20 Myths About offerup scams: Busted
You know that commercial that you see on TV that’s like an older version of the one in the movies? The one where the guy offers the woman money for sex by saying he’s offering up his house? You know the one. Well, my husband was at a family reunion this weekend, and I got to try out the same commercial.
One of the companies offering up their homes to couples for free and selling them to unsuspecting new homeowners is actually called OfferUp. It’s a business that sells homes to people who are looking to get out from under their mortgage and move in with their friends and family for free. A lot of people are scared off by the idea of getting a free house, so most of them will get one from OfferUp.
I think they’re trying to trick people into thinking they’re getting a free house by listing it as a “free house for a good cause” (as in, for charity or something) like a homeless shelter. But OfferUp has no actual charity or cause. In fact, it doesn’t even really have names for the homes it sells. The houses are sold as free homes to “free folks,” people who just happen to be unemployed, homeless, or otherwise out of luck.
Now that I’ve mentioned it, I have no idea why OfferUp is selling homes. I can only assume that it’s because they are desperate for a house. It is a fact, however, that most offers for houses are a scam.
I think the biggest scam OfferUp has ever been involved in is when it sold a house as a shelter to homeless people. That is not really any better than the other ones I have mentioned.
The problem is that many of these houses are scams because they are filled with fake people, fake addresses, fake numbers, and fake photos. It’s a shame because these fake folks and fake addresses are a huge problem for scam artists.
The best way to deal with fake offers is to simply ignore them. Many scam artists simply don’t want to admit that they’re a scam artist because it means that the owners of the house are not willing to pay the fees that you have to pay to get a home.
If you are going to list your real house on craigslist, you should do it honestly. No one is going to buy a house they don’t want. If you are going to list your real house on craigslist, you should list it and your real address in that listing and the address from your real insurance policy. Scams like this are very difficult to stop.
Here is a simple rule: always list your real address on the website. This is a lot more difficult than it looks. It is just one of those things that you should do when you first start listing your house. There is no need to list your real address if you do not want it to be advertised for sale.
The problem with the “offerup” scam is that it is so easy to fall for. All you need to say is, “I’m selling houses to people” or even “I’m selling houses to people and I need a check.” People can go to your website and see all the houses you are actually selling for them. There is no way to check if you have a real person who is interested in buying your house.