Craigslist Rental Scam

So I've been searching for places to live in the bay area in the coming weeks and wanted to post examples of replies to rental ads:

Thanks for your interest in my apartment. The apartment is still available and it is located at:19608 Pruneridge Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014 . I'm easy going and friendly. I respect every religion and love to hang around with good people and I am definitely not a trouble maker and very helpful in nature. I am presently in Manila , Philippines with my wife Sarah and we will be here for long that is why i am renting out the apartment.

Rental fees : $570 Per month including utilities
Damage deposit : $570 Refundable

Kindly get back to me with your phone number & e-mail address so that I can forward you the interior pictures and more information about the apartment.

Write me back at [email protected] for more information
Regards
Andrew
email continued from Andrew Spears from [email protected]:

Thanks for your interest in my apartment. The apartment is available for long term & short term lease is also acceptable. The building is in a great location situated in the quiet and safe area and offers secure .

Its a spacious and lovely 2-bedroom fully furnished apartment with utilities included. The kitchen is well equipped.Utilities and Equipments: Kitchen well equipped(microwave oven, Dish washer, blender, Cocktail mixer, Sandwich maker, stove e.t.c), all utilities included such as Internet facilities,Parking space, e.t.c

I tried to look for an agent that I could give the document & the keys before I left but could not find any as a matter of urgency. And I don't want home misused in my absence that is why I took the keys and documents along with me. So I hope you will promise me to take very good care of the apartment always.

I have the keys and the apartment documents here with me and I will be shipping it to you through DHL courier service after processing your application form. Attached are the interior pictures and if you like it and willing to proceed with the rental. I will like you to fill the form below and email it back to me asap for processing.

RENTAL APPLICATION FORM

FIRST NAME:__________
MIDDLE NAME:__________
LAST NAME:__________
(CELL)PHONE__________
(HOME)PHONE__________
KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY ________
PRESENT ADDRESS: _____________________
CITY: _______________
STATE:______________
ZIP CODE: ____________
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________
HOW MANY MONTH RENT ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY UPFRONT_________
DO YOU HAVE PET _________
KIND OF PETS: _____________
HABITS
DO YOU SMOKE ______________
DO YOU DRINK ______________
DO YOU WORK LATE NIGHT _________
REFERENCE
NAME_____________
ADDRESS_____________

Payment will be through wire transfer (Western Union Money Transfer/ Money Gram) and the keys will be shipped to immediately payment as been confirmed.

Once i received the filled copy of the rental application form, I will make an arrangement on how to get the apartment keys and documents shipped to you through DHL courier service without any further delay.

I await your swift response.

Regards
Andrew
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Second example, completely different person:
Hello,
Thank you so much for the interest in my Apartment,Well am Sandra Bruce,27 years old,a christian,single not married,no kids as well,am a cool calm and collected kind of person,i am always at home most times when am around,Am an engineer working for SHELL PETROLEUM COMPANY(CONTRACT STAFF),i actually travel most times on researches but Presently am in Manila, Philippine to make a research on the galoc crude oil and i will be needing a roommate who will take care of the apartment while am away and when i need to come in i can also have a place to stay, i am looking for a responsible and clean roommate that will take good care of my apartment.

Below is the address of the apartment so that you can go and check out the exterior, get back to me as soon as you check out the place and let me know if you wish to proceed in renting my room so that i can send you the interior pictures.

Location :7540 Donegal Drive, Cupertino, United States
Hope to read from you soon.
Have a wonderful day.
Best regards.
GOD BLESS YOU.
email continued from sandra bruce <[email protected]:>
Let me know when you will be able to make the payment so that i can go ahead and send the keys to your current address once the payment has been confirmed here..

The method of payment would be through the WESTERN UNION because i currently stay in the rural area of the Manilla due to the research so their are alot of outlets for the villagers over here and they claim its their best way of receiving money so i made findings and i also decided to make use of their method as well..
I hope we would be best of friends even as Roommates..

I will like to read from you asap.
Regards.
GOD BLESS YOU.

I actually utilized Facebook to do some background research on who Sandra Bruce is and she is far from being an engineer. Obviously, I was not going to give any money or important info (i.e. SSN, Licence, etc.) since I would rather see them in person first but here are my advice to those who are looking on craigslist to rent:

1) Do NOT give any personal information (credit card numbers, account, SSN, etc) to anyone over the web.
2) Make sure you set up an appointment to meet with the person face to face.
3) I'm not much of a Facebook user, but it comes in handy when you want to verify the scammer's identity.
I'm sure there's more advice that you guys can come up with, but I do want to submit some examples of recent craigslist scammers and offer some of my two cents....I really hope people can see this post and become more aware when searching for places to rent.

Welcome to Scamwarners aicrag123 and well spotted.

The writing style indicates a person of West African origin who isn't familiar with life in the West.

Never pay a stranger by Western Union and there's no reason not to use a bank account as someone in employment and owning a property will have one, and have a means to access money wherever they are at any given time. Setting you up so that you never meet them and never view the property leaves you wide open to being scammed.

The minute you use a service that is equivalent to paying cash, without ever identifying who you're dealing with, your money is lost.

Scammers like to get potential victims writing to different mail boxes, as they feel it lends authenticity to the deal, though the one person will answer them all, but he appears to be using a jumbled mismatch of names in this case - Sarah/Sandra ? and why does his wife have a different surname ?