that $3,00 might be first and last...
the first months rent and then the last for a deposit...
the article doesn’t say if there was a rental agreement...
here’s a thought though...
whether there was a Craigs listing can easily be checked...
who put the house as a rental on the list ???
Since there is no valid lease between the owner and the party to stay there I would think you could actually give a valid lease to someone and let them cohabitate say eight or ten bikers or possibly a lepper colony. Move them in. Let the squatter share their home .
who put the house as a rental on the list ???
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Most likely a scam. Take a look at some of the articles about the scam.
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=craig+list+fake+rentals&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004