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Advice on Craiglist scam - Page 2 — Brooklynian

Advice on Craiglist scam

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Comments

  • lolopeluso
    lolopeluso
    Hi ,

    I was looking for a holiday flat in London and hada reply eith eactly the same words froma certain Anthony Holmes, he also gave references from some [email protected]. It is obviously not right. I found brooklynian by typing this e-mail reference on google, very lucky.
  • lindamc
    lindamc

    Subject: RE: APARTMENT SCAMS

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. I just knew it was too good to be true. I answered an ad for an apartment rental in New York on 650 42nd St, for $125 a night, just too good to be true! Others were at least $189 to $500. The ad had more personalized chat, our apartment has .... but same wording about deposit, book now because someone else is looking at it.

    His name is: Edger Price <majorvacrental> posted

    I don't know if it's a scam for sure, so I emailed him and said my friend would drop off a cheque and see the apartment. I will post again, when I hear back from him.

    Thanks for the warning!
  • starbucksgirl
    starbucksgirl

    Subject: Similar scam on craigslist for Sacramento, CA area

    Thank you very much for taking the time to post this information. I received a similar email and it had so many spelling and grammar errors that I decided to do a search on the email address. I found this website because of my search.

    I really appreciate you taking the time.
  • starbucksgirl
    starbucksgirl

    Subject: Re: Similar scam on craigslist for Sacramento, CA area

    starbucksgirl wrote: Thank you very much for taking the time to post this information. I received a similar email and it had so many spelling and grammar errors that I decided to do a search on the email address. I found this website because of my search.

    I really appreciate you taking the time.
    This is the email that I received:

    Thanks for your email,well i personally own the house, I want my property to be well taken good care of, and they are some rules and regulation in which i do give out to my tenant if they are willing to rent my house, so please don't disrespect my order ,but if you are still capable of renting my house the rules and regulation goes this way.You must keep my house clean including the surrounding, you must know the way in which you use the gas stove so as to avoid fire outbreak,you must not disturb the neighbor. you might also notice for sale sign in front of the house, but me and my wife has decided to rent it out due to our transfer to (NewYork) because of my Job, and we are renting it out now and not selling it again.Have this in mind. Yes we Accept Pets ok Also i would be the one to take care of utilities, Gas, Water Bills.

    You can Go ahead and see the House in the Address 4941 Virginia Way Sacramento, CA and Get back to me so we can proceed ok?


    Bedrooms 2
    Baths 1
    Address: 4941 Virginia Way Sacramento, CA
    House Type: Single Family Home
    Pets are welcome!!!
    Month rent: $700
    Damages Deposit: $300



    The up front before move in is $300 Damages Deposit..Plus the upfront Deposit of the first month rent which is $700 . The total will be $1000 to move in to the house.

    I will give you a call shortly. if you write me your phone number



    Thanks and God bless you..
    Regards...
  • jeffrey
    jeffrey
    starbucksgirl, thanks right back atcha for posting this.

    Which email address (and contact name) was it that was listing this in Sacramento?

    (Just so we can keep this thread tracking ongoing info regarding which scammers are currently active, when,and where.)

    Thanks!
  • canyontothesky
    canyontothesky
    You guys. If someone asks you to wire them money (real people will ask you to send a check to a real address) then it's a scam. Plain and simple. Everyone knows how craigslist works. You deal locally. This isn't ebay.

    If someone has weird typing patterns beyond what's reasonable, it's probably a scam. Writing, "Yes we Accept Pets ok Also i would be the one to take care of utilities, Gas, Water Bills. You can Go ahead and see the House in the Address 4941 Virginia Way Sacramento, CA and Get back to me so we can proceed ok?"
    Who in their right mind randomly capitalizes all the words in just these two sentences? Anyone who is speaking correct English, yet doing this, something's up. We all know what's a proper noun and what's not. Who is really going to capitalize 'go?'

    And thirdly and most importantly, when it's too good to be true, IT IS! I don't care if it's NYC or Kansas, someone renting a 3,000 sq foot apartment for $100 a night is scamming you! Much less in NYC, in prime NYC, where the utilities alone might cost something like $100 a day, LOL. If you're on craigslist and only a couple of ads are this low, and everything is way, way higher, why would this be the only one nice person to rent so low?

    I think people need to be using a little more common sense here. We all know CL is full of scams, so look out for them. If a rental's price is sooo cheap, there's something wrong with it! Even my apartment, it rents for at least a few hundred dollars below market value, yet it's gorgeous and newly renovated. Why? Because it's right above the train, is on 4th ave, it's quite noisy, and I have to pay all utilities. It's not perfect, but there's a reason why it's cheap(er).

    I'm not trying to be rude, I think it's great what you guys are doing because if someone googles any part of your e-mails, they'll likely find this. I don't think that people who fall for this "are getting what's coming to them" at all, either, but I do think that just like walking at night in the city, you need to be aware of your surroundings, and someone mysteriously leaving to do missionary work or going away, or just plain someone who wants you to wire them money, which is the most common avenue for scams, that should be enough to get your finger to the delete button, nevermind tracing the e-mail to similar scams out there. :)

    "Nothing gets you nothing, everything has got a little price."
  • puply
    puply

    Subject: Again

    It just infuriates me that these scams are still ongoing and Craiglist does *nothing* to stop them.

    The scammers use the exactly same names, email addresses and apartment descriptions again and again. It would be so simple for Craiglist to at least ban them. But not, they will not do it.

    I just hope at some point someone wakes up and hits them with a class action lawsuit. With their lack of action, they are aiding and abetting every day hundreds (maybe thousands) of scams.

