An Effort family whose members thought they were moving to a rent-to-own home in Tennessee packed their belongings in a U-Haul truck and drove there only to find out they were “scammed” by an advertisement on Craigslist.

State police at the Fern Ridge barracks said the two women, ages 47 and 27, are out $3,420 because of the theft by deception.

Police said one of the victims told them they responded to an advertisement on Craigslist to rent and eventually own the home in Kingsport and then corresponded with the scammer via text messages. Police said the scammer asserted the victim needed to complete a rental application and pay a processing fee using a prepaid Vanilla Visa gift cards. The rental application included the victim’s personal information, including her date of birth and social security number.

Police said during the course of the transaction, the scammer advised the victim she was approved for the house. The victim and several family members packed the U-Haul truck and drove to Tennessee only to find out she had been scammed.