It’s been a big week for scam artists locally. A Shoreline couple who swindled a retired old lady out of $350,000--her life savings--was sentenced to 33 months in prison. Michael and Katie Lambard befriended Margaret Martin and adopted her as their "grandmother" before taking her entire estate. more ›

We haven't had to rent anything lately by perusing Craigslist, but a friend of ours was telling us the other day about a con they ran across. The scammer found an actual rental property offered through a management firm, copied it, undercut the price several hundred dollars, and said they were the owners, offering a special direct-to-you rate. But when our friend responded, they got a long reply explaining the "owners" were on a Christian mission in Nigeria and had brought the keys with them--easiest thing to do was to send a rent check, they'd send the keys. Luckily, CL has a little banner that says: "Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any arrangement involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, or a landlord/owner who is out of the country or cannot meet you in person." And so it goes. more ›