Me and the gf are looking for a new place. We see a CL listing for a nice little house in Mordecai and the price is right so we contact the poster. This poster claims to be a missionary in Africa looking for nice people to rent the house to while his family is overseas. Seems legit, aside from the poor spelling and grammar. Then in the response there's this:
7/26/2012 11:41:07 AM
^ This just happened to the neighbors of some folks I know in Wilmington. Their house is listed for sale for $550k or so and they saw it on Craigslist in the "For Rent" section for $650 last month. Same type of scam; they just pulled the pictures off a realty website.
7/26/2012 11:44:54 AM
These scammers knew enough to look up the names of the owners so they could pretend to be them. Fucking assholes.So what did that guy that fucked over the Nigerian scammers do again?
7/26/2012 11:49:37 AM
http://www.419eater.com/
7/26/2012 11:54:39 AM
Same thing happened to a friend of mine. She found an ad on Craigslist for a rental house that seemed too good to be true. Before she contacted the seller she drove by it, and sure enough there was a for rent sign in the yard. She contacted the guy on CL to go see the house, and he said he couldn't even show it to her without a deposit. And, of course, the deposit had to be sent via Western Union. Right away she knew something was fishy, so she drove over to the house and just knocked on the door. The guy on CL had the owner's name correct, but the real owner had never even spoken to my friend. On top of that, they were asking about $500 a month more than the guy on CL told her.Apparently it's a pretty good scam right now. Scammers find real houses for rent/sale, do the research to find the homeowner's information, then post fake ads.
7/26/2012 11:57:32 AM
and apparently some morons fed ex the money before they even see the inside of the house.
7/26/2012 11:59:16 AM
He told her that since he was "out of the country on business", he needed to collect a deposit in the event that she damaged the home during her viewing. Told her that the deposit would go toward her first month rent if she took the house, or he would refund it if she decided she didn't want the house.Pretty slick, actually. I am sure plenty of people fall for it
7/26/2012 12:01:11 PM
I love me some Mordecai though. Great neighborhood.
7/26/2012 12:06:26 PM
First rule of life: don't prepay for shit
7/26/2012 12:06:43 PM
especially if that pre-pay involves fed-exing money to nigeria
7/26/2012 12:09:16 PM
I keep stalking the postings for that areagood to know I need to watch out for this stuff
7/26/2012 12:09:47 PM
Hello Tenant,Thanks for your email, I personally own the house, I want my property to be well taken good care of, and there are some rules and regulation in which I do give out to tenant who are willing to rent my house so please don't disrespect my order But if you are still capable of renting my house the rules and regulation goes this way, You must keep my house clean including the surrounding, you must know the way in which you use the stove so as to avoid fire outbreak,you must not disturb the neighbor.I decided to rent out the property due to our transfer to (West Africa) on a Missionary Work by my church here,so we are renting it out since we need someone to take good care of the property on our absent. Don't be surprise if you find the home with another site and deference price, I have plan to rent it through Real estate before, but they are not serious simply because they have a lot of house to lease out And they added some money to the rent while there commission is not fair. Have this in mind you must know the kind of person that I'm nevertheless I am giving you this rules because of what corresponded between me and my last tenant. the keys and documents are with us here in West Africa... So I will need to ship them to you before you can occupy the house But you can drive by the house anytime to take a look at the area and surrounding, You can also peek through the windows if you don't mind.For now we are looking for 4 or 5 years lease or rather lets us know how long you wish to stay.Attn : The rent are including the Utilities are intact such as Dishwasher,Dryer, Electric Stove, Fridge, Washer,Air Condition,Sewage,Trash,all included in the monthly rent,as i am in a governmental programmer that sponsors my utilities on monthly basis etc.Please note that, we are a kind and honest family,that spent a lot on property that is available for rent, so in one accord,we are soliciting for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own.We want you to keep it tidy all the time so that we shall be glad to see it whenever we are around on a visit.SO IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED I WILL WANT YOU TO FILL THE RENTAL APPLICATION FORMS BELOW.RENT APPLICATION FORM AND TELL US MORE ABOUT YOU .1) Your Full Name2) Home Phone ?3) Cell Phone Number ?4) Your Full Address :5) How old are you?6) Are you married?7) How many people will be living in the house?8) Do you have a pet?9) What type10) Do you have a car?11) What type?12) Occupation?13) Do you smoke?14) Do you Drink ?15) Do you work at Night ?16) What is your monthly income?17) Reference Contact Name and Address?18) When do you intend Moving in?19) private email :20 ) picture of you and your family?21) When can you pay for your deposit tosecure or move in?==============================PROPERTY DESCRIPTION...........House Address : 411 Fenton Street, Raleigh NC 27604Number of Bedrooms:3Number of baths:2Size:1,386sqftPets are welcome!!!Rent:$700Refundable security Deposit:$500You can give me a call on my Cell Phone: +234-818-073-8818 or 0018180738818Thanks and God bless you.Regards. Courtney Hutchings Family|
