Rent Scam process.

Yesterday I had received an email from someone and he asked about the rest of the stories behind the reason for posting the emails. Here is my response to his email:

This rental scamming business is serious stuff... It’s best to only accept those who wish to meet you in person and would like to view the available space. You will get more than a Laura Lawson contacting you... believe me. I still have yet to put up the rest of the posts from all of the emails I have received. These people on the other side that make up this make-shift alias really don't care or pay attention to what they read. I was putting up ads on Craig's List to find a place as well and I was contacted by other means of scams I will add to the blog.
The person “interested” in the room you have available will more often than not, be a female ranging from 24-28 years of age. They are a college graduate, usually from Phoenix, AZ, give a brief description about their background and how they are very relaxed, have morals, and respect for those they will live with. They are always traveling to another state or into the states from Canada or Europe. That is how you can identify them. I was rather rude and vulgar to one of the scammers I was following when I wrote the blog entry. At the end of the email, after accusing them of being scammers, I asked “What is the information so I can save the room.” The person instantly responds with more information and then asks you for mailing address, telephone they can call you at, and whether you accept early payment. Early payment will include first month rent AND the flight/moving fees. Usually the whole check is made for $1500 or more. I’ve read several instances where they have scammed $4000 from other unlucky folk.
Once they have all that information from you… they waste the $50.00 to have it mailed to you over-night. They follow up with an email after tracking it to make sure you opened the package. They explain that they want you to deposit/cash the check right away because they need to have their flight booked or money sent for the moving company. That depends on where they say they are from. This is where people really mess up… The checks all look legit… however, if you Google the address, it’s not from the company they say. I’ve had a check from an elementary school in Arkansas after the person claimed it was a modeling company in New York. Only the property number and street address matched up with anything real. People deposit the check forgetting that they need to wait several days for the check to actually be cleared by the bank. Yet the banks will make a credit to the account with the total of the check. A credit is just the credit… not the actual money. So when they finally have the check processed and see that it is a fake, they will withdraw ALL of the money from the credit for that check with absolutely no warning at all. Even it if leaves you in the negatives. The worst part is, they will NOT give the money back because they assume you should know better and be able to identify the check. The common average person does not work at a bank… they are not exposed to such scams… they are only given paychecks from their employers… and most feel their bank will protect them from such things. They don’t.
The scammer will call from Yahoo! Messenger’s voice chat program or something else that keeps their ID a secret. They will claim to be the agency or moving company asking when you will send the payment because they need to book it ASAP. Usually this person is a man. It’s been the same man each of the 4 times I followed a scam. He probably didn’t realize he had called me so many times before because they are so busy running other scams/transactions as well.
When you make the deposit, they call and harass you or send a lot of emails waiting for your response. The second you do, they somewhat hound on you in a semi polite manner to get you to send the money to them ASAP. They request that you send it through Western Union or via Cashier’s check. You keep the said amount for rent and forward the rest of the remaining balance to the addressee that they will provide. It will be another random address. You confirm with them that the payment was sent, and minutes later, they will be there to collect the money. With Western Union, once the money is gone… it is gone. They can only help you to an extent before they request police paperwork for more information.
I came about this scam when I first moved in with my previous roommate, in which I’ll call “Kay” to identify. She turned out to be fraud herself… but that is other drama irrelevant to the subject. Anyway, Kay was contacted by another girl that lived in the states and was looking for a place to live here in CA while she was on a year contract with a film company. The girl said she was going to head to France to help her uncle move because he was going to a nursing home and that she would need the help getting her stuff moved because she wouldn’t have access to American banks and such while out there. She asked that Kay send the money for her furniture and car to arrive to her movers by Western Union to an address in Montana. Kay got the check in the mail, deposited it, then followed up two days later with the bank, seeing that her available balance for the credit was $2300 more than she already had saved. She withdrew $1500 and sent it to the movers in Montana and paid off the rent for the month. She went to make a purchase at the store and was declined. They had removed the pending credit, implemented over drafts fees, and left her with nothing. She opened a case file with the police and found that the payment for Western Union was picked up in San Bernardino, which is only a 1.5 hour drive from our location in great Los Angeles.
It’s unfortunate for those caught up in this mess, but it seems to work well in their favor if they find the right person… and in these days where things are hard, they are thriving on this dirty business.

Please feel free to add to this through comments and such. :)

Remembered.

Wow, so I forgot about this blog while caught in the drama of trying to find a new place to live after finding out the roommate we rented from was only 17, let her dog destroy the carpet throughout entire appartment, and tried to get us on the lease to sign her off.

Thanks to an email from someone looking for a little more detail to the scams at hand, I remembered all about this blog. And thank you, Sweety and JulieG, for posting comments with the emails you received. Much appreciated!

I'll keep up-to-date with more stories!

Spread the word! Make sure your friends and family are aware of these scams if they are looking to rent out their rooms/homes!