[2009] Rental Scam

[Robert D]

I have a Vistana Resort unit for rent on Craig's list for spring break and got an email from a "Collins Bright" who asked if it could be available for a week starting the first Wednesday in January for he and his wife's honymoon. I told him it could be avaialable for the first week of January but would need to be a Friday, Sat, or Sunday check in. I thought it was a scam from the language of the request and then got this reply:

"Thanks for your prompt response.I have discussed this with my Wife
about this and we have agreed to use your place and as for the cost,
we are alright with it. My Wife's employers will be responsible for
all our vacation expenses as a wedding gift and they have promised to
send you a certified check as soon as you have penned these dates down
for us. Kindly email me your full name,physical address, home and cell
phone numbers so that the payment can be mailed out to you as soon as
possible.
Waiting to read from you soon.Have a great week ahead.
Regards"

I replied that due to the short time to check in that payment must be made by PayPal and am awaiting reply from him. I'll bet that this is a scam and that I'd receive a worthless cashier's check that would bounce a month down the road after it's too late. The language sounds like someone who does not live in the US but I could be wrong.

 

[DeniseM]

I think you are right, and you will never hear from him again. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid scam artists in the rental market. Using Paypal is an easy way to weed them out.

 

[dchilds]

I go the same response

I had a similar request for a Christmas week in Avon, and got more or less the same response. I don't remember the name of the renter, but his wife's company would pay for it. I responded, "Great, send me her company's PayPal account, and I will send them a bill." No response.

 

[dsfritz]

rental scam

very interesting. I got exactly the same response for a week in Aspen. He said he would be sending a check. We'll see what happens. Guess I won't hold my breath. So what's the deal? What's he trying to do?

 

[dioxide45]

When you get the check it will be for larger than your rental amount. Of course the wife's company included their food and other costs in that check. They will want you to send them the difference so they can pay their other expenses.

 

[Dave M]

The scam is that he will send a "certified check" or "cashier's check" for more than the amount of the rental, asking you to wire the difference to a third party as a commission (or for some other reason). You might wait a few days to ensure the check clears and then, following instructions, you'll wire the difference to the third party. Only weeks later will you get a call or letter from your bank telling you that the cashier's check you deposited has bounced and you owe the bank that amount and the bounced check fee. So you're out the bank fee and the amount you wired to the "third party" (the scammer).

This scam is discussed in numerous threads on this forum and in the "how to sell" and (by reference) "how to rent" articles located at the top of the list of topics for this Buying, Selling, Renting forum.

Edited to note that it took me longer to write my response. I'm glad we agree!

 

[DeniseM]

If you don't give these people your mailing address, they won't be able to send you a fraudulent check. If you already gave them your address and you get a check - don't cash it!

My Wife's employers will be responsible for
all our vacation expenses as a wedding gift and they have promised to
send you a certified check as soon as you have penned these dates down
for us.

The highlighted phrase is the dead-give away. You would get a check for ALL their vacation expenses and be asked to send back the difference!

 

[dioxide45]

I actually saved someone from one of these scams a couple of weeks ago. One of my employees asked me if I knew anything about E-Bay. She explained that her daughter sold a snowboard on E-Bay. The daughter had received a check for a $1000 for a $100 snowboard. The sender wanted her to send the difference and kept e-mailing. I told her to tell her to just ignore it or tell them to send the funds through Pay Pal. The daughter took the check to the bank and somehow determined that the check had actually been processed a month earlier in the amount of ~$9. So the check had been “washed” and reprinted.

 

[Robert D]

It used to be that a cashier's check was a lot better than a personal check but because of all these scams, I'd take a personal check faster than a cashier's check because at least it will bounce quickly and you'll know about it. For some reason, it takes a month to find out a cashier's check bounced -seems like the banks could tighten this up but I guess most of them don't care if their customers get scammed. I wouldn't take any kind of check on a rental with a fast check-in date. It's well worth the fee to use PayPal, IMHO. Most of these scams are pretty easy to catch now - flaky language for one thing, the cashier's check, and usually for something other than what you're selling. Also, who would want to go to Orlando in January for their honeymoon?

 

[ronandjoan]

This seems to happen a lot with craigslist postings. Usually when I post someting foro sale, I get an answer immediately - like these listed here. I just say, for household items, that I only take cash (most craigslisters want cash anyway) or the paypal thing works well too, as you found out.

 

[AnnaO]

"Thanks for your prompt response.I have discussed this with my Wife
about this and we have agreed to use your place and as for the cost,
we are alright with it. My Wife's employers will be responsible for
all our vacation expenses as a wedding gift and they have promised to
send you a certified check as soon as you have penned these dates down
for us. Kindly email me your full name,physical address, home and cell
phone numbers so that the payment can be mailed out to you as soon as
possible.
Waiting to read from you soon.Have a great week ahead.
Regards"

Word for word what I got a week ago from a dr. james mark, also planning a honeymoon. He refused to sign a rental agreement, though and when I insisted that it's a required first step, I never heard from him again.

 

[dioxide45]

It used to be that a cashier's check was a lot better than a personal check but because of all these scams, I'd take a personal check faster than a cashier's check because at least it will bounce quickly and you'll know about it. For some reason, it takes a month to find out a cashier's check bounced -seems like the banks could tighten this up but I guess most of them don't care if their customers get scammed. I wouldn't take any kind of check on a rental with a fast check-in date. It's well worth the fee to use PayPal, IMHO. Most of these scams are pretty easy to catch now - flaky language for one thing, the cashier's check, and usually for something other than what you're selling. Also, who would want to go to Orlando in January for their honeymoon?

