(KCEN) -- Waco police are warning the public about two different housing scams going on in the area.
The first involves someone answering a reply, usually on Craig's List, about a house being rented. The suspect asks for a down payment using Moneygram or Western Express, sent to a certain address. The address is usually in another city or state.
A cell phone number is sometimes given as well to gain the victim's trust. The number provided is usually from pre-paid number and is not traceable.
Once the victim sends the money, the suspect traces is and can cash it anywhere in the world. After it is cashed, the money is gone.
The suspect usually uses real property for sale or rent in the scam but creates their own website for it on Craig's List.
A second scam is also going around. It is a rental scam where a person wants to lease an apartment to someone else, but cannot get out of the lease.
The suspect agrees to meet the victim at the apartment, which is usually vacant, to sign a lease.
That lease is usually a copy of a real lease, with names and dates erased.
The suspect asks the victim to come to a location, usually a WalMart, HEB or shopping mall parking lot. There, the suspect asks for a down payment and then the victim gets the lease, which is fake.
Anyone who has been a victim of one of these scams or has seen the suspect or their car in one of these scams is asked to call Detective James Head of the Waco Police Department at 254-750-3656.
