HOUSTON -- People looking for a real estate deal online are being warned about a scam, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.

The Houston Association of Realtors said it is seeing more cases of people being tricked by phony properties on Craigslist.

Mary Thai had her heart set on finding the perfect rental house. After searching through several properties on Craigslist, she sent an e-mail to the person listed as a contact for a house.

She received a response within days.

"She asked me if I was interested in her property and I told her, 'yes,'" Thai said.

Thirty minutes later, Thai received a phone call from a man claiming to be a Realtor. He gave her the code she needed to go inside and tour the house.

"Me, my mom and husband went there, we loved it. I called him immediately and said, 'Hey, when can we do this?' Thai said.

She said that's when things got tricky. Thai said the man told her she would have to wait a few days if she wrote a check or money order, but if she had $1,400 in cash, they could move in right away.

"I work paycheck to paycheck. That was really all I had saved up," she said. "I just want him to be stopped. I know there's a slim chance I will see my money."

The Houston Association of Realtors said it is seeing more of this type of online leasing scam.

"What we're finding is that people are taking the listings and taking them off of the real estate Web sites and they're not truly listed. They're not under a listing agreement and they're just trying to scam money," said Amy Smythe-Harris with the Houston Association of Realtors. "If it's too good to be true, it normally is."

Thai's husband took pictures of the car driven by the fake Realtor and reported it to police.

Officials said the scam is happening across the country.

Craigslist has published a message on its real estate listings pages alerting consumers about fraud and scams. The site warns about ads requiring consumers to send or wire money. It also strongly encourages consumers to deal with people in person rather than over the phone or via e-mail and mail.

Additional tips are posted at www.craigslist.org/about/scams.