The Money Order Rental Scam

September 13, 2008 at 3:26 pm | Posted in Rental Scams | 4 Comments

Scammers will try to make the victim feel as comfortable as possible. Here is one way they do it.

Scammer posts rental ad on a large free classifieds site and makes rental price extremely low
The victim finds the ad and wants to rent the property
Communication between the scammer and victim begins
Scammer tells victim he is out of the country on business
To ensure the victim has funds. the scammer asks the victim to wire money ($2,000) to any of the victims friends. This is suppose to make the victim feel better because they are wiring it to their own friend
The scammer asks to see the receipt that funds have been transfered to the victims friend through MoneyGram
With Money orders, the recipient can pick up the funds anywhere in the world. With the information on the receipt, the scammer picks up the money.

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4 Comments »

[...] When scammers copy ads and repost them on Craigslist with a much lower rental rate, this is called The Money Order Rental Scam. [...]

Pingback by scottdavies80@yahoo.com - Rental Scammer « Rental Scam Information - Protecting the Public from Rental Scammers— November 28, 2008 #

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I have received several emails from a Mr. Andrew Cole in UK wanting to rent a property that I listed on Craigs List. It is obviously some scam, but I don’t understand what they are after.

Comment by Ken Crane— February 21, 2009 #

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Should you have any doubt that individuals are generating funds on-line ok, i’ll function as someone to alleviate anyone of this doubt. You will find a huge number of men and women earning money at home …mercury dimes

Comment by Money owed to me— February 4, 2012 #

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Ken, They want to get a response from you so they know they have a live e-mail address. More importantly, however, they are after gullible prospective tenants who might send them a security deposit, an application fee, or they might even fill out an application with all of the personal information that would permit someone to empty their bank account, use their medical insurance, etc. There are thousands of gullible prospective tenants who will fall for this. Happens all the time.

Comment by Jerry Bangerter— February 7, 2012 #

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