Here’s the Latest Tri-City Scam Making the Rounds

Our friends at the Richland Police Department issued a release cautioning residents about local properties being rented out over Facebook. The person advertising the property does not own it and stole the security deposit of the victim wanting to rent the location. Bigger cities have this problem all the time, local law enforcement officials say it's far less frequent here, but still, all residents need to be vigilant. Some tips to avoid this common scam include watching out for potential red flags:

1. They won’t meet in person.
2. They want you to move in immediately, without ever seeing the property.
3. They ask you to mail or wire the money.
4. The price is TOO good to be true.
5. The listing has typos, poor grammar or excessive punctuation. (Laughable, but true)
6. There is no screening process.

If any or all of the above can be applied, back away from the keyboard, slowly now, slowly....