CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Safety is hardly a concern for most residents of Olympic Club Drive.
But the past week has been somewhat scary for Jeremy Brasch, his wife and their two children.
"We've had people driving up, stopping, knocking on our doors and looking in our windows," Brasch said.
Brasch was unable to make sense of all the uninvited attention.
While his home is for sale at $515,000, all of the people who keep showing up this week have told Brasch they were responding to an online ad listing the home for rent at $800 a month.
"They got real aggressive," Brasch said, of a recent family who stopped to see the home. "They wanted to come inside and were acting like we were trying to keep them from this great deal. So, it's kind of been unnerving."
After talking to his real estate agent, Brasch realized his home had been relisted online by a scammer.
The post indicated anyone interested could swing by the home and have a look. If they liked what they saw, they were asked to wire an $800 deposit.
"It's really been eye-opening to see how many people were motivated by that false ad," Brasch said. "Our interest in letting you know about this is so that other people don't get scammed."
Steve Byrd, the technology officer for Carolina MLS, said the scam has been going on for years. Based on his description of how the scammers can simply copy a sale listing and paste it to a rental listing, the scam seems as easy to execute as it is to fall for.
"We like to warn people," Byrd said, "to be weary of properties that seem too good to be true, low rents and wiring money."