Rental scam

[Rick Potter]

I listed a rental house on C/L and the next day got a nice e-mail from Dr. Edward Kelvin, a Paleontologist with the Imperial Dinosaur Fossil Research center in London England.

He wants to send me money up front, and will rent my 'unit' for a full year, with cash up front after he arrives in the States for a year of fossil exchanging and museum visits.

I figured it was a scam, and answered him telling him the place was available. His long reply indicated that he would transfer money to me for the rent, plus money to have the place furnished, if I would assist him by overseeing the delivery of the furnishings........THERE IT IS.....the scam.

I think he is going to send me a phony money order for the above plus some for my trouble, and I am supposed to pay up front for the furniture that will never arrive.

I think I will e-mail him back, saying what a coincidence it is, that my hobby is dinosaurs, and my brother in law just happens to run a furniture rental store. I might even suggest I can get him a reduced price on the rentals.

By the way, I googled the Imperial Dinosaur Fossil Research center, and the second item listed was a warning that someone is using this same scam, but the professor is from the Netherlands.

Rick Potter

[Eric Larsen]

Whenever I'm selling something on Scammerslist (a rarity these days), I make sure that:

1) Nobody can glean any personal information from my ad.

2) It is abundantly clear that I only accept twenty dollar bills. "If you can't pay in twenties, you're not legitimate. Period." Craigslist is simply too rife with tricksters to accept payment any other way. At least lasvegas.craigslist.org is. YMMV.

3) Anyone who tries the ol' "I'm $20 short, will you let it go for $XX" routine will be directed to the nearest ATM machine.

4) Maintain an e-mail account just for craigslist transactions, so that your "real" account doesn't get spammed with garbage. Also, don't use the stock "reply to" that craigslist provides. Make it hard for a scam-bot to parse the information. Such as, "Do not reply using the blue link above. Email me at me (at) mynetwork (dot) net if you are interested.

I realize this isn't going to be helpful for rental properties. But even then, I think it is possible to ward off the scammers.

"Attention scammers: I am not going to accept your bogus money orders and forward you the difference. If you send me an obvious forgery, like I've received dozens of times, the bogus check and everything I know about you will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities."

Attention normal people: Sorry about the above disclaimer, but if you've ever tried to sell anything on Craigslist, you know how many scammers are out there."



EDIT -- BEWARE getting into extended conversation with scammers. While it might be fun to string him along, he also might have violent friends in California. I never knowingly converse with criminals -- email or otherwise. He might be smart enough to get your information from tax records, if you provided a complete address for the rental.

[Pat Germain]

2) It is abundantly clear that I only accept twenty dollar bills. "If you can't pay in twenties, you're not legitimate. Period." Craigslist is simply too rife with tricksters to accept payment any other way. At least lasvegas.craigslist.org is. YMMV.

What's the advantage of accepting payments only in twenty dollar bills? A twenty is the most often counterfeited bill. So I'm wondering.

[Dave Wagner]

This are too funny, get them all the time, a friend I work with got a Cashiers Check for $2500 for a $900 on Ebay to cash and give to the shipper.

The check was drawn on a Colorado bank, with a NJ Address and the names didn't match who was in the email, the check was cut with scissors and didn't even have the security features listed and the 800 number for fraud on the back was Disconnected? Hmmm. My buddy strung this guy along for 2-3 weeks.

[Eric Larsen]

What's the advantage of accepting payments only in twenty dollar bills? A twenty is the most often counterfeited bill. So I'm wondering.


I'd rather have a $20 get kicked back by my bank as counterfeit than a $100.

[Brent Leonard]

I'd rather have a $20 get kicked back by my bank as counterfeit than a $100.

Isn't that kinda like the difference between a ton of feathers and a ton of lead? ;) (just a joke)

I do see your logic though, being that out of five 20's, one or two may be counterfeit, as oposed to a single Ben Franklin.

[Joe Pelonio]

Since CL and EBay have become favorites of the scammers, just don't bother responding to anyone in another country that uses a free e-mail like Yahoo or
Gmail. I just send them right to the spam folder for blocking, 99.9% of the time they are trying to rip you off.

[Brad Wood]

the sad thing is that people do fall for this stuff. if they didn't, there wouldn't be so many of these asshats out there running these scams

I still see the nigeria banking scam every once in a while, or some variation. I've been getting those emails for over ten years.

[Chuck Wintle]

the sad thing is that people do fall for this stuff. if they didn't, there wouldn't be so many of these asshats out there running these scams

I still see the nigeria banking scam every once in a while, or some variation. I've been getting those emails for over ten years.

there must be something in common among those who fall for scams like this one.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Oh that's my cousin Elmer.
He found a dessicated pig carcase and claimed it was a proto humanoid predating Peking man.

Made a bundle on the royalties.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I had the usual "I'll transfer the money to your account and the shippers will pick up the item" scam sent to me.

I replied back, "No problem, but I have listed this item as local pick-up only due to it's size and weight. Please be sure that your shippers have the ability to crate it when I hand it to them. In addition, to be sure I properly receive your funds, I'll need the name of your bank and your account number to allow for the money transfer at my bank, plus I'll need your shipping address to confirm the shippers are picking up the right stuff for the right person."

Funny, I never heard back from him. I've always wondered why. :p

[Mike Sheppard]

"I had the usual "I'll transfer the money to your account and the shippers will pick up the item" scam sent to me."

When I get one like this I tell him to send the check to his shippers and have them bring me cash.
Mike