Scammers target foreclosed homes to rip off renters

tonight police are looking for the person responsible for tricking a family with 8 children into renting a foreclosed home. kob eyewitness news 4 first brought you this story last night in a live report from the home near irving and unser. eddie garcia joins us there now with the latest on our big story. police don't think this is the only home involved in the scam - in fact we're told by the broker in charge of this house that this sort of crime is gaining in popularity here in albuquerque. broker ron campbell is in charge of th northwest albuquerque home - it's been forclosed on and is one of the many throughout the city. in the albuquerque area there's over 400 foreclosures - all of them are vacant. he says much like what happened with this house - criminals are finding a way to prey on people looking for rental homes. people are driving around seeing notices on windows of houses that have been foreclosed on then they're running rental and craigslist to rent the property. when the ads get "bites" that's when the scammer strikes - presenting a deal to prospective tenants too good to turn down. police say these people are even using "the system" to commit these crimes. you can go to listings in district court to see homes under foreclosure it's really easy, anybody can do that - it's public record. we showed you this video last night at 10 of two people in handcuffs, police tell us the two were questioned and released. as it stands the people responsible for tricking this family of 8 into renting this home are on the loose. it is going to be an ongoing extensive investigation because there may be other homes involved. if there are, campbell believes it's poiing to a growing trend in the duke city. this is not just local, it's nationwide but it's really cropped up recently here locally. tonight at ten we speak to e family tricked into renting this home.

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