Scam Warning

[Barry]

A member has recently reported that someone tried to rent his apartment, that was posted here and one other national site as part of a scam. I would like to think that the scammer found the posting via the non-WaCCO national site, but that can't be proven, so I passing along this warning.

The scammer tried to rent the place, site unseen, because they were coming from England.

"She" sent an overpayment in Wal-Mart Money Orders from "her employer" and said it would help her if they would wire her back the overpayment. The bank and Wal-Mart subsequently declared the money orders bogus. In this case, since the member had been warned, only time, and not money was lost.

So the top tip to avoid scams is:

NEVER AGREE TO REFUND AN OVERPAYMENT

For more info on scams, See Craigslist Scam page.

Here are the 2 actual scam emails that were received:

Hello James,
Thanks so much for the mail. I really do appreciate the breakdown details of the house.
I'll be so glad if you can reserve the room for me and remove the advert from the website as i'll love to rent the place. And please tell me if i can ever consider the room as mine.

About myself
I'm briton, a quiet and easy going person to live with. I'm 28 years, 5"7' tall, straight,female and single. I dont drink and smoke but i'm cool living with people that do. I always love to go on date but seldomly party. I swim for fun and sometimes play tennis. My families lives in England and i have no friends in US..... I am an humanitarian currently working on with the World health organization (W.H.O) and Unicef . I hope to end my current assignment by the 21th of August and will love to come down to the states as soon as possible to continue my work.

However, based on your mail i will be making a payment of $1050 to deposit for a month rent. I must confess i'm comfortable with the cost and its quite reasonable and affordable. I would like to make the payment for the first month ahead of my arrival, and then i will make subsequent payment thereafter as i plan to stay for more than 9months. So I will tell my client to get you the payment prior to my arriving date.The things i will be moving in are as follow; My suit case containing my books, my 26' DELL PLASMA TV and DVD Home theatre ,my clothes in three luggages,my desk top computer and pieces of furnitures.
Hope to hear from you soon
Regards
Monica

====== ANOTHER SCAM EXAMPLE =======

James,
Thanks for the mail and i appreciate your efforts towards this.I'll be so glad if you can reserve the room for me and remove the advert from Ad site as i'll love to rent the place. And please tell me if i can ever consider the room as mine. plz i will like to know more details cos i will be coming over by 7TH of september,and i really need a condusive,comfortable and nice place to stay.am very friendly,open minded,honest and God fearing person..like to swim,dance,sing and watch movies..

Well i need more info from you regards to the room and also i need to know the depoist,and the mode of payments that i will be paying before i arrive,i am from ENGLAND,i want to move over ,Kindly get back to me ASAP with the deposit i need to pay because i will like to pay for the deposit before my arrival and i will like to know the total amount i will be paying for 2 to 3 months, but i will like to pay the deposit first of all,I am single,I do modelling and i have job offers already.My job will be based on contracts so i do not have to go to work all the time,I will only need to go to work 3 times in a week.I will have to look for a school i will be going on a part time basis,to enable my get my degree.

Well, i think we will get along well because am a easy going person who respects ones privacy,like i said i dont do drugs or smoke but i drink only occasionally.please send me emails as often as you can because i would like to get to know you better Please kindly get back to me ASAP.Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
ALICIA

[Roland Jacopetti]

This is not a Briton or, for that matter, anyone for whom English is a first language. I think this person is related to the former Prime Minister of Nigeria, who is just dying to give me a lot of money.


Roland

A member has recently reported that someone tried to rent his apartment, that was posted here and one other national site as part of a scam. I would like to think that the scammer found the posting via the non-WaCCO national site, but that can't be proven, so I passing along this warning.

The scammer tried to rent the place, site unseen, because they were coming from England.

"She" sent an overpayment in Wal-Mart Money Orders from "her employer" and said it would help her if they would wire her back the overpayment. The bank and Wal-Mart subsequently declared the money orders bogus. In this case, since the member had been warned, only time, and not money was lost.

So the top tip to avoid scams is:

NEVER AGREE TO REFUND AN OVERPAYMENT

For more info on scams, See Craigslist Scam page.

Here are the 2 actual scam emails that were received:

[Heartfire]

This is not a Briton or, for that matter, anyone for whom English is a first language. I think this person is related to the former Prime Minister of Nigeria, who is just dying to give me a lot of money.


Roland

This is exactly the same type of scam someone tried to pull on me when posting something for sale in Craigslist in Tampa. The money orders were real but not for the amount imprinted. I handed everything over to the Postmaster. Be warned!