Bath residents fall victim to online rental, lottery scams – Newport Dispatch

BATH — Bath Police Department is warning residents about two recent online scams that have tricked local victims out of money.

The first scam involved a fake rental property listed on Facebook Marketplace.

The victims engaged in correspondence with the purported seller and made a down payment using an online application.

However, when they failed to receive a lease agreement and contacted the actual real estate company, they discovered it was a scam.

The scammer had used photos from another real estate site to create the fraudulent listing.

Authorities urge the public to be extremely cautious when dealing with online real estate transactions.

They emphasize the importance of verifying the legitimacy of the individual or company before making any payments.

In the second incident, a resident fell prey to a “lottery scam,” a common scheme where victims are convinced they have won a large sum of money.

In this case, the scammer, claiming to be from a company similar to Publishing Clearing House, persuaded the victim to send $1,000 as a processing fee to claim an $8.5 million prize.

Once money is sent to scammers, recovering it and investigating the crime is a challenging task.

These scams have cost people thousands of dollars nationwide.

The Bath Police Department advises anyone who has been a victim of an online scam to contact local authorities and to file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.

Reporting these incidents can help in the efforts to combat online scams.