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.

  1. Scammer posts rental ad on a large free classifieds site and makes rental price extremely low
  2. The victim finds the ad and wants to rent the property
  3. Communication between the scammer and victim begins
  4. Scammer tells victim he is out of the country on business
  5. 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
  6. The scammer asks to see the receipt that funds have been transfered to the victims friend through MoneyGram
  7. 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.

Nigerian Rental Scams

September 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm | Posted in Rental Scams, Tips to Avoid Scams | Leave a comment

FraudGuides posted a good post on how to detects nigerian rental scams.

Rental Scam Warning Signs

  • You are contacted via email regarding a property.
  • The request comes from outside the country.
  • There is a sense of urgency.
  • Third parties become involved.
  • You will be over-payed

How to avoid Nigerian rental scams

  • Do not let someone pay more than you asked for.
  • Do a web search for the renter’s name to see what comes up.
  • If the payment arrives in the form of a money order, inspect it carefully in case it’s a counterfeit. Despite your best attempts to determine its authenticity, it may still turn out to be a forgery.
  • Do not let someone else use your name or Social Security number to buy a property, especially if they offer to pay you for using it.
  • Don’t do anything until the money order or check clears the bank. You could be pressured to act sooner and you might even receive threats. Don’t give into anything. Nigerian scams depend on you sending money to someone before the money order clears the bank.

The Potential Resident Renter Scam

September 12, 2008 at 4:42 pm | Posted in Rental Scams | 7 Comments
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The most common rental scam is when a potential renter is interested in your property. Here is how it works:

  1. The scammer finds your rental ad on a classifieds site.
  2. The scammer will contact you directly via email (Example Here). There are common themes (out of country, usually the UK, commonly references God, poor spelling and grammer, email address most commonly an @yahoo address, sometimes says they are a Reverend or Doctor.)
  3. The property owner or property manager does not know this is a scam and replies to the email with the information.
  4. The Scammer replies that they would like to rent the property but will not be able to see it because they are outside of the US. They say they will send a certified cashiers check.
  5. The certified cashiers check is received and the total is usually $1,000 – $2,000 over the deposit and first months rent amount.
  6. The scammer says they made a mistake and sent too much money and asks if they can have the remaining $1 – 2 thousand sent back to them.
  7. It takes 2 – 3 days for any bank to recognize a cashiers check as being fake.
  8. The unexpected property owner or manager thinks the money is already in the bank so they have no problem wiring the excess $1 – 2K back to the “potential renter”
  9. The Scammer recieves the funds and is never heard of again.

If this has happend to you in the past, please tell us your story in the comments below. If you need to contact the authorities you can find that information here.

The Property “Owner” Rental Scam

September 12, 2008 at 4:41 pm | Posted in Rental Scams | 13 Comments

Here is how the scam works.

The scammer, usually from Nigeria, the UK or outside of the US, copies a residential rental ad from a rental site and reposts it to a free large classifieds site. They make the rental price very low in order to attract as many potential renters as possible.

The unassuming interested renter thinks the price is too good to be true but decides to contact the “owner” or “property manager” of the home.

The email response would look something like this. (This is a real email from a scammer). email is (corbeilh@yahoo.com)

Subject: Re: $800 / 3br – Better Than New!

We have decied to let you live in our house. As we have found your application very setisfactry and acceptable by my family. So we would want you to go through the acceptance form and get back to us on what you feel.I will be giving you a call later.we would like to send the following document to you via FEDEX to the address you sent to us and the tracking number will be sent to you so that you can possibly occupy our housePlease once againwe are giving you this on trust and do not dissapoint us and I promise you thatyou will love the house. So we are with the below document here with us.you will need to make Payment for Rent deposit and shippment of the Keys and document to the address you will have to provide to us.
Here are the contents of the document.

1) Entrance and the rooms Keys
2)Paper/Permanent house form
3)The house documetary file.

So please do get back to me today so that I will let know the next step to take concerning the payment. I await your reply ASAP.Regard and God bless you!!! You can call us on how to make payment for the shippment of the Keys and Document to the apartment. Our house number is +234-803-659-7132 OR 011-234-803-659-7132.or you can indicate if you want me to instruct you on how to make the payment.

Mr. Johnson David
WifeTheresa & daughter Melinda100 Church RoadLagosWest Africa. 01234
+234-803-659-7132 OR 011-234-803-659-7132
Missionary Code: 15148Z
http://new.gbgm-umc.org

The unassuming renter sends this scammer a check assuming they will then receive the keys to the property. Of course, the keys are never sent and the scammers now has the renters money.

In some cases, the scammer will tell the potential renter that they are out of the country but can send them the keys to see the house themselves. If they don’t like the house the “scammer’ says they will refund them their money. (Usually a $2,000 deposit)

The major red flags of any scam are:

  • Outside of the US
  • Misspellings
  • Wanting Payments – Cashiers Check, FEDEX, etc
  • Unable to personally show you the property
  • Is traveling on business and will just send you the keys
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