Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Ha. Nice Try, Scammer.

I saw this too good to be true apartment listed on Craigslist the other day ($750/month for a 1,000 square foot 1b/1b condo, right up the street from where we are now), and emailed the guy to see if there would be any open houses.  Here was his response to my email (address and phone numbers redacted).  I think it speaks for itself, but I've made my favorite phrases bold.

Hi,
I did get your response concerning the AD I posted on craigslist. My name is Edwin Ross. The home is still available but presently I'm not around.. I did bid for a portion of petroleum land sometimes ago in West Africa and fortunately I won the  bidding so I have to move quickly down to Africa to have my company set up because I will still have to rebid for it in the next 10 years. I came over here with my wife, we both bought the home when we got married. As soon as we settle down here I had a thought of selling the home so I have to look for an agent, after getting one, we got a deal but later my wife advised against that. She said we may not be able to win the bidding next  time, in other to keep our head when we return that we have to keep the home. I reasoned with her and accepted her advise. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents. Later we decided to  have the home rent out, we would have give the same agent this job also but the truth of the matter is that the agent would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be able to reason along with him later. If you notice, you will discovered that the price we are offering is far below standard price, this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the  absolute care for the property. I know there is no  way I can be sure that you are the right person to live in the home because we won't be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to occupy the space. But I just had a  feeling that anyone who knows what it takes to put the kind of structure down should know that maintaining a building is mandatory, so if you belief you can take good care of the home and handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the home if you can promise me & my family that you will sure take very good care of the home for us as if it was your own.
Please if you are ready now to occupy the home kindly provide the information below for record purpose 
RENT APPLICATION FORM
Full Name__________________________________________________ Home Phone (        ) ________________________
Date of Birth_________________________________
Other Phone (       ) ___________________
Current Address_______________________________Apt#________ City__________________ State______ Zip________
Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone (       ) ____________________________
Are you married____________________________
How many people will be living in the home____________________________
Do you have a pet____________________________
Do you have a car____________________________
Occupation____________________________
Move In Date____________________________
1 or 2 Month Rent Payment will be Deposit Down Now Before You Move in?____________________________
Reference Details_________________________
Pictures of all the Occupant that will stay in my home.
TAKE NOTE: YOU CAN ONLY DRIVE BY AND SEE MY HOME FROM THE OUTSIDE AND IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN RENTING GET THE APPLICATION FORM FILLED OUT AND SEND IT BACK TO ME SO THAT I CAN  SHIP MY KEYS TO YOU FOR YOU BE ABLE TO GO AND LOOK AT THE INSIDE OR MOVE IN IMMEDIATELY. I WOULD HAVE REALLY LOVE TO SHIP THE KEYS TO SOMEONE IN STATE BUT I DON'T HAVE ANYBODY THERE RIGHT NOW AND I DON'T WANT TO MAKE USE OF ANY THIRD PARTY THAT IS WHY AM HANDLING MY PROPERTY MYSELF..
Monthly Fee: $750
Security Deposit: $500
Pets Allowed:
Available :Available Now for move in.
NB: I will like you to give me a call on this effect to know how serious you are in this rent.
So pls get back to me today.
I await your reply ASAP.

Edwin Ross.

I could not figure out why he wanted photos of his tenants (but not any credit card information), unless it was for some creepy reason...Will thinks he makes fake ID's.  I think he's probably right.  It was flagged for removal on Craigslist pretty much immediately after I received the email, so I'm guessing a ton of other people were almost-scammed as well.  

I never would have thought to take a picture of a random apartment building and post a fake ad about renting it really cheaply, trying to get people's information.  Crazy, eh?

10 comments:

  1. Update: as of 2:47pm on 3/17/10, it is back up on Craigslist!

    http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/apa/1644627846.html

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  2. This is almost as good as the personals ad you sent me with terrible grammar, and an equally terrible picture. If CL doesn't always get us what we need, it always amuses us!

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  3. When you apartment hunt on CL as often as I do, you learn to spot the scams from a mile away.

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  4. The original ad didn't seem as scammy...just too good to be true. But when I got this email, there was no mistakin' it!

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  5. Let me annotate:

    he capitalizes ad?
    he has run on sentences?
    advise spelled wrong (advice)
    "We decided to have the home rent[ed] out"
    anyone typing in all caps is not trustworthy.
    and this. this is the monster: I will like you to give me a call on this effect to know how serious you are in this rent. - This is hardly english.

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  6. And I don't want to rent an apartment from someone who don't speak no English!

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  7. Oh man..I commented on this earlier from my phone but I guess it didn't work.

    Anyway...

    I came across this on TWO occasions while hunting. The email is almost word for word from the ones I got but with a few little differences for effect. One of mine was a missionary in West Africa and the other was a military official. I knew right away they were totally bogus. I also knew those apartments were too good to be true.

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  8. They always are, Junket. They always are.

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  9. I got one from a missionary in West Africa, too! And then we went by the apartment address just to see, and were like "hardwood floors and marble countertops in there? Really?"

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  10. Haha, yeah. I know the building he posted in the ad...it could potentially be awesome inside, but I still doubt it.

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