Craigslist + Move.com: How to Spot a Really Obvious Rental Scam
If someone offered you a luxurious two-bedroom rental in Chinatown for $1,000/month, all included, you’d figure it was was too good to be true.
And you’d be right!
But here’s the devilish part: Not only have these lily-livered scammers resorted to false domain names; they now write personably and with few grammatical irregularities!
Below, a simple guide to spotting similar scams:
- The location is too good to be true.
- The alternate location, mysteriously different from the first, is too good to be true.
- The pictures are too good to be true.
- The leaser claims to be using move.com, a reputable apartment rental site, but is in fact using a domain workaround (say, http://www.move.com.au.tt via http://joynic.com/) in order to break your heart.
- If step #4 confuses you, check the source code (apple + U on Macs).
- There’s a COMPELLING FORUM ON YAHOO ANSWERS DEVOTED TO VERBATIM SCHEMES.
- Don’t let your imagination run away with you, no matter how apartment-less or desperate or chemically altered you may be. And remember: That slightly grotty apartment in Shaw (or Brightwood, or Edgewood, or what have you) isn’t so bad after all. Because it actually exists. And the landlady made you tea when you visited, rather than trying to rob you blind.
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5:13 pm
Another sign, if you are renting a room and they offer to send you a cashier’s check, then it is a scam.
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of Scam Victims United
12:17 pm
So… how does this scam work? Are they just trying to scam you out of first, last, and security deposits?
4:28 pm
Glad I researched move.com and found this site.
THANK YOU.
What a timely article!! The below email is what I received.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my property.
My name is XXX, I’m 48 years old, I’m a construction engineer and I’m the owner of this
condo(2 bedrooms,2 bathrooms,1100 square footage) .I lived in this beautiful condo for over 5 years and loved every day of it.
The condo is fully furnished with all necessary amenities(exactly like in the pics),Brazilian cherry floors; Luxurious kitchen with Viking appliances,
large kitchen island and Poggen Pohl cabinets; master bedroom/master bath includes an oversized marble soaking tub and separate shower; California
Closets walk-in closet in master bedroom;
The unit is equipped with recessed lighting, central air and heat, the condo come with two parking spots,a storage unit where you can deposit my furniture
(if you don’t like it and you want use your furniture),there is also a linen closet, and most importantly, a new front loading stacked washer and drier.
Pets allowed.I’ve moved to United Kingdom with my job (i am a construction engineer) and decided to rent it because the rent is very expensive here.
The price is so low because I’m here and is very hard to find a tenant.I can rent you the condo for max. 5years .I really want to find a good and responsible
tenant for it, and I hope that you can send me some personal information about yourself.
The monthly rent is not negotiable, if you can pay the 3 months in advance it will be considered as 4 month’s rent.
The monthly rent for the apartment is US $900. First month’s advance, $900 deposit. Looking for someone to rent anywhere from 3 months to 5 years.
(water,electricity, Internet,cable, parking,air conditioning, fireplace, dishwasher, garbage) and I want to receive the money monthly in my bank account.
You can move in the condo in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I`m the only person who has the keys and I have nobody in
United States that could show you the condo.In order to check it,see if you like it(I’m sure that you’ll love it),you need to receive the keys and the contract.
Obviously we need a way to complete this deal in a safe and fast way for both.The solution is provided by a company called Move (http://www.move.com)
which will handle the payment and delivery of the Keys. A friend of mine moved here from California and used the company to resolve the same problem.
This procedure allow you to pay the rent only after you will receive the keys,after you will see it, decide if you will stay in the condo or not
( I will receive the payment after you’ll check the condo).If you want to know more about how this deal can work please get back to me ASAP and
I will send you the details step by step.
Let me know if you are interested because I really need to take care of this matter by the end of the next week.
These are some pictures of the apartment, please let me know if you received the pictures.
11:23 pm
Ted, I created a rental scam detection quiz if anyone is interested finding out if they are dealing with a scammer:
http://www.rentvine.com/tools/rentalscamquiz/
Dave Dugdale
3:26 pm
@Jake: Glad to be of service!
@Dave: Nice quiz! Though the scam in question (hereafter “The Chinatown Flimflam”) only scored 42%.
6:53 pm
I got the exact same e-mail as Jake!!
10:46 pm
This is a real scam also occurring in Honolulu via Craigslist.
Got the same e-mail as Jake did almost verbatim.
Thank you Ted, for this wonderful article.