8/3/2012 12:19:02 PM
I had to put this sign all over one of my listings because someone stole the pictures and was taking rental deposits on the vacant house. This lady called screaming at me that the owner of the home took her money and would not send her the keys, she wanted to talk to the man that owned the home. She got really quiet when I told her the home is owned by a woman and the woman was not out of town. I asked her how he showed her the home since he was in new jersey and she said he told her to go by and look at it through the windows, that once he got her application and deposit he would send the keys. She wired him the deposit.The guy was advertising the rent for about 60% of what the home should have rented for, making the deal too good to pass up and creating a sense of urgency. He had kept stringing her along as long as he could, probably so he could keep the ads up and try to get a few more folks, once she threatened to call the police he disconnected his phone and took the ads down.From what I gathered talking to this woman, the amount of money she lost was a lot for her family to lose, and really put her in a tight spot in the middle of moving. I felt bad for her even though what she did was VERY stupid.[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 12:38 PM. Reason : .]
8/3/2012 12:33:34 PM
8/3/2012 12:40:44 PM
Since you've got the email you might as well try scambaiting:http://www.419eater.com/
8/3/2012 12:46:26 PM
8/3/2012 12:48:52 PM
8/3/2012 1:03:01 PM
I agree with that. The sad thing is she was just trying to provide a nice home for her family, no way she could have legitimately secured a house like that for that low or a rent, but in the end she failed at doing the very thing she started out to, which is provide, she spent all the deposit money she had on something that did not exist.
8/3/2012 1:05:04 PM
8/3/2012 1:12:41 PM
Brandon Williamson <c.brandon.williamson@gmail.com> ________________________________________White 16GB iPhone 4s Great Condition - $475 (Crabtree)20 messages ________________________________________John Gibson <Johngibson11@blumail.org> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 6:51 AM To: 54v5s-3196672155@sale.craigslist.org ** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams-- Still for sale$$$________________________________________This message was remailed to you via: 54v5s-3196672155@sale.craigslist.orgIf this email is a scam or spam please flag it now:http://www.craigslist.org/flag/20120811105124CC9efqLj4RG_VY_hsYYkgQ________________________________________________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 7:12 AM To: John Gibson <Johngibson11@blumail.org> YesSent from DROID via Verizon Wireless.[Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 7:13 AM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Thanks for your reply,i am located in commerce city in CO,i reallyneed to buy this and send to my son schooling outside the state as agift. I have been trying to buy this on eBay but its so very stressfulbuying on eBay.I will offer you $510 so as to close the auction assoon as possible.I will be paying through PAYPAL because i have averified account with PayPal.So kindly get back with your PayPal emailaddress so i can make payment into your PayPal account.Once paymentclears,shipment will be handled by me through my personal FedExaccount,so you don't have to pay for shipment.Get back to me if myapproval is granted.I would like to see the pictures please.Thanks--Available??________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 7:16 AM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> That sounds great send the money asap. I will ship today.Sent from DROID via Verizon Wireless.[Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 7:26 AM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Alright send me your paypal account email so as to make the paymentinto your account--Available??________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 8:13 AM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Yes!Sent from DROID via Verizon Wireless.[Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 8:51 AM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Okie waiting--Available??________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 12:15 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Did you send the money?On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 8:51 AM, John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> wrote:Okie waiting--Available??