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Last week I found this property in the suburbs - not the area we want to live - however, this property popped up....
Great price
Awesome commute
Huge house
Gated community
Close to Shelley's family
Pool!
It fit our every need except for the foothills/country setting.
We discussed and researched the opportunity and I shot off an e-mail to the craigslist poster.
When I say researched I mean I located the property via www.zillow.com and google maps. I did notice that the address was possibly incorrect - It wasn't matching up to county property database records. Not unusual though, postings can have typos and addresses can be weird at times.
My e-mail was polite and provided the "landlord" with some detailed and unsolicited information about us.
Almost 24 hours later I received this reply.
[ cut and pasted ]
Thanks for the email,i am Mark Joseph owned the house and also it is a very cool and clean house, i also want you to know that it was due to my transfer that makes us to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own. So for now Am here in Tenneessee on a missionary transfer but i came along with my family and also with the keys of the house for rent,we try to look for an agent that we can give this document before we left but could not see and we are as well as don't want our house to be used any how in our absent that is why we took it along to us here and as you know that,my wife is here with me,so i hope you will promise us to take very good care of the house.So get back to me on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in renting house.Hope you are okay with the price and the amenities in it
Note:I DEAL STRAIGHT FORWARD IN TRUTH HERE ARE THE HOUSE FEE BELOW Exterior:Wonderful and clean
Outdoor: Wonderful and clean
Parking: Wonderful and clean
So if you are interested in the house you get back to me by filling the
Rent Application Form below okay
RENT APPLICATION FORM
1)Your Full Name:
2)Your Full Address & Phone Number: 3)How old are you?:
4)Are you married?:
5)How many people will be living in the House?:
6)Do you have a pet?:
7)Do you have a car?:
8)Occupation?:
9)How many months contract?:
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, 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.Best Regards.
Mark Joseph
N:B-Call me on 5127724280 or 5125950656
Whoa.
Most of you reading this know a bit about Shelley and I. You also know our career and job-related experience.
That being said, an air raid siren and blinding flashers went off in my head. Some may see it as obvious, but trust me - most do not.
I mean, just reading the first sentence - well not the first sentence because Mark pretty much doesn't use a single period in his reply. But just a few words into his reply, my spidey-senses started tingling.
I presented the response to Shelley, who immediately reminded me of a citizen she talked to last week - who got a very similar response upon inquiry to a craigslist rental. But that landlord was from Nigeria, which just screamed 419 ( educate yourself here http://www.419eater.com/ )
Shelley pointed out that this other person who questioned the craigslist post also noted that the key would be mailed to her. Within seconds we both concluded that in no way was this rental property legit - a total scam.
Let me back up -
Here are the clues....
1. His name is Mark Joseph and English is obviously a second language. If his name was Mark Josephinksy or Mark Yakaazarah I wouldn't think twice. Yeah, yeah, call it profiling or stereotyping - deal.
2. He tried to look for an agent - What? Tried? Gave up because you left the state? It's no trouble this day and age to deal with a business clear across the USA. If you can craigslist, you can find a rental agency to rep your home.
3. The biggest clue ever - Beware of those that use the word HONEST or TRUTH in their posts and emails.
"Note:I DEAL STRAIGHT FORWARD IN TRUTH HERE ARE THE HOUSE FEE BELOW"
4. The "RENT APPLICATION FORM" In my original e-mail, I actually addressed 99% of this form prior to his reply. Why ask questions that were previously answered. This screams Form letter or auto-reply. His reply in no part was personalized to my original email.
5. He used the word "trust" again AND went the God route.
"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."
6. His two phone numbers are registered out of Texas. You can find out A LOT via the internets.
Here's the meat of the scam.
A renter emails and telphones the landlord. All seems well. All seems easy. Renter signs a contract via e-mail, or in some cases no contract, just verbal agreements. Renter sends money, usually a check, money order or wired money, to the landlord who is out of state. The renter is promised a key via the mail. Renter never gets the key. Renter tries email and phone calls with negative results. Renter investigates, finds that the property either doesn't exist, it's occupied by a legitimate resident, or it's actually up for rent by a legitimate rental agency. In all cases, the "landlord" is not actually the landlord of said property. The renter just sent off some money to who-knows-who and is out a deposit, down payment and/or first month's rent. In most cases the rent and/or deposit is ridiculously low.
Back to Shelley and I. From the beginning, we thought this was a great deal, super low rent and expected there to be some sort of catch. From experience, rich landlords can be weird. Shelley had stated, "This house should be renting for at least $2600 a month".
After the first reply from the landlord, Shelley and I investigated a bit more.
Troubles.
The original craigslist posting is gone! Post removed!
The house WAS up for rent via a rental agency but was rented out over a week ago!
http://www.sacrentals.com/goinside/4
If you look at the link above, it contains pics of the house. On the original craigslist post, the watermarks were removed and only 4 pics were used. Oh, and Shelley was on the mark - asking rental price....$2750
This type of scam is not uncommon. Some high profile media outlets have done stories on the scam - which is really targeting desperate renters seeking affordable homes.
Cockeyed.net has a recent article on fake car ads. Similar tactics in some cases.
http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/acc
I have not replied to the landlord's email.... yet. But I will.
I'm curious how Mr. Mark Joseph will respond. Continue the rental process?
Should I screw with him for a while - just to see how far he will go?
Perhaps I should just talk circles around him, frustrating him in his attempts to get my money.
http://www.419eater.com/ has some great tips to screw with scammers at their own game.
Hmmmm the possibilities.
http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/27
How to hack into Dept. Transportation roadsigns.....
Now it has spread like wildfire across the lovely Zombie USA
Google news search
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&nolr=1&q=zombies+sign&btnG=Search
I'm a Twitter addict - I'm a social media and networking addict - My laptop and Blackberry keys have worn down to their springs.
There are two common types of Twitter'rs.
Micro-bloggers
Detail random bits of their life, random thoughts, opinions, social activities, and current media consumption.
Small Business/Private enterprise/SPAM
From real estate to law, photography to get rich quick schemes - Twitter is being used as a way to advertise for free.
This morning, I found a different type of Twitter. Public Domain meets Twitter.
http://www.twitter.com/publicdomain
The "creator" of the page is Danco http://twitter.com/danco
Mr. Danco has enough spare time and ambition to Tweet Moby Dick.
Not just the two words, Moby - Dick.
The entire freak'n book.
As I view it now, Danco has 8,748 posts, and an archive dating back to September 12, 2008.
That's exactly 320 pages into the past. Apparently Twitter stops its archive at 320 pages because
the Tweets begin in the middle of CHAPTER 26 Knights and Squires.
So much for starting with Call me Ishmael.
At 127 followers and 0 following, Mr Danco, AKA publicdomain must have a dedicated audience.
Only having 140 characters per Tweet, this project may just as well become an antique itself.
Strong work Danco, good luck and good night.
