A couple months ago, Mary Thai found a house for lease on Craigslist, the online database of independent classifieds.

The 27-year-old manicurist made an appointment to look at the Jersey Village property and took her husband and mother along to see it.

It was just what she wanted, so she signed a lease and forked over $1,400 in cash — $995 for the first month’s rent and the rest as a deposit.

But Thai said the man who took her money was impersonating the real estate agent who was actually listing the property for sale on the Houston Association of Realtors’ Web site. He has since disappeared.

Craigslist scams have been reported in other parts of the country since the housing market began to deteriorate, and the local realty association said it’s now started hearing about them in Houston.

The scams typically involve posting properties for rent or sale at discounted prices. The person posting the ad will ask prospective renters or buyers to mail a check, money order or cash or wire funds for the property.

Robin Mueck, president and CEO of Heritage Texas Properties, said she doesn’t see the problem as widespread, but the increasing number of real estate transactions taking place online will lead to more opportunities for fraud.

Her company was affected when a Craigslist ad described a property that was actually being listed by a Heritage Texas agent.

A consumer became interested in the property and after several conversations with the Craigslist advertiser, she drove by the house, saw the realty sign and called the company.

That’s when she discovered the scam.

Thai said she filed a police report and is now waiting to hear from a detective on her case.

A Craigslist spokeswoman said the company goes to great lengths to prevent scams from reaching users, but those that do are quickly identified and removed by user flagging. The site also publishes fraud warnings.