-- Brandon Williamson, BROKER, CSPCell: Fax: brandon@witheld.comhttp://www.witheld.comhttp://blog.witheld.com________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 1:03 PM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Nope am waiting for your paypal account email so as to make thepayment into your account...--Available??________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 1:23 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> C.brandon.williamson@gmail.comSent from DROID via Verizon Wireless.[Quoted text hidden]________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 1:54 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Hi John, let me know once the email from paypal arrives so I can ship!Sent from DROID via Verizon Wireless.[Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 3:05 PM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Alright..I will make the payment as soon as possible.They will sendyou a notification mail to confirm the payment to you.Once you receivethe confirmation mail from them it means the payment has beenapproved and don't forget to let me know when it is approved so wecan discuss shipping..--Available??________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:01 AM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> I have already made out the payment now.Go and check the mail you usedin opening your PayPal account (.C.brandon.williamson@.com) the confirmationmail have been sent there check the inbox or the spam message youshould see it there........ I will also like you to know that i amhaving some little problems with my FedEx account as i checked itonline now and i was asked to reactivate it so i cant do that now as ihave to sort one or two thing out with them.So i am sorry as i won'tbe handling shipment through my FedEx account again.So, please get thepostage cost to the following address via post office (USPS EXPRESSMAIL) at the (USPS OFFICE) and ship out the item via post office(EXPRESS MAIL) asap cos i have told my son to be expecting it. I havealso included $80 extra for the shipping.i think that should be enoughfor you to ship......Name: Damilola JohnAddress: No 1 Anu Oluwa Street,City: AbeokutaState: Ogun StatePostal Code: 23439Country: Nigeria.Let me know how much it costs you to ship.After you ship get back tome with the amount you used to ship. .I am really sorry for theinconveniences.--Available??[Edited on August 13, 2012 at 12:56 PM. Reason : .]
8/13/2012 12:54:28 PM
________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:26 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> No Problem, the world is such a small place these days. [Quoted text hidden][Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:28 PM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> What did you mean i don't understand you?--Available??________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Its such a small world in which we can share in commerce so amazingly. [Quoted text hidden][Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:35 PM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Did you get the confirmation email from paypal?--Available??________________________________________Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:38 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Yes it is so amazing! How do I get the money out of pyapal? I have never done this before. Brandon[Quoted text hidden][Quoted text hidden]________________________________________John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:44 PM To: Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Ok.. the confirmation of the payment as been sent to you and you havesee it but before the money can be deposit into your account you needthe tracking number for verification of the payment into your accountjust take the package to the post office and mail it out through USPSEXPRESS MAIL and you will see the tracking number inside the receiptyou fill after the shipment, just email PayPal back with theconfirmation and the money will reflect into your account please dothat asap so that the money can reflect into your account this wasdone in other to protect both the buyer and the seller...Thanks--Available??________________________________________
8/13/2012 12:54:51 PM
Brandon Williamson <brandon@witheld.com> Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:48 PM To: John Gibson <johngibson11@blumail.org> Hi John, Thank you greatly, I have sent my office assistant to mail this afternoon with those instructions. You seem like a very bright ans well to do fellow, I was wondering if you had ever considered investing. Foreclosures pull in several thousand a month in rent (assuming they're got a good number of tenants) but that's not what they're going to pay you to lease your land. If you tell them you want thousands of dollars a month they will go somewhere else unless you're in a hot area and their last resort (you probably aren't). I would see them paying a couple thousand a month in an area of Cary with something of a dead zone, and unless you're in a similar area I'd only expect a modest increase over what