House for rent?

[JamesVincent]

Little bit of background. I recently posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a little bit bigger house. I love where we live now but its not quite big enough for me, the kids, all my tools and workshop and my vehicles. I got this as a response to the ad and was wondering if it sets anybody elses Spidey senses a'tingling.

Hello Dear,

How are you doing and the Family. I got your mail in response of
My Post you want to rent on Craiglist..I wanted to sell the House
earlier but i was Advised not to sell it but to rent it out to a
responsible tenant, so now i want to give it out for rent and like i
said earlier i am looking for a responsible person that would be
capable of taking Good care of the home, as we are not after the money
for the rent but i want it to be clean and be in a Good condition,
and the person that will rent it will have to take the home as if it
were his or her own.

Presently I and my wife work for USAID.USAID works in agriculture,
democracy & governance, economic growth, the environment, education,
health, global partnerships, and humanitarian assistance in more than
100 countries to provide a better future for all. This gave us
transfer to Louisiana and we will be away for 5 years or more and this
is why we are actually renting out our House this is our second time
in this part of the world after we had visited
Jamaica,Brazil,china,Kenya,Sudan and united kingdom.so if you are
interested and will take good care of our House then we will be ready
to accept you as our future tenant and family friend. If you really
impress me by taking proper good care of our House, then you will be
allowed to stay as long as you wish okay.


The rent $700 per month & a one time deposit of $500 with
Appliances: Dishwasher, Garbage Disposal, Range,Refrigerator,
Oven,Washer & Dryer Hook up, Lease Lengths, 3 Months minimum Pet
Policy.Pets are OK,Utilities,Water Included,High speed Internet and
cable TV and so on...Get back to us via email so i can forward you the
Rent Application

Form.
Regards

Now the ad mentioned that I am a single father with 3 kids and that I was looking for possibly a situation where I could take on a larger rent and work out some sort of exchange for work done on the house. Also keep in mind that houses in this area of decent size rent from around $1200-$1800/month month and up. I got mine for a really good deal since the owner is a very old friend of mine.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Get the address and then check the property records for the county. This sounds like one of those deals where someone has taken over an abandoned foreclosure property.

[JamesVincent]

I would Judge but I dont want to send in an "application" with my SSN to someone whos command of the language is that poor, and who apparently is a male, kowing they are speaking to another male, greeted me with Hello dear. Just a little off to me.

[Judge Roy Bean]

My thought was you could find out about the property and have some fun with him then turn him into the authorities.

[JamesVincent]

k. Sent them a message back saying I would like the address so I could make sure it matches my needs for space and property.

[ArthurWankspittle]

Check the header on the email which will tell you where it's come from. I'm betting it's a scam from the poor English, from someone trawling Craigslist, and that the email address isn't in the USA.

[JamesVincent]

Check the header on the email which will tell you where it's come from. I'm betting it's a scam from the poor English, from someone trawling Craigslist, and that the email address isn't in the USA.

lol I actually looked at the real email address after you said something, not the name that comes up. Its a gmail but the name is annexx00.

[notorial dissent]

You mean besides the bad grammar and being a form letter???? Those little indicators, you mean.

This is a form letter, that would be the first flashing warning. Whoever wrote this doesn't speak English well, and certainly doesn't understand syntax, that is the second flashing light.

The explanation of who they work for is unnecessary, and very oddly stilted as if it were lifted from some official press release or text.

They are either looking for personal information to scam your identity, or they are looking to get what htey can out of you before they disappear off in to the night.

I would check with the city and see who really owns the property and contact them, I suspect they will be surprised to know that their property is being rented out.

[JamesVincent]

Waiting to see if they send me the address. If they do Ill check it out and have one of my friends find out who really owns it.

[VinnyZ]

It is a scam.

The person (who is most likely is in West Africa) is trying to get money from you for a house that he obviously does not own.

[JamesVincent]

Got a reply. Ill post it here for your amusement. I asked in the email for the address to the home so I can see it and make sure its big enough.

Hello ,

You are welcome, It is good to hear from you with this detail. i'm not available to show you the house, you can tell your family member to view the outside of the house,The house is vacant now and all the utilities are included in the Month Rent. Below are some questions that I need you to answer, so that we can discuss further. It is available for a long lease as well. You have to get the Deposit here via Western Union OR Money gram


RENT APPLICATION FORM
***** Private & Confidential *****

1)Your Full Name________________________
2)Current Address_____________________________
3)Phone Number (________)
4)State________________
5)City__________________
6) Zip______________
7)Are you married______________________
8)How many people will be living in the Apartment__________
9)Do you have a pet______________
10)Do you have a car______________________
11)Occupation______________
12)Email Address:_________________
13)How long lease are you looking for______________
14)How soon do you intend moving in________________
15)Reason for relocation___________________
16)9) How Much will you Deposit? up one month rent-------------

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case 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, 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.

DATE……. APPLICANT SIGNATURE/NAME……….

Thanks

Yeah, that answered my question. Wonder when they were going to tell me where to send the Western Union or Money-Gram to?

[silverspartan]

Three days ago got the same initial reply after posting a similar ad on Craigslist. Against my better judgement I asked for details. 'Anne' next sent her 'form' letter. I Googled the email address and got the Quatloos website page regarding 'Anne'. The comments confirmed my suspicions. I flagged the reply and let it go but you have to hand it to the Nigerians or whomever is behind this new variation on an old scam. They are clever and relentless. If one sucker out of 1000 recipients sends $500 to them, the con's time and effort has paid off.

Marco