Its not because the check is a cashiers check that it takes longer to bounce. The problem is that they are usually drawn on or as the bank processes them are drawn on foreign accounts. Those take longer to process and receive funds back. A personal foreign check may take just as long. In many cases your bank makes funds from a check you deposited available to you much earlier than they actually get the funds from the other bank. Also with Check 21, USA based checks are processed via image and electronically, so those process much faster than those outside of the USA.

 

[Robert D]

I thought that many of the crooked cashier's checks were drawn on US banks. So, bottom line is you should never accept a check drawn on a foreign bank, which is a big red flag anyways. Also, never do a deal where they want you to give them some change from an overpayment, which most of the scams include. However, I'm pretty sure I've heard of scams involving cashier's checks from US banks.

 

[Dave M]

The fraudulent checks can be on any bank - U.S., foreign or a fictitious bank. We have hasd examples of all three posted here.

 

[teepeeca]

"MY" take on this. ----

Tell them to send the money ($$$) by Western Union. If they do, then they are legitimate; if they balk at that, "watch out", they are "phony" !!!

Tony

 

[dioxide45]

The fraudulent checks can be on any bank - U.S., foreign or a fictitious bank. We have hasd examples of all three posted here.

My point was that it takes no more or less time for a cashiers check to bounce back vs. a personal check. Many people think that just because the depositing bank releases the funds to you that the check is clear. This is very rarely not the case.

 

[jdb0822]

I always get these from craigslist as well. I always give them the name, address and phone number of my state Attorney General. I can only imagine how many checks that guy has received, each one being a scam.

Will the state AG do anything? who knows. but at least I wasted the scammers time and money (postage, etc).

as for paypal, BE CAREFUL! These scammers use paypal as well, except they use STOLEN credit cards to make the paypal payment, which of course, gets reversed on you.

Cash is king.

 

[Toughbeat]

Beware of even a PayPal payment from this buyer! They make these Paypal receipts with the PayPal logo and they look very authentic! This happened to my GF and when she called Paypal to verify, they told her it was a scam. Always verify everything first.

 

[DeniseM]

Beware of even a PayPal payment from this buyer! They make these Paypal receipts with the PayPal logo and they look very authentic! This happened to my GF and when she called Paypal to verify, they told her it was a scam. Always verify everything first.

Good point - All payments should be verified by logging directly onto your Paypal Acct.

 

[JudyS]

I have a Vistana Resort unit for rent on Craig's list for spring break and got an email from a "Collins Bright" who asked if it could be available for a week starting the first Wednesday in January for he and his wife's honymoon.....

I've been getting a bunch of these scam emails in response to Craigslist ads. The emails tend to have the following things in common:
1) They originate from Gmail accounts
2) They claim to be from someone coming from outside the country
3) The travelers are supposedly on their honeymoon
4) The travelers "Do not smoke or drink; neither do [they] have pets." They sometimes claim to be Christian.
5) They are often for dates that don't match what I'm listing, and don't ask IF my unit is available for those other days; they just assume it is
6) They often have overly formal grammar ("I await your swift reply") and odd spellings ""Sussan Johnson.")

Of course, you can get scam emails that don't have these features, but when I get an email with several of these characteristics, I assume it's a scam.

I always get these from craigslist as well. I always give them the name, address and phone number of my state Attorney General. I can only imagine how many checks that guy has received, each one being a scam.

Will the state AG do anything? who knows. but at least I wasted the scammers time and money (postage, etc).....

Great idea! I'll have to try that!

Now, if only I could get the scammers to pose with a huge fish on their heads! (There is a site, www.419eater.com where people have gotten email scammers to do ridiculous things, like hold up signs insulting themselves, or wear fish on their heads.)

 

[Sandy VDH]

Add me to the list of people who have received emails from Craigs list.

I did notice that this person claiming to be a doctor actually had Dr in his email address. Now who would really do that.

I have another that is not one of theseabove, but for some reason can not manage to get a paypal account set up. They want to send a check or Western Union (frankly I don't want to bother with either). Who uses Western Union? Do you send it directly to your bank, or do you have to pick it up somewhere? I don't want to use WU as I don't know the procedure.

Any suggestions for WU?

 

[Zac495]

I've responded - hahaha
Probably stupid of me.

 

[Dave M]

The problem with responding is that your e-mail address is likely to be shared among other scammers as a possible victim. Responding at all tells them there is a possibility you might fall for some type of scam, even if not this one. Thus, you may well get more scam offers of various types than if you hadn't responded.

 

[hope29]

I also got the same kind of email from Craiglist. The person was actually very pushy. I finally got mad and told him that I was going to report him to the police and I haven't heard from them since

 

[Robert D]

Since I told him that he would need to do Paypal, I haven't heard from him and doubt that I will. I'm not concerned about a counterfeit paypal email saying the $'s have been received because I always log into my paypal account and make sure the $'s are there. But, I didn't realize if someone uses a stolen credit card to pay you with paypal that paypal can charge this back to you. Seems like that's paypal's loss if they accept a bad credit card. That part is scary for any type of paypal transaction.