I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (Full Version)

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LafayetteLady -> I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 6:32:22 PM)

Ok, I have never gotten one of those scammers emailing me here on CM. But I was looking at rental housing on Craig's list and found a 3 bedroom here in my area (actually only a few blocks from where I currently live) with a basement and a garage plus lake views for $700 a month! In this area, that is an unbelievable bargain and typically something similar going for twice that amount is considered reasonable.

I figured it was a typo and the price was supposed to be $1700 a month, but every so often, there are those people who really are renting that cheap if you are lucky enough to get to the ad on time. So I had to respond. After all, that would be a $400 savings over what I'm currently paying and with 3 bedrooms if I brought in a roommate, I could only pay $350 a month!

So today I get home from physical therapy and there in my email is a response for the house. I open it up and along with it being filled with enough typos you would think it was written by an eight year old, the writer goes on to tell me how he and his wife indeed the owners, it is very vacant and they are renting the house, because they had to move to...yep, Nigeria for his work. He goes on to say how they aren't interested in the money really, but just want to be sure that someone will keep their house neat, clean and well maintained. He encloses an "application" that asks for personal information, but just basics like name and address.

But here is the kicker...he also goes on to say how he has the keys to the house with him! From the first sentence I knew it was a scam, but I had to respond. I certainly didn't fill out the application, but I wrote back and asked him how I was going to be able to view the inside of the house without access to the inside. I'm seriously hoping that I get a response, just because I'm really curious what he will say.

Then I began to wonder if the true owner or resident of the house was aware they were listed on Craig's List. So I took the short ride over to see the house and sure enough, someone was there, lol. I went and knocked on the door and the owner answered. I explained to him what the Craig's List ad said and suggested that he might want to look into it. The house really is for rent at $1600 a month.

What kind of shocked me was that the owner didn't seem at all concerned. Does anyone else think that is weird?

Anyway, I guess those damn Nigerian scammers are expanding their business and now we need to look for them absolutely everywhere.



heartcream -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 6:52:18 PM)

Oh I wish I could find a house to rent for 700$ Over here you would get a crap basement apartment for that.

I am sorry you are dealing with that, it sucks.

I hope you find a great home.



LafayetteLady -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 7:21:15 PM)

Actually heartcream, the house I'm currently in isn't all that bad. Ok, the water pressure sucks and the heat is electric and doesn't work really well resulting in ridiculously high electric bills, but thankfully, I'm not out on the street.

I had a feeling when I responded to the ad that something was not right, but I did think it was just a typo on the rent. I actually live in one of the most expensive areas in the whole country, but since I was raised here, it's home.

At this point, I'm really hoping that the guy responds to my question about viewing the house. I may not be desperate for "better" housing, but I am desperate for some fun and playing along for a bit with this guy could be fun, lol.



CarrieO -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 7:35:58 PM)

http://columbia.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/co072209.htm

http://www.cyberhomes.com/content/blog/09-08-18/nigerian-landlord-scam.aspx

Be thankful you were smarter than the average bear [;)]




peppermint -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 8:10:35 PM)

Poor Lady.  It eventually happens to us all. 

I've never had good luck on Craig's List.  Every time I put an ad on there I get scammers of all kinds. 



WyldHrt -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 8:24:53 PM)

quote:

Anyway, I guess those damn Nigerian scammers are expanding their business and now we need to look for them absolutely everywhere.

This is actually an old scam, and pretty common. You are lucky that the scammer involved didn't really know what he was doing, as many people get taken on both this and "car for sale" scams. Craigslist is absolutely infested with scammers pulling these types of scams.

BTW, no joke. It is not uncommon for people living in Nigeria to paint "This house NOT for sale" in big letters on the side of their houses. Wanna guess where this scam started? [8D]



LafayetteLady -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 9:42:30 PM)

I can't believe that people would fall for such a thing as a rental. Really, who will send money to rent a house they haven't seen the inside of?

The only thing that really sucked was that it was such a good price for a rental!

I guess that means since I asked how I would see the inside, I will never hear from him again and not get to have any fun stringing him along? [:'(]

Is there somewhere that I can report this? I know I can report to Craig's List of course, I was thinking more like the Attorney General or something? They don't have jurisdiction but do they keep a list or something? I tend to not pay attention to a lot of these scam things so I just never gave it any thought.


ETA: Nevermind, I see that one of the links Carrie sent has a contact number. Carrie is just so thorough!



LafayetteLady -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 10:00:40 PM)

Thanks for the link Carrie! The ad is no longer on Craig's List. I was going to make a copy and save it. But I did go and report it to the FBI that was linked on one of your links. I hope that they hunt the little fucker down and do something.

I just don't know why anyone would send money to rent something they weren't able to see. That's just so stupid.

I did get to see the house though. It was nice. Of course, since it was renting for $1600 a month, it was way out of my budget.

I just keep reminding myself that it was up a lot of stairs (common in this lake community, up or down) and my physical problems would just not have been a good match, lol.



susie -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 11:19:29 PM)

One of the funniest scam attempts I have seen was on ebay. We are specialists in a particular model of car so watch ebay for parts and for the current car prices. An owner had listed his car for sale with pictures clearly showing his reg no. It was listed at around £20,000 which at the time was about the right sort of level. Listed immediately below it were 5 ads for the same model car for £3,000 which at that price I obviously had to take a look at that.

I guess this scammer must have thought ebayers were total morons as:
1. The car was currently "out of the country" so could not be viewed until full payment had been made.
2. Was being sold "cheap" because they had huge debts!
3.All 5 were direct copies of the ad right above it.

