Rent54.com Scam / DMCA Violation on Craigslist - Has anyone seen this?

I've spent the past two days sending DMCA/Copyright complaints to Rent54.com / Rentownhomelistings.com for using community images and information in a rather deceptive form on Craigslist. Not only are they using our information, but what they are advertising is incorrect, including rental amounts, which is causing a lot of irritation and headache for the prospect and onsite team. They have also put their web address on our photos in the listing.

I have investigated the site but not found any information via an ICANN or WHOIS search. I did find an email address on the 'terms and conditions' page of rentownhomelistings.com and sent an email. I've also notified [email protected] and sent emails to the available Craigslist mail relay address on the ads. The ads have been flagged, but not yet removed. Outside of doing these things, I don't know what else to do to make it stop.

Has anyone else run into this? What have you done to remedy?

Alright, let's dig into this a bit. I did a search to see who might have tweeted that URL: twitter.com/search?q=RentOwnHomeListings&src=typd

Seems like Maxwell Adamson is probably our best bet. Looking through his twitter feed we see a lot of links to trendandsale.com/ , with this whois:

Registrant Name: Muhammad Saif Ullah
Registrant Organization: N/A
Registrant Street: J/541,St#2 Maree Road
Registrant City: Rawalpindi
Registrant State/Province: Punjab
Registrant Postal Code: 46000
Registrant Country: PK
Registrant Phone: +92.3455530785
Registrant Email: [email protected]

Not our man, Maxwell, so let's keep looking!

Deeper down, we see a lot more posts to cnnnews2015-2016.blogspot.com/ and chrismaticworld.blogspot.com . And look there - the owner of the blogs is Muhammad .s. Same guy? Let's see his Google profile: plus.google.com/105614631473452106897/posts . And there he is - our guy Maxwell! (And here is his Google+ profile: plus.google.com/100877269160273339639/posts )

My guess? I doubt Maxwell exists, and instead he is the American alias of Muhammad, who runs the site. I could be wrong, but it's clear they are related.

If you email him, PLEASE update us!

YES! This is awesome; Thank you!

I can confirm that 'Maxwell' does not exist in this context. How do I know? --
The image is the one that is the 'Indifferently Unaware Crush' Meme:

The postings are down from Craigslist for the moment, however, I will be watching for more. If I see another, I will certainly e-mail Muhammad directly.

Thank you for your help. Perhaps everyone needs to take a look at Craigslist for their market to be sure that this isn't happening to them, too. And let's hope that anyone Googling "Rent54.com Scam" lands here before getting involved with the site.

Glad to help!

Here's a computer-savvy way to check to see if profile pictures are genuine or not.

STEP ONE:
Right-click the suspicious photo.



STEP TWO:
Select "Search Google for this image"*



STEP THREE:
In this case, this image pops up when you enter the search words "teenage boy" into the Google image search engine.

So the next time you ask yourself, "Is this a real person or a sockpuppet account?" try this trick!

*This will not work on all web browsers.

Please contact me this is too good to true @912.318.6220

This rent54.com is still on Craigslist and on the web. Is it really a scam?

rent54 is all over Craigslist, which is frustrating for people who are sincerely looking for a rental. I was suspicious as there is NO WAY someone rents a place for the price they are posting

yeah... i saw this mess on craigslist...and it indeed is a mess...they offer a room for 410/m with an image of that nice-looking kitchen with a big url in the image but just try to go to the website www.rent54.com...nothing comes up. theres no phone number and whenever i see an ad like this on craigslist with NO phone number, i know sending an email to them wont do any good.

rent54.com , rent67.com , move27.com are back up on craigslist are all these scams ?

Thank you

Yes, I do believe these are all scams, given that they STOLE property information and used it as their own. The pictures they were using as well as descriptions were ones that I had personally created.

To you!