    In a post on this board, on September, 2009, I wrote about the scammer using the address [email protected] . Well, the address is still used and there are at least a dozen of ads for apartments in Manhattan:

    http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/vac/1780994398.html
    "Cute and Modernly Furnished Two bedroom apartment available in Manhattan, Apartment located in Gramercy area, great neighborhood with lots of restaurants and bars, shops and tourist attractions. Apartment is located on a quiet tree-lined street, with easy access to all major subways and buses. Its a great location!!!! Apartment is newly remodeled and modernly furnished - queen size bed, twin size bed, sofa , dining table, flat screen LCD TV, Wireless Internet, fully equipped kitchen. The entire apartment is professionally cleaned between guests. Provided bedding with clean bed linens, also clean towels are included for the stay. It has fully equipped kitchen with coffee maker, Toaster, all tools and dishes, glasses, cups, you can enjoy cooking in the apartment. "

    Did a small check about other scammers and found dozens of ads for apartments by a scammer or scammers using the address

    [email protected]

    Same issues, you flag these posts and nothing happens. Way to go Craiglist, keep the good work up allowing scammers do their dirty job.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    Wouldn't a simple step be for Craigslist to only let you make posts if your IP address is in the geographic area its for sale?
  • jeffrey
    jeffrey
    Not really, since some small percentage may have craigslist banned at work and may use an anonymizer or other proxy service to get around it (and those IPs draw from a pool world-wide). Or other reasons why some minority of legitimate folks might complain despite using the exact holes that make it easy for scammers.

    It would also be a simple step to restrict an IP address to posting to only one area.

    People would bitch that they can't post to other markets (seeking rentals etc.) but it would help a little.

    Then again, what often happens is the real bad guys just get smarter, and the whack-a-mole needed to follow them begins to severely restrict the capabilities of the average user. For example, an anonymizer proxy like Tor can jump to a new IP address at will. So tracking and banning is useless unless you ban all Tor IP (and other open proxy) addresses worldwide. Which they could do, but don't.

    But they also may be keeping some things open for law enforcement agencies...both to track, locate and nail offenders as well as to post fake fraud, prostitution, and child pornography or solicitation offers as traps.

    I agree. It definitely seems to be left wide open.
  • puply
    puply
    jeffrey wrote: It definitely seems to be left wide open.
    Yes, Jeffrey, it is left wide open. And people fall in the trap everyday. It is a pity for them, and a bonanza for the criminals.

    Today I checked Craiglist New York for vacation rentals and found there scores of scam ads posted in the last 48-72 hours. I do not have time for this, but I could not help myself from compiling a short list of the scammers addresses that are active right now in Craiglist:

    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]

    All these addresses were gathered in less than 15 minutes of search. I calculate - unscientifically - that about 45% to 55% of vacation rentals in Craiglist New York are scams.

    I also found something new. Someone among the scammers has bought a domain name, probably to lend himself - or herself, or themselves - more credibility and catch more victims. The domain name is ETHERINGTONVACATIONS.COM, and the address that it is used now to scam people (with dozens of ads), is:

    [email protected]

    The usual note: Beware of all the addresses included in this message. All of these addresses are used by scammers. The ads are not real, the apartments do not exist as presented. Do not continue communications with these people. DO NOT SEND THEM MONEY. Be careful and avoid scams.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    classic

    http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/wrg/1821208865.html
  • jeffrey
    jeffrey
    ^ I flagged it for "best of craigslist :lol:
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Craigslist has pretty much eliminated the computer generated posting, so scammers have to use real people.

    I wonder if the people who post on his behalf ever even get the $0.50. ?

    ...and why would he admit that he got a customer as a result of a listing the someone posted? Hence, nobody likely gets the $50, and he goes on being an anonymous, behind the scene spammer.
  • joeller_33
    joeller_33

    Subject: Too good to be true! BEWARE!!!

    Like most of you, I could have gotten scammed. It's true what most of you say, deal locally but it's difficult when you are trying to find a vacation rental because you can't physically be there to check.

    Yesterday I was looking for a vacation condo for my family in Vancouver. I saw an attractive 2bed/2bath, $100.00 a night condo in downtown Vancouver. Correspondence via email between "owner" and I.

    Red flags for me:
    1. There were several listings that had the same information, just different (very beautiful) pictures with different email addresses.

    2. I asked if they used paypal and they said only Money Gram or Western Union.

    3. He game me is banking and routing information and so I called the bank in Michigan. Correct name, but still fishy. I googled the Money gram zipcode, but it showed me a different state (Georgia) when it was supposed to be a Michigan Address.

    4. The person wouldn't answer questions like, references, name of building or unit to contact, etc.

    I googled the name and email address. Sure enough, police reports are filed against this person from other people. The SAME stock photos in New York, Vancouver, Miami, Hawaii!!!!!!

    Here are some ads at different location IN THE COUNTRY!!!! Same decor in each apartment?? WOW!!!! *Sarcasm*

    http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/vac/1834760617.html

    http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/vac/1833269724.html

    http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/vac/1831359971.html

    http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/vac/1834279530.html

    Same room in at least 4 different states? And the guy was like, "What exactly are you talking about?" when I called him on it via email.

    beware these email addresses:

    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]

    I am sure they use more addresses. Good Luck and don't get scammed!!
  • stanley
    stanley
    More email addresses to be aware of:
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
  • stanley
    stanley

    Subject: They're Everywhere - Google and Flag on Craigslist

    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
  • stanley
    stanley
    Don't deal with anyone who uses these email addresses:
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
  • stanley
    stanley
    [email protected]
  • stanley
    stanley
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
  • stanley
    stanley
    Please see this website for the most up to date list of scammers emails: http://www.joseandterrirentals.com
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