housing wanted scam

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 06 Jun 2012 Posts: 1

Hi,
so i was looking through the housing wanted section on craigslist and i have found that there are always posts talking about a person who has been kicked out by roommates, or fiances or whatever and now they (allegedly) live on the streets and are looking for a temporary place to stay.
Now when I first read those I was feeling sorry for them in their situation and replied by email saying I'd let them stay at my place for a couple of days and help them find a permanent home.
The person replied they had found a home but needed some money.
I replied back saying I'm poor because all of this started to sound kinda fishy.
Then ever since I saw the same post being reposted on craigslist after a couple of days I realized somebody is just trying to pull a trick.

Now here's my question:
What do these people try to gain? They never ask for address or bank information (like the obvious scammers do) and I wanna know how to tell them apart from people who are REALLY in a bad situation and need help.

So what is the deal with these kind of scams?

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:07 am

Quote:

The person replied they had found a home but needed some money.

That's it just money, that's all they need.

They might be in a different town(for work) and want you to WU or MG the money.
They found the right victim(one with pity), now find the right bait to bleed them dry. Poor people need not to reply, they want serious money for their effort and story.
They can still email, living on the street though?
Have no friends and family in town? Might not even be in town! (offer to pay cash in minutes and they'll have an excuse why they can't come, better by WU or MG Laughing

)
If you really want to help, volunteer for the salvation army, womens shelter and such, better use of money and effort and much healthier and economical.

You're too good for this world Wink