AUGUSTA — Attorney General William J. Schneider is warning churches and other nonprofit groups about recent reports of calls from individuals claiming to need help with paying rent.

The plea for help is bogus, investigators say.

Schneider said, “One particular caller was very believable and stated that she needed $170 to rent a home in Winthrop. As it turns out, this particular property is a home which was recently listed for sale and the owner was still living there.”

Authorities believed the scammer obtained the information on one of a number of websites where properties are listed for sale. The caller requests that the payment be mailed to the “landlady” whose address is a post office box in Washington, D.C.

Anyone with information about the rental assistance scam is asked to call the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at 207-626-8849.