Monday 3 August 2009

Nigerian rental scams

I want to share this amazing story. What is even more amazing is I have received three other stories almost exactly the same from other home owners who have listed their homes for rent. Isn't anyone monitoring these scams on craigslist?

Hi,

I did get your response concerning the AD I posted on craigslist.The house is still available but presently I'm not around.. I did bid for a portion of petroleum land sometimes ago in West Africa and
fortunately I won the bidding so I have to move quickly down to Africa to have my company set up because I will still have to rebid for it in the next 10 years. I came over here with my wife, we both owned the house when we got married. As soon as we settled down here I had a thought of selling the house so I have to look for an agent, after getting one, we got a deal but later my wife advised against that. She said we may not be able to win the bidding next time, in other to keep our head when we return that we have to keep the house. I reasoned with her and accepted her advise. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents. Later we decided to have the house rent out because of maintainance, we would have give the same agent this job also but the truth of the matter is that the agent would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be able to reason along with me later if I let him or her know that I'm letting it out because of maintainance.. If you notice, you will discovered that the price we are offering is far below standard price, this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the maintainance.. I know there is no way I can be sure that you are the right person to live in the house because we won't be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to
occupy the space. But I just had a feeling that anyone who knows what it takes to put the kind of structure down should know that maintaining a building is mandatory, so if you belief you can take good care of the house and handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the house.Please if you are ready now to occupy the house and believe you can assist us in
maintaining the house, kindly provide the information below for record purpose..

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

Full Name__________________________________________________
Home Phone ( ) ________________________
Date of Birth_________________________________
Other Phone ( ) ___________________
Current Address_______________________________Apt#________ City__________________ State______ Zip________
Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone ( ) ____________________________
Are you married____________________________
How many people will be living in the house____________________________
Do you have a pet____________________________
Do you have a car____________________________
Occupation____________________________
Your Exact move in date____________________________
How soon can you make the deposit payment________________________
How soon do you want to receive the keys and documents of the house________________________
House Address
24301 Briones Drive Laguna Niguel, California, US - 92677
CAPONE, NICHOLAS

House Rent $900
Security deposit $500

For more inquiries, please feel free to reach me on any of the numbers below
( +234-702-963-2643 or 011-234-805-803-9541 )

Best Regards

6 comments:

Nicole Hernandez said...

Oh yeah, that is so typical. I've seen those kinds of scams before. You can report them on craigslist.

The Hills... said...

People are crazy!! You have to be so careful. We got a bunch of scam emails like this from several people when we were trying to sell a laptop on Craigslist. Be careful!

Unknown said...

Does the name 'Capone' ring any bells?

StormRunner said...

We ran into one of these too, when looking for a place to rent in Louisville! I hadn't heard of it being a scam until now, but was sure it couldn't be right so I didn't email the guy back...

Kymmiey said...

House Address
1020 East 36th Street
Tulsa, OK 74136

Monthly Fee ; $900
Security Deposit: $500
Pets Allowed:
Available :Available Now for move in.

So pls get back to me today.
I await your reply ASAP.
Regard and God bless you!!!
Paul Joaniee
contact Number .. 011-234-805-803-9541 & +234-702-963-2643

Kymmiey said...

That is the letter i received form them.