they've already offered. A thousand a month is the max I'd expect them to pay anywhere that isn't an incredibly under-served or very urban area.For the long-term, consider that the home may have to be modified or reinforced over its life span, so from time to time there may be small construction crews on-site performing various types of work on the home (with varying levels of noise). This would only be for (at most) a few weeks at a time and hopefully only once a year at most (and only several years after the home is built, assuming this contractor can even get the home to max capacity). I would consider asking the company how many families the home will be built to support. I would expect an answer of 4-6 if it's a big bilding company like American builders or Crown Castle. They will probably inspect the home every 4-8 years and perform annual maintenance on it in the form of changing out light bulbs and strobe lamps (the building they want to build is over 20 ft tall, which I think is the State minimum). They will likely leave you alone and I recommend finding a spot on your property where they can enter and exit without disturbing you (i.e. don't give them a driveway easement that runs right past your house). From time to time the company's field operations technicians may be on-site with a possible tenant to do a site walk and determine if they have space for the tenant in their leased compound area, if there's room on the home, etc.The initial lease they offer you may only be for X years, but they will probably come back regularly and renew this lease so look at it as a very long term thing. See if there are provisions in the lease to scale up the rent they pay you over time based on various economic factors. The company I work for has tower leases going back to the 1940s (the old AT&T long lines towers that were supposed to survive indirect nuclear blasts) and we're still paying people and renewing leases. Terrestrial communications towers aren't going anywhere, and demand has only increased as these higher bandwidth 4G systems apparently don't quite have the range of the older cellular technologies (so more towers are needed). Once you have a tower built, that land becomes very valuable to the company because rebuilding a tower isn't cheap and the interruption in service will piss off your tenants. Don't think that you can then strong-arm them when your lease is up as they will probably tear down the tower and rebuild it a few hundred feet away on an adjacent property and you'll lose your rent income. Many jurisdictions are and will be bigger and bigger pains about getting towers built and keeping them built or replacing them depending on where you are. I think asking for some minor concessions wouldn't be ridiculous like asking for some basic landscaping around the tower site to improve its appearance. You may even be able to ask them to build a more opaque fence around the tower compound so you don't have to see it (a wood fence, a chain link fence with that plastic sheeting just so you can't see in, whatever). If they won't do it, consider planting some screening plants around the tower just so you can't see it as clearly from your house. The tower itself will be kind of an eyesore. Make sure it's not too close to your house. Keep it much farther away than the fall zone, I mean this thing is 260'x26' or so and it's going to be rather intimidating if it's easily visible from the house. Make sure to check and see whether they are planning on extending the tower beyond its 260 ft height one day and plan accordingly (e.g. plant some taller-growing trees between you and the tower ).If you're curious what might be going there, it will probably look something like this:http://www.rohnnet.com/files/SSV.jpg - These towers are about 300' tall I think.http://www.hhvrtowers.com/images/Tower.jpg - This is a design used by Pirod. They're now owned by Valmont, but the legs on this one look a little different.It probably won't look like this:http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8001/7529101344_1ecdba9208.jpg - Unless your property is near the peak of a mountain or sizable hill I wouldn't expect it to look like this. A lot of towers my company has in California end up looking like this.http://www.freefoto.com/images/04/23/04_23_93---Microwave-Communication-Tower_web.jpg - You may see some towers like these around. This is not what they're building on your property, I can almost guarantee it.Ask away with any more specific questions you might have. I'm a structural engineer that works with these types of towers every day, quite possibly for the company that is looking to build on your land. To answer the most obvious structural-related questions you might have: The tower will be designed to a building standard that will keep the tower safe with something like a 700-1200 mean recurrence interval storm. If you're in central north carolina, it's probably designed to withstand 90 mph gusting wind speeds (this is a 50 year mean recurrence interval) with a factor of safety of 2-4. The only thing that would knock it down would be a tornado (and no there's no economical