KAILUA — "Nigerian scammers" duped an O'ahu family into paying rent on a townhouse the scammers do not own and have left the legitimate homeowner angry and afraid after she discovered her locks had been changed and strangers had moved in.

Honolulu police have no jurisdiction in Nigeria and no intention of sending detectives there to investigate, Honolulu police Lt. Eric Brown said yesterday.

"People have to be aware of what they're getting, especially dealing with foreign countries," he said. "The (renters) knew they were sending money to Nigeria. ... By now, the word Nigeria alone should be a red flag."

The family is out about $2,500 for rent and other costs, Brown said.

The owner of the two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath townhouse — Elene Tzetzos — figures she's out thousands of dollars in lost wages and other costs dealing with the aftermath of the scam, including $275 to replace her locks.

The Honolulu locksmith company that originally changed the locks on Tzetzos' townhouse for the scammed renters broke no laws and is not under investigation, Brown said.

"The entire situation is caveat emptor, 'Let the buyer beware,' " he said.

Last year on O'ahu, there were fewer than a dozen reports of online scams that involved rental properties that don't exist, such as legitimate beachfront addresses with no home, Brown said.

Steve Levins, executive director of the state of Hawai'i Office of Consumer Protection, said this is the first case he knows of involving a local family getting scammed from a long-term lease.

"But there have been instances on the Mainland that are similar," Levins said. "The rule of thumb is that if it's too good to be true, it probably is."

The problem for Tzetzos began after her last tenant moved out in December.

Tzetzos, a commercial airline pilot who lives on the Mainland, then placed an ad for a long-term renter for her townhouse in the 'Aikahi Gardens complex near Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

She advertised her property on a secure military Web site and a separate public one — www.militarybyowner.com — for $1,950 per month, hoping to attract a military family at a price that she considered to be low for Kailua.

But then a similar ad for Tzetzos' same unit — including the same pictures she used for her ad — appeared on www.craigslist.org for only $1,400, which was later dropped to $1,200.

The authors also created various Yahoo accounts to correspond with potential renters and downloaded the deed to her property to use as proof of ownership, Tzetzos said.

"They used what they thought was my name — Elene.Jones," Tzetzos said.

Her sister responded to the craigslist ad out of concern and got a response from "Elene" asking for money, Tzetzos said.

Tzetzos returned to Kailua on Saturday night to check on her property and discovered that the key to her front door no longer worked.

She then peered through the blinds of her own windows and saw that someone had placed boxes and television sets in the first floor of her unit.

Tzetzos called police in Kailua and once inside discovered beds and more belongings, including food that had been placed in her pantry and refrigerator.

Then, shortly after midnight, a man appeared with more belongings to move in and told police that he had legitimately rented the unit.

He told police that he got access to the unit when the people in Nigeria were unable to send him the keys and told him to hire a locksmith to gain access. The Nigerians said they would deduct the $275 locksmith cost from his rent, Brown said.

"He had every red flag but pressed on through," Tzetzos said. "Apparently, anyone can go on vacation and this can happen to them, too."

Yesterday, she hired carpet cleaners to begin getting her townhouse ready for her new, legitimate tenants who are moving in next week.

In the meantime, Tzetzos is leaving up hand-lettered signs that she placed on her windows that read:

"WARNING This property has been a victim of Internet fraud!!! If you have any information call the police: 262-6555 or 911"