Am glad that I read your article on Rent 54.com. There is new listings on Craig's List from them. They are advertising some offers that are way below market prices. Seemed fishy to me at first so i looked up three website. 4 bedrooms and three baths for 829 a month, rent to own?? Must be a bloody doll house for rent-as one can't touch a single our one bedroom for less than 1400 a month out here in East Hollywood alone. They don't list the city these homes are in either. Thirty shouldn't be allowed to post. Furthermore, the ads are posted on Spanish-leading me to believe that Mohammed is praying on desperate immigrants.
Have fun with this. Tis a wonderful thing, you looking out for the community like this. Thanks again for posting your findings. Craigslist should make you a leader of a contracted oversight program to watch out for these kind of creepy wankers. Take care.

Many Blessings,

Arthur A. Powers

I'm so happy that I found this thread as I'm currently in the market looking for rentals. This guy is at it again this is the majority of ads you see on Craigslist is his and its so annoying. This is one reason why I stopped using Craigslist but now that I'm really in desperate need to find some place to rent I have gone back to utilizing Craigslist and low and behold he's still posting. This guy is really annoying because you can't find anything because he's tied up the search results with majority of his ads.

There are some on there now.

This rent54.com is definitely a scam (and still posting on Craigslist). I did a separate Google search for a property listed in one of the posts. Yep, the actual name of the property. I found it easily enough, but the rent on the craigslist post is completely different - under by more than $1000 for a 3 bedroom apartment. I am waiting for someone from that property to contact me back.

well damn
I just saw this i am looking for a place to live and saw ads for rental property because i am in need of a place i know that there are scams but hope he has fun with my cell number and email address.. thank you for informing me about this i thought it could be to good to be true. but one never knows until they request for a showing

I had this idiot steal one of my rental listings that is listed for $1200 and put it on craigs list for $750.


Hello,

I hope this finds you happy, healthy and well today. My Wife and I own the house and also want you to know that it was my transfer to (Marietta, Georgia) that makes us to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person and God fearing person who can take very good care of the house in my absence. we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean all the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own. So for now, we are in Marietta, Marietta and will be staying here for the next 5 to 6 Years in our new house and also with the document of the house for rent, we try to look for another Agent that we can give this documents before we left but could not find, i am currently in Marietta, GA for an international followers of the Christian faith taking place in (GA) I hope you will promise me to take very good care of the House. The House is very big and nice and it is in a nice area I have received many proposals today for my property but my wife and i want to give you this great opportunity to rent this house because we made the house inexpensive just because we believed even the poor and rich deserve a home to live So i hope you will promise us that you will take very good care of the house. So get back to me if you know you would handle our house with care or perhaps experience you have in renting home.


PROPERTY DESCRIPTION...........

Number of Bedrooms: 3

Number of baths: 2

Pets are welcome!!!

Rent: $750

Refundable security Deposit: $750

Total move in : $1,500

House Address: 101 E Atwater Avenue, Eustis, FL 32726

NB: You can drive by the home to see its exterior and it's neighborhood and get back to me for further discussion, any sign post will be removed once i get any responsible tenant so you ignore the sign post and don't bother to contact the agents there for any reason, cause i don’t have any agreement with them anymore. As soon as you do so and if you like the location, get back to me for the interior pictures and every other necessary detail to complete the rent.

I await your reply ASAP.

The rental fee is inclusive with utilities and my home available as at this moment.

Regards and remain Bless

Macmillan B.Adams

[email protected]

This was my reply to him as I acted as if I was going to rent it.

Dear Sir,

I find it hard to believe that you and your wife own the home since I am the Realtor that sold it to its current owner and I am also the property manager and have been for several years and currently have it listed for rent.

I have flagged the post in craigs list, I have reported it to the FBI and the local police. I strongly suggest that you think twice before stealing someone's listing and trying to scam innocent people and stop using the guise of being a Christian.

They have another one up for rent in Ocala FL Craigslist.

Thank you for doing this. I always say.... If it sounds too good to be real IT'S A SCAM. Why cant they be stopped???

dallas.craigslist.org/dal/apa/d/2-beds-1...rage/6604298600.html


heres another one i almost fell for smh