"A meek endeavor to the triumph" by Sampath Jayarathna

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Craigslist Scams emails :Beware of these scam artists!

I recently posted an ad in Craigslist to sublease my apartment. After years of experience in dealing with all sort of scam artists, I guess I'm pretty good at finding genuine users from the scam artists. This is an email response I got from one of such scam. Remember, I already had most of these information the person is asking like the monthly rent, and other details like apartment availability etc. Also I specifically mentioned about my phone number so that people who are genuinly interested can directly call me or at least post their phone number with the initial email. But the email I got straightaway showed the hints of possible scam. Look at the first email I got

Hi,
I want to make inquiry for the sublet/room shared space you advertised on craigslist
What is the final price per month,date of it availability and other things have
got to know about the it.
I will be glad if you can kindly get back to me asap ...
Thanks

Even though I suspected this a possible scam, I sent couple of lines out of curiosity, and within 2 minutes, I got a reply and I'm pretty sure it takes more than that for a genuine person to reply

Thanks for the quick response,am okay with the price and date of
availability am very much interested but am not in the state
presently.
I'm Ms. Stéphanie Quentin, Female,23 Years, Switz. Was born and bred in
Zurich,Switzerland.
Am an international Student.
I am a christian,a Catholic to be precise, Single
My hobbies are watching Movies, Reading, Soccer, Traveling.
And for My nature I have a Great sense of humor,easy going and very out
going.
Drinking/Drugs/Smoking:social Drinker,don't do drugs nor smoke.
For the payment that is not a problem at all. My Guardian will be
responsible for all my payment all I have to do is to confirm the
amount of the room including the utilities and then get it sent to him
including the information of the person which the payment will be
issued to. So all I require of you is for you to send me your:
FULL NAME:
FULL ADDRESS:
ZIP-CODE:
CITY:
STATE:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
So that I can forward it to my Guardian because my guardian will be
paying for the rent, my flight and some other things so all you have
to do is that as soon as you receive the check he will send. You will
deduct your rent fee and the utilities from it and then get the rest
back to my flight manager so that my ticket can be booked. Waiting to
hearing from you. I will want all this information for quick payment
asap pls
Whenever someone starts with a guardian and international, I get the feeling of possible scam. So posting this out in public so that if you see similar email for your online ads, beware of scam artists like this.

1 comment:

sbarrkum said...

A couple of years ago had email requesting to book room/cottages at www.wilpattuHouse.com. Basically said we will wire transfer lodging fees + tour operators fees. I was supposed to keep the lodging fees and give tour operators fees.

The scam:
Email sender has hacked into a bank account. Wire transfers the money to my account. I give the tour operator his fee. When the hack is found, my bank will give back the wire transferred amount. I end up loosing the the money I gave the tour operator.