Craig's list roomer or roommate scam

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 31 Jul 2010 Posts: 1

I've just come across something I know is a scam but not sure how they work it as I never followed through. I ran an ad on Craig's list to rent out a room in my house. I got a bunch of different answers all with the same general form. The person (usually a female) was born in one country but was working for a NGO in another country and would soon be coming to my area to work (doubtful on the face of it since not many jobs in this area). Their rent would be coming from the NGO and would be sent in advance to hold the room. I'm assuming it's the old send more than needed and ask the excess be given to a third party but I've never followed up on any of these e-mails. Has anybody else got experience with this scam and know the details so I can scam them back next time?

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 4:48 am

Your assumption is correct--we have seen several of these, and they are typically overpayment. They typically want money forwarded to their "mover" or decorator, etc. Or they just claim they overpaid by accident and need the excess returned to them.

Less frequently, we have seen overpayment scams where the scammer instead asks the victim to purchase laptops, cellphones, etc. with the overpayment (and ultimately the victim will be told to send the purchases to them).

Keep in mind that if the ad contains links to you in real life, then baiting from the ad is not considered "safe baiting."

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