I couldn't believe that the guy had not even had the sense until the original listing had finished before listing his scam ones. Really anyone who fell for something like this deserved to lose their money.



LafayetteLady -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 11:24:52 PM)

susie,

That is exactly what I'm thinking about this whole rental thing! I mean obviously, I don't typically look at rentals that are above my budget, so even though the owner had listed this house on Craig's List, I wouldn't likely have seen it.

But anyone who is stupid enough to send money to someone for a rental property that they haven't even seen the inside of deserves what they get.

I have responded to ads where people have asked me to fill out an application before even knowing where the property is and I won't waste my time with that either if I don't even know if the place is of interest to me.

I guess there are some people who really are just too stupid, desperate or naive to be allowed to make their own decisions.



WyldHrt -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/27/2010 11:59:18 PM)

quote:

I can't believe that people would fall for such a thing as a rental. Really, who will send money to rent a house they haven't seen the inside of?

It works better in areas with many many people looking and few places available. Some are listed as "sublets" on desirable apartments in cities. People who are desperate for housing sometimes are less than cautious.
The scammers often claim to be "missionaries", and target Christians specifically; or they claim to be working for WHO (World Health Organization) on a humanitarian cause. If the script they are using is good, it can be quite convincing.

On sending the money, one ploy used is to ask the victim to "prove" that they have the funds for first, last, deposit, etc, by wiring the money to a personal friend and sending the details of the transfer via email. The idea is that the victim will feel comfortable wiring the money to one of their own friends or relatives. This works only if the victim doesn't know that money sent by Western Union or Moneygram can be picked up anywhere in the world, often with only the MTCN, sender's name, and recipients name. By the time the friend goes to retrieve the money, the scammer has already picked it up.  
quote:

The only thing that really sucked was that it was such a good price for a rental!

If it wasn't, the scammer would get less hits on their ad. They know the ad will be pulled, so they try to hook as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
quote:

I guess that means since I asked how I would see the inside, I will never hear from him again and not get to have any fun stringing him along?

Maybe, maybe not. You may get a nice excuse from him as to why you can't see the inside.
quote:

ETA: Nevermind, I see that one of the links Carrie sent has a contact number. Carrie is just so thorough!
You can report it, but the most that will happen is that it will become part of a statistic list. Scamming is a lucrative business, and the US loses around $240 million to Nigerian scammers each year.
quote:

I hope that they hunt the little fucker down and do something.

They can't. The FBI has no jurisdiction in Nigeria.



WyldHrt -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 12:02:54 AM)

As an aside, there is a complimentary scam that targets landlords and involves fake cheques. That one is also very successful.  



CarrieO -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 6:13:12 AM)

You're welcome.  As WyldHrt said, the FBI has no jurisdiction in Nigeria but atleast they can be made aware of yet another scam and can keep track of the locations.

I happen to believe justice inevitably catches up with these people...one way or another.  The Universe has a way of keeping checks and balances.[;)]




pahunkboy -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 7:24:32 AM)

Gosh-  I sold a stove and 2 beds on craigslist.  ALL very real people.  cash and carry.

It floors me that the person in that house is not concerned.  Like how do they know someone with a key doesnt show up?  Even the wrong key fidgeting to get in- not to be concerned as the place looks lived in.



LafayetteLady -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 8:49:40 AM)

FR-

Ok, who wants to have some fun with me? Because quite surprisingly, the idiot did reply to my email about seeing the inside! Told me I can look through the windows, lol. So what can I say in the response to really keep this idiot keep thinking he has someone on the "hook" that he is going to reel in?



CarrieO -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 9:01:38 AM)

http://www.419eater.com/

Maybe you can find inspiration from these guys.



LaTigresse -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 9:08:12 AM)

My bosses wife (not a very bright bulb to begin with) recently listed a bunch of baby clothes and toys. Some guy replied that he would take everything she had for $ 1,600.00. But, she was going to have to ship it all to the UK. In addition, some guy in Alaska owed him money and would be sending her the check. The check was going to be for more than $ 1,600.00 so he would need her to cash the check and send him the difference, in addition to the boxed up baby items.

All very screwy and obviously bullshit. The funny part, the silly twit was going to buy into it and was all excited about it. She told her husband (my boss) and he came and talked to me. I smacked some sense into his head and he in turn called her and smacked some into hers.



pahunkboy -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 10:03:41 AM)

I had a check once.  I took it into the bank and asked them to check out the check prior to any cashing of it.

It was fake.

I am glad I asked.



WyldHrt -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 10:16:27 AM)

quote:

Some guy replied that he would take everything she had for $ 1,600.00. But, she was going to have to ship it all to the UK. In addition, some guy in Alaska owed him money and would be sending her the check. The check was going to be for more than $ 1,600.00 so he would need her to cash the check and send him the difference, in addition to the boxed up baby items.

All very screwy and obviously bullshit.

Yup, bog standard fake check scam. Most people don't understand how check clearing actually works, and think that the check has cleared when they see the money in their account. By the time the bank discovers the fake and reverses the provisional access to funds, the money has been wired to the scammers and the victim is left out of pocket or overdrawn and in debt to the bank.

Good on you for keeping her from going along with it, LAT!



LaTigresse -> RE: I thought I had avoided those Nigerians! (1/28/2010 10:51:00 AM)

WyldHrt, it just goes back to that whole idea 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is'.

Kind of like some of the profiles on the other side that new people come to the forums and create a thread to whine about...[:D]



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