way to build them to withstand those forces). A hurricane is extremely unlikely to be a problem, even a very strong one as towers in hurricane regions are designed with enhanced factors of safety (the building codes take this into account by increasing the design wind speeds). As was previously mentioned, there's usually a fall zone associated with a tower like this that you'll be staying out of (you could probably farm the land adjacent to the tower but I wouldn't recommend building permanent structures next to it even if they let you). You should be aware that there's a very low risk of attracting vagrants with a tower on your property because they'll jump the fence and steal the grounding wires, so if possible I recommend you keep your property wooded or fenced all around, especially at the access road leading up to the tower (might be good to ask the cell company to put a locking gate at the entrance to the tower to discourage this sort of thing). If you're curious just how big the things they're putting on that tower will be, the new 4G panels are usually about 8'x1'x0.5' (some are 2' wide, taller, shorter) and they will probably put 3-12 of these at each elevation where a tenant will be installed. They'll space them about ten feet apart, and they will mount these panels on frames that are about 12.5' wide and 3' deep. They'll put one frame per leg. There will probably be one carrier on the tower to start and maybe two more to follow within a few years. More carriers will follow in time if you're near a population center or interstate highway. There's a possibility that they will be expanding their leased ground space over time which could get you more money, but that's many years down the road (and I'd guess the tower they build will have plenty of extra capacity and room in the compound to match). I specialize in helping folks maximize returns on these types of investments and historically can get you a great return for your money. If this seems like a good oppertunity please tell me we can get started soon!Brandon[Quoted text hidden][Quoted text hidden]
8/13/2012 12:55:20 PM
lol
8/13/2012 12:58:58 PM
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHHAHAA
8/13/2012 1:07:40 PM
8/13/2012 1:11:07 PM
8/13/2012 1:27:13 PM
8/13/2012 1:32:53 PM
8/13/2012 1:34:11 PM
8/13/2012 1:43:35 PM
oyinbo man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1nKR3gYRY8
8/14/2012 1:04:48 AM
wonder if i could make like 4 or 5 g's a month just scamming nigerian scammersdozens of paypal accounts a month wouldnt be too difficult, but dozens of checking accounts to transfer the money into before they file a dispute with paypal would be rather tricky
8/14/2012 1:27:09 AM
i lived in mordecai..over priced...shitty old houses..if you like that kind of thing i guess i can understand..
8/14/2012 1:29:03 AM
Lot of these type of listings on CL. Found one when we were looking for places in Richmond that claimed to be something like a 1300 square foot condo near downtown for something like $800/month (price is all wrong for that market in that area). Sent an email just to see what was up and got back a long-winded email about how the owners were Christian missionaries and wanted to rent their place to the "right kind of person" and had set the rent low as an assistance to a conscientious renter or somesuch. They mentioned a security deposit but didn't say anything about Western Union or prepaying in the response; nonetheless that was quite enough sketch to let me know something wasn't right.
8/14/2012 11:51:11 AM
^ exactly the same line of bullshit used on me
8/14/2012 12:26:15 PM
LOL ... this guy scammed some scammers. He convinced them that he would pay them $8000 for handwriting samples, and they hand wrote an entire Harry Potter book!! http://www.419eater.com/html/joyce_ozioma.htm ]
8/14/2012 1:20:57 PM
A friend of mine was looking for a new place to leave and came across one of these scams- luckily they had the sense to realize it was exactly that before it got too far
8/14/2012 1:31:15 PM
this happened to me in Silverdale, WA
8/14/2012 1:47:44 PM
^^^
8/14/2012 1:58:38 PM
So I have succeeded in pissing the iPhone scammer off, he is not calling me a fool and telling me to leave him alone, but I am trying to figure out more ways to fuck with him. Any thoughts?
8/20/2012 3:58:31 PM
now when I email him he just keeps replying "fuck you"
8/20/2012 4:15:46 PM
I've seen this on Raleigh craigslist but in a less obvious format. There was a house rent listing on Oberlin that was in a reasonable price-range, probably too low for the area. When I responded, the lister sent me pictures that were from the Triangle MLS website, which seemed weird to me (you wouldn't have watermarked MLS pictures for a rental, at least not usually, because almost no one uses MLS's rental listing in this area). The house was furnished and beautiful and way too nice for the price they asked. The very clear red flag was that the poster said he was in Iowa, and that he would have to have a friend show you the property, but encouraged me to look in the windows. Lawl, okay, good luck with that, reported!
8/20/2012 7:05:30 PM