House rental Scam??

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

Hi, I haven't heard of this version of a nigerian scam before, but my spidey sense went off due to a craigslist posting and the email I received about it.

I am currently looking for house to rent. A listing on craiglist caught my eye and I sent an email inquiring when I might be able to check out the house. The listing seemed entirely legitimate, but after several days I finally got an email response. It gave me pause due to the mention that he and his wife are now in nigeria, doing charity work and the mention of 'god guiding you'. Also the bad english for someone that has had a home in America. Forgive my ignorance if this is another common scam. Here is the email I got from them. I assume that like the other nigerian scams, the money wiring requests would come later.

Hello
Thanks for your response regarding your interest in having my house for rent.The house is much available for now.I want you to know that i am the owner of this building situated at 2524 SW Stutley Ct, Topeka KS 66614.But i am now presently in West Africa for my Hospitals Project prayer crusade with my wife and we have the keys right here with us.I will like to inform you that it was due to my transfer that makes us to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own..So for now,We are here in West Africa,NIGERIA our new house and also with the keys of the house,we are trying to look for an agent that we can give this document before we left but could not see and we are as well as don’t want our house to be used any how in our absent that is why we took it along with us here..We are only willing to give the house out to a lovely and caring family only, so if you know you cannot give the house the neatness it deserves please don’t contact me.But if you promise to always take good care of the house,get back to me on how you could take care of our house or perhaps experience you have in renting a home. I am looking forward to hear from you ASAP,Our house number is+234-803-881-9419 or 011-234-803-881-9419, below is the application form for you to fill and discuss on how to get the house for rent..
Kindly confirm your interest by filling the form below:
TENANT RENT APPLICATION
FIRST NAME: __________________
MIDDLE NAME: __________________
LAST NAME: __________________
PROFESSION: ________________
PHONE (____) __________ (CELL)
PHONE (____) __________ (WORK)
PHONE (____) __________ (HOME)
MARITAL STATUS: _________
KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY ________
Home ADDRESS: ___________________________
CITY: _______________
STATE: ______________
ZIP CODE: ____________
HOW LONG? ___________IF RENTING
WHY ARE YOU LEAVING? _______________________________________________________________________
CURRENT RENT: _______
IF THIS House IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________
Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file incase of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you,please we are giving you all this base on t r ust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that,we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this.
Regards…

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Can you pm me the info on this? Is this house still up for rent on Craigslist?

How this scam works is a lad will scour a legitimate real estate site, find a house for rent, and put the exact same house for rent on Craigslist. Of course, he will need first and last months rent, along with a security deposit, sent to him via Western Union.

edit - here is the link to the home. It is currently for sale.

http://www.trulia.com/property/1087666355-2524-SW-Stutley-Ct-Topeka-KS-66614

Since you are the one that saw the Craigslist ad could you please contact the agent and please let him/her know what is going on. Thanks.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

I just checked and it has been flagged and pulled from craigslist. After doing a search I found several references to this type of scam and the fact that this one had all the earmarks.

Yes I found the same house listed at a real rental website for a lot more.

I will be happy to post or pm any other info. I don't know if it will help. The subject of the email was: Re: $600 / 3br - Located on a cul de sac, across the street from the park & has an extr (Topeka)‏
From: GIFFORD ALAN L ([email protected])

if that is any help if there is other info you want, let me know what and I will be glad to pm it to you.

Thanks!

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Thanks. That should do. If you could note the addition to my post above and let the agent know about this it would be great.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

Will do. Thanks!

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:25 am

Jayhawk, you looking for somewhere for all your smurfs to live?

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:47 am

These a-holes have pretty much ruined Craigslist, at least with regards to finding apartments, jobs, or selling goods.

I must say that their "Hospitals Project prayer crusade" sounds impressive. A project like that must be worthy of a grant from a generous church or two. I imagine they could make good use of a nice van filled with laptops and cell phones to help with God's work....

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:07 am

Yeah, Craigslist is getting pretty stinky. Sad

My brother saw a car he wanted really cheap and inquired. Of course the guy was in the US Army overseas but No Problem! He'd ship the car free! Use ebay escrow to pay. He asked me first and I told him about the scam.
Next day someone wanted to buy his dresser he had on craigslist. Buyer'd send a money order and have it picked up. Rolling Eyes

This is really getting out of hand. I wish something could be done. Oh wait! WE'RE the something! Twisted Evil

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Topeka Kansas is not nice to those that are blue. Sad

With Craigslist you have to deal locally, and deal only in cash. Anything else and the odds are it's a scam. Sad but true.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 4

Jayhawk wrote:

With Craigslist you have to deal locally, and deal only in cash. Anything else and the odds are it's a scam. Sad but true.

True. Even if they hadn't used the obvious keywords like nigeria and god, there is no way I would have rented a place without seeing the inside first and meeting face to face with a local agent.

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:53 pm

A few years back we had a place we were trying to get rented. We put an ad in Yahoo and got a couple of people interested. Of course, they were both from overseas and needed to ship their stuff ahead. They were going to send funds (bogus check, no doubt) to me to arrange for storage for them. These parasites are everywhere Evil or Very Mad