Rental House Scam

[ddrew]

Or at least It sure looks like one to me.
So i'm looking around for deals on rental houses and I find one that sounds great on craigs list, nice neighborhood, 3bdrm, like 2.5 bath or something, unfinished basement(drool, drool)
For $700 a month.
So I email the guy about coming to look at the place and this is what I get back.


Hello,

It is a great pleasure that to you are interested in my House.Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you...I am Jason Mccray,the owner of the house you are making inquiry of.Actually I resided in the house with my family,such as my wife and my only daughter before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in the (West Africa Nigeria) and presently my house is still available for rent for $700 per month including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is furnished .Please i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent a lot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money that is the main problem that is why is cheap but want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i come for a check up.i do that
once in a while.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
Type: House.
Rent: $700
Security Deposit : $350

Home Address:*****************

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
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 house____________________________
Do you have a pet____________________________
Do you have a car____________________________
Occupation____________________________
Move In Date____________________________
When do you intended sending me the deposit___________________________
When do you intended receiving the keys and document of the house___________________________



Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file incase of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you or come and see you in person,please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that,we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this.

Please note than you will only be able to drive by the house for now but not have a look at the interior until i have sent the keys and documents of the house to you..and the requirement for getting the keys and documents of the house is a fully refundable payment of $350 USD,which is the security deposit. Please note that the deposit made is fully refundable should in case you finally gain entrance into the house after receiving the keys and documents and feel unsatisfied or uncomfortable with the interior,but i am giving you a benefit of doubt that you will love everything about this lovely home..

I Await your response so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the keys to you.

Thanks and you are welcome.


I can't even look at it till I send him the $350 deposit? Yeah right, scammer!
I had not seen this one before.

 

[buddymate]

Guess the old 419 or its varients didnt work for him,he is branching out trying new methods,100% scam,the warning word?Nigerian

 

[SoCaliSmoker]

Thats a good one!

Damn, they're getting creative now!

 

[Papulz]

started hearing about that one about 6 months ago. there were several properties with scams like these running in our state capital. well intentioned people working in africa trying to rent homes cheaply... yeah..

 

[krunchbubble]

its a scam, they try to pull shit all the time.
if you want a house off of craigslist, post your own ad. when i make my own ad, i get 10-20 replies a day, i get to pick the best house. and because they are answering your ad, there desperate to rent.
you can also google the house address to see if its in foreclosure, who really owns it and if its for sale.......

 

[ddrew]

its a scam, they try to pull shit all the time.
if you want a house off of craigslist, post your own ad. when i make my own ad, i get 10-20 replies a day, i get to pick the best house. and because they are answering your ad, there desperate to rent.
you can also google the house address to see if its in foreclosure, who really owns it and if its for sale.......

Thanks Crunch, that sounds like good info
I want a as low hassle as possible rental house, craiglist is the first place I looked.
I was about 2 sentences into his reply and already thinking "this is some kind of scam" lol.

 

[Classyathome]

Yup - all my spidey senses went off on that one...

Anything Nigerian is a scam - there prob isn't even a real country "Nigeria", it's just an old scam...

I used to get the letters in mail - I felt dirty even touching them - I'd scrub my hands later...

 

[whiterabbit9]

these nigerian scammers must have it coming to them

 

[Yes4Prop215]

yea when i was looking at rentals we would see that all the time.

same with houses for sale.

another creative way they get your information is if you are posting a car for sale, they email you and say "hey im interested in your car but i dont know how much insurance costs, can you go to this website and get a quote for me?"

 

[SoCaliSmoker]

NIGERIA

Doesn't look legit.

 

[Norrath]

these nigerian scammers must have it coming to them

follow this guy:
http://digg.com/security/How_to_get_a_Nigerian_Scammer_to_hand_write_Harry_Potter



if they ask for details it's a scam. if they ask for money, it's a scam. Someone trying to be personable, professional and MAKE A SALE would use good grammar, and words that make sense, at very least.

if you were a foreigner/alien in another country, would you write a fucking documentary about your rental property, in a language you dont even remotely understand well? no, you'd be concise, to the point, less is more because language is not on your side.

and i would go so far to even say that many many many non english speakers, in north america ask individuals with english speaking experience to write ads for them...ive witnessed the can you put this on craigslist for me? in TWO languages so far..

Thanks and you are welcome.

lmao

 

[j6p]

http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/2009/08/06/craigslist-rental-scam-being-run-from-nigeria/

The FBI has released a statement that a new Craigslist Rental Scam is being run out of Nigeria. Famous for the Advance Fee Scam, or 419 fraud, the Nigerian con artists are now targeting renters in America to try to collect rental deposits on homes they do not own.
Here is the FBI report of what is occurring. If you are using Craigslist to find rental property, please make sure that you are in contact with a real person in real life. If a deal seems to good to be true and the person only stays in contact on the internet, odds are that you and your money could be in peril.

Homeowners list their homes for sale with real estate agents, who will list the homes for sale in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and also with public search websites, which allow individuals to query homes for sale via the Internet. Nigerian scammers find homes listed for sale on these public search sites, copy the pictures and listings verbatim, and then post the information onto Craigslist under available housing rentals, without the consent or knowledge of Craigslist, who has been notified.
After the posting is listed, unsuspecting individuals contact the poster, who is Nigerian, for more information on the “rental.” The Nigerian scammer will state that they had to leave the country very quickly to do missionary or contract work in Africa and were unable to rent their house before leaving, therefore they have to take care of this remotely. The “homeowner” sends the prospective renter an application and tells them to send them first and last month’s rent to the Nigerian scammer via Western Union. The prospective renter is further told If they “qualify,” they will send them the keys for their house. Once the money is wired to the scammer, they show up at the house, see the home is actually for sale, are unable to access the property, and their money is gone.

