Dang, scammers will try anything and everything

Richard Charpentier Notes from Rich Leave a Comment

For the past few months I’ve been keeping an eye out for rental houses in the area.  While I dig the Airstream, we’re into 5 years onboard.  That’s a long time to go without something……

Space.

200 sq feet of space can start to feel a little small after that long full timing.  So yup, been watching for any interesting rentals that come along.

Last week a neat house popped up on Craig’s List, so I sent an e-mail along to get some more information and setup a showing.  And just to double check I used the Trulia App on my IPhone to check out the house.  Sure enough it was listed there too…..only for $300.00 more per month.  Weird.  Maybe the owners were listing it separately on Craig’s List in order to not pay broker fees?  Maybe?

Well, this morning when I couldn’t sleep at 3:30 a.m. I looked through my e-mails and found a response from the person “renting” the house.  Go figure, it’s not really the owner.  It’s another Nigerian scammer.  I say Nigerian scammer because the person actually identifies himself as someone in Nigeria.

Here’s part of the e-mail I received…..:

Sorry for the late response!!!!It is a great pleasure that you are interested in my house… Thanks for your email and it is my gladness hearing from you.i am Holly A Scott  , the owner of the house you are making inquiry of.I am looking for responsible tenants that he/she is going to take care of the house as if it were your own and he/she will be willing to make the Property clean as we left it.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 won’t be coming to the House until Five years now and that means we are renting the Property for long term and short term lease is also acceptable. and presently my house is still available for rent including the utilities like Heat, A/C in wall/window, Hydro, cable, Garbage Disposal, Fireplace , Fridge, stove, Dishwasher, Dryer, Breakfast Bar, Dining Table and Sofa Set,Refrigerator.,internet access e.t.c .,it is unfurnished so if u wish to move in with your furniture no problem..More so Now, i went for a Crusade in West Africa .

It’s got 419 scam written all over it!  Bummer too, the house at the price listed was perfect and I would have went for it.  However, the price listed on Trulia is a little out of my range.

The fun thing with these scams now is they’re using a real rental to work on scamming folks.  It hurts the credibility of the real renter, the sites it’s listed on, etc.  And if you’re foolish enough to provide all the information they requested (there was a ton) and send a deposit check all the way to Africa it’ll hurt you too.

Ugh!

If anyone knows a nice rental property with RV parking in the Prescott area let me know!

P.S.  The 419 Eater website I linked is pretty interesting.  You can learn all about these scams, and how some folks have chosen to deal with the scammers.  Some pretty interesting reads!

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