, she and her husband went up to him who explained he wasn't moving out until August, and he knew the real landlord already had a tenant ready to take his place.

24 Hour News 8 looked into it and found the real John DeRuiter living at the home. He recently graduated from GVSU, isn't Nigerian, and rents the home himself from the real owners, Bear Manor Properties.

24 Hour News 8 discovered that the fake "reverend" found a house that was up for rent--posted online by the real owners--and he stole it in an effort to rent it out himself and take the money.

Heather Van Dyke-Titus, of Bear Manor Properties, said she knew nothing about the scam until 24 Hour News 8 contacted her. She sounded shocked and said, "We don't know anything about this and when [24 Hour News 8] called, that was the first we'd heard of it."

24 Hour News 8 went on to call the Nigerian phone number, but got an automated message saying the phone was "switched off."

Phil Catlett, the president of the local Better Business Bureau , said he wouldn't be surprised if the phone didn't get turned back on for months -- if ever.

He said he's seen many cases like this before, and wasn't surprised the scammer used a tenant's real name to try to add credibility.

"They can pull them off line or off these various listing to just pull something out of the air and have it look legitimate," said Catlett.

Catlett also said that things like religion are used frequently in scams because it works.

"Religion, to some degree or another, is an emotional decision," said Catlett. "It tends to put some of our defense barriers down when we're dealing with religious issues."

Information from the Better Business Bureau said scams like this tend to happen more often in small apartment complexes or single family homes.

The BBB recommends getting everything in writing, never signing a contract with blank spaces, and paying the deposit with credit card or check.

Catlett said a red flag to beware of is if someone wants you to wire money via a place like Western Union.