NIGERIA

Doesn't look legit.

 

[Phillthy]

nice english jason...LOL

 

[BorkBorkBork]

I am Jason Mccray,the owner of the house you are making inquiry of.

lol, Jason McCray of The Clan McCray of the Highlands, I presume?

On another note, there's one born every minute. The guy on intervention last week would cash his disability, fill his prescriptions, then go to western union to send the rest to Nigeria.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Who actually sends them money?

Please i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent a lot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money that is the main problem that is why is cheap but want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i come for a check up.i do that
once in a while.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.

LOL

 

[j6p]

Who actually sends them money? LOL

"It is amazing the kind of people who fall for this," said Johannes Ullrich, an Internet fraud expert with the Sans Institute in Bethesda, Md., a computer and Internet security training organization. "It's not just the bored retiree, but it's also professional people you would think who would know better. The greed factor turns off their brains."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/31/MNGSCOVGGI1.DTL#ixzz0a1ZHHHPT
​

The Nigerian scams rake in $millions each year, but it seems that most internet scams originate in the US. These figures are US only ...

In 2008, more than $264 million was lost in 275,284 complaints—an average of $931 for every complaint—according to the 2008 Internet Crime Report, released March 30. Almost one-third of the complaints were for non-delivery of merchandise purchased online; auction fraud accounted for one in four complaints.

In the U.S. last year, California, New York, Florida, Texas, and the District of Columbia were home to half the perpetrators identified in complaints. Worldwide, perpetrators were most commonly from the U.S. (66.1%), followed by the United Kingdom (10.5%), Nigeria (7.5%), and Canada (3.1%).

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march09/internet_033009.html

 

[ddrew]

Ok, just for the hell of it I decided to play along and answer his email like I'm really interested in the place.
Look at the nightmare info I put on his app, I'll bet any money that he's "ok" with it and emails me back where to send the deposit, lol.
I'm going to see how long I can keep this going before the guy gives up. Plus I decided to talk like I'm from somewhere else too


Hello Jason, thank you for you consideration and your welcome too.
I am Hank Aarron, future renting of your home and I am very much to be looking forward to hearing from you soon as to be possible.
Thank you and your welcome
Hank Aarron



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
Full Name_Hank Aarron
Home Phone ( 518 )_456_9747
Date of Birth__6/27/57
Other Phone (
Current Address____Lynolakes adult detention center
Reasons for Leaving__Parolled
Are you married______widow
How many people will be living in the house_______14
Do you have a pet____5 staint bernards
Do you have a car________no
Occupation___ditch digger
Move In Date____asap________________________
When do you intended sending me the deposit____as soon as I hear from you
When do you intended receiving the keys and document of the house______as soon as possibleYou can reach me at:+2347051370453 or 0112347051370453

Lol, I can't wait

 

[ddrew]

Well good news!!!
Despite being recently paroled, having 13 roomates, and 5 staint Bernards, I've been accepted and approved with the love of christ!!! Lmao!

ACCEPTED WITH THE LOVE OF CHRIST !‏
From: Jason McCrary ([email protected])
Sent: Fri 12/18/09 7:29 AM
To:
Thanks for getting back to me with the Rent Application Form. I just wanted to let you know that we have decided to let you live in our house.. As we have found your application very satisfactory and acceptable by my family. So we would want you to go through this email and get back to us on what you feel so we could proceed in renting the house to you.

We would like to send the following documents to you via FED EX SHIPPING DELIVERING COMPANY to the address you sent to us and the tracking number will be sent to you so that you can possibly occupy our house. Please once again, we are giving you this based on trust so please do not disappoint us and i promise you that, you will love the house....

We are with the under listed documents here with us and you will need to make Payment for the security deposit ($350 USD) to enable shipment of the Keys and documents to the address you have provided to us, after which you could move in at your convenience.The rent starts counting when you move in, so you could go ahead with the payment straight away to make things faster,so you can have the keys and documents of the house with you and then move in at your own convenience.

Here are the contents of the document that needs to be sent.

1) Entrance and the rooms Keys
2) Paper/Permanent house form
3) The house documentary file.
4) Full Description of the house
5) Payment Receipt

So please do get back to me today so that I will let know the next step to take concerning the payment. The house is available for rent ,so you are free to decide on how long you intend occupying it. Rent already includes utilities. I'm ready to accept either monthly or upfront mode of payment. depending on the one you're most comfortable
with. Utilities includeower, water,sewer and trash.

Your monthly rent already covers utilities so you do not have to pay extra charges for that...

Please note that the deposit made is fully refundable should in case you finally gain entrance to the house after receiving the keys and documents and feel unsatisfied or uncomfortable with the interior,but i am giving you a benefit of doubt that you will love everything about this lovely home.You are advised to act fast on this so you don't loose the house to other interested applicants.
Thanks and Remain Blessed,
JASON MCCRAY

I'm going to email him tomorrow and say I drove by the place and it looks like people are living in it already, see what he has to say about that, lol.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

I'm going to email him tomorrow and say I drove by the place and it looks like people are living in it already, see what he has to say about that, lol.

 

[Synthettek]

scam.