COEUR d'ALENE - A pair of Coeur d'Alene homeowners alerted Coeur d'Alene Police to two separate scams on the Internet site, Craigslist, earlier this month, police said.

In each complaint, the owners told police their homes were listed as up for rent on the free advertising site even though neither owner put it there.

Neither complaint resulted in a police report, as the owners had the listings removed through Craigslist before a crime could be committed, but the police department reminded people to be careful of online and telephone fraud.

"A lot of times it's difficult to determine where the origin of the scam came from," said Christie Wood, police spokesperson on difficulty of investigating online scams that frequently cross borders. "There are just no leads, and that makes it very difficult to investigate a case, not to mention if the suspects are from another country."

If fraud has been committed, still report it to the local agency, Wood said. But because online crimes cross multiple jurisdiction, the Federal Bureau of Investigation handles the investigations.

In Moses Lake, a victim recently lost $350 after responding to a Craigslist ad offering housing, the Columbia Basin Herald reported.

The Craigslist Web site says users can't post anything "that is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes bait and switch." But its user agreement also says the site "is not responsible for content made available through the service."

In Moses Lake, online frauds such the $350 one are becoming more of a problem, according to the Moses Lake Police Department, but in Coeur d'Alene, it still represents a small percentage of the department's reports. The two calls in June from the homeowners were the only calls about that type of scam this year, Wood said.

The Coeur d'Alene Police Department Web page, www.cdapolice.org, lists a report and description of recent local scams.

Info: www.IC3.gov.com.