Rental scammers mary andrew ([email protected])

please be aware of this scammer from craiglist, she was inquiring about the room I am renting out...and this is her email to me, I think she is the same person under mary lanham also [email protected]

Hello,
Good to read back from you..am very sorry for the late in reply...Am very happy to hear that the place is available and i will be coming there from England for a research work on my own to improve my educational status..so i will be coming there for my move in as soon as the space is ready for move in...But the issue is that because of the distance i wont be able to come and see the place but in case you have a pics of the place i wouldn't mind if you can send me some so that i can see the place and also send it to my step dad so that he can see the place also..Meanwhile let me tell you a little about myself...Am Mary Andrew and am 23years old i lost my dad some years back when i was young so my mom had to remarry so she married to Mr Jack Iceberg who is my step dad now...He has been the one who has been taking care of me all this while i believe he is a God sent to me cux i have never regretted a moment with him..Things i like are as follows reading,swimming and chatting with people around me and also make them happy...I have always been thinking of how i will affect peoples life positively by making donations to the less privileges cus when i looked at my pass when i lost my dad from the story my mom told me..I noticed it is not easy for people that has no parent...Presently i am among the people that donate to (W.H.O) for the support of the motherless home..Although i donate little amount, but no amount is too small to help..Well i hope when we meet in person you will know more about me.......Meanwhile my step dad will need the followings to make payment to you ASAP
1....Your name in full
2...your Address in full with the zip code
3.....Your phone number.
I wait to have this information from you so that my step dad can make payment for the rental fee and security deposit in advance.
Thanks
Mary Andrew.

I received the same email from Mary Andrew in Galway, Ireland. Her email is [email protected]. I thought the name jack iceberg was fishy (no pun intended) so I googled the names. Thanks for posting this!

Good that you have found us and thank you for posting the email address.
Always be carful when doing business on the internet.

Uh, so what's the scam here? Who is Mary Lanham? How about more information?

I too have received this e-mail.

Welcome to Scamwarners. The check will be fake and for more than the amount requested. The scammer will ask you to send some of the money elsewhere by Western Union or Moneygram before the fake is spotted. Which can take some time, even months.

You can and probably will be held liable for passing a forged check. You will have sent the money the scammer asks you to send and you will not be able to get it back.

At the minimum, you will be out the cash, any bank fees, late fees and or over draft fees. Most likely your account will be frozen or closed and you will have to deal with the authorities. Good question AfroFire. If you were thinking that you could get away with just cashing the check and keeping the money, you aren't the only one to think that.

Scammers are not going to send money that could be taken from them. They do the taking.

Unfortunately, I didn't decide this was a scam until after I had sent her my home address. But not too much harm done. Anyway, the following is a set of excerpts from our email exchanges:

"Hello, My name is Mary Andrew from Ireland, i saw your posting online that you have room vacant for rent, i want to know if you still have the space available, i will wait to read from you soon, thanks"

"Yes, meanwhile my step dad will need the followings information to make payment to you ASAP
1....Your name in full
2...your Address in full with the zip code
3.....Your phone number.
Mary."

"Thanks so much for considering me for the space, thanks for your kind gesture, i will forward the information you provided now to my step dad who's going to issue out the payment to you, its going to be inform of check which will be delivered to you through a courier, meanwhile it gonna be from the state not an international check, i will contact him now so that he can forward the payment to you this asap so as to get the place secured pending my arrival, i really need the place and would not want to lose it so, i will want you to remove the address from the site you posted it so that no one else will contact you for it any more okay, i will so much appreciate if you can do this for me, thus, i will keep you posted of my arrival and my flight plan okay, thanks so much and God bless you....."

"Hello, how are you doing today, hope you are fine, Am Jack Iceberg, Mary Andrew's step dad, she contacted me that she already secure a room with you over there and you have agreed to rent the room to her, Am responsible for the expenses, so i will need to know the exact amount that i will need to pay for her move in, but am at a business trip to Scotland so i will not be able to send you the payment directly myself, but i have instructed my client who is in the States to send you the payment, he will get this done asap. thanks so much for being there for Mary
Cheers"

Go this SAME email from another email address: [email protected]

"Hello,
Good to read back from you...Am glad that the place is available, am currently in Galway , Ireland, i will be coming there to further my education, so i will be coming there for my move in as soon as the space is ready for move in...But i will not be coming there to look at the room due to distance, and i would love to call you but my phone just got disconnected and i dont want to reconnect it cuz i will be relocating soon, but my step dad will call you asap, however if you have the pics of the room you can send it to me so that i can see the place and send it to my step dad to see it as well, Meanwhile let me tell you a little about myself. Am Debbie Roy and am 23years old i lost my dad some years back when i was young so my mom had to remarry, so she got married to Mr John Walter who is my step dad now he is a very busy business man. He has been the one who has been taking care of me all this while i believe he is a God sent to me cux i have never regretted a moment with him. I lobe reading,swimming and chatting with people around me and also make them happy. I have always been thinking of how i will affect peoples life positively by making donations to the less privileges cus when i looked at my pass when i lost my dad from the story my mom told me. I noticed it is not easy for people that has no parent. Presently i donate to (W.H.O) for the support of the motherless home. Although i donate little amount, but no amount is too small to help..Well i hope when we meet in person you will know more about me. Meanwhile my step dad will need the followings information to make payment to you ASAP

NAME:
ADDRESS: (NOT PO BOX)
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
CELL PHONE:

I wait to have this information from you so that my step dad can make payment for the rental fee and security deposit in advance.

Thanks
Debbie"

I asked her questions and she never answered them. A simple search brought me here to this thread in Scamwarners.

=====

Got another one today from: [email protected] (ALSO from Galway, Ireland)

"Thanks for your prompt response,i just got your message right now and am very happy to know that the place is still available, I will not be able to come and see it due to the distance. Here is little about me.... My name is Beatriz Coker 25years, female, from Galway, Ireland. I presently live and work in Dublin as Nurse with UNAIDS (http://www.unaids.org) I will be coming to State for medical research due to nature of our work. This was why i made inquiry as per the availability of your space. Please let me know the equipment that are available in the rent..
For the payment that is not a problem at all, because my boss will be highly responsible for all my expenses, all i have to do is to confirm the amount of the room which i have done including the utilities (if there is any) and then get it sent to him so that payment can be mail out for my deposit. However i will be in need of the information in which the payment will be issued to,So all i require of you is for you to send me your...

FULL NAME
FULL ADDRESS (City,State and Zip code)
PHONE NUMBER
EMAIL ADDRESS

So that I can forward it to my boss because my boss 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 please.

Regards."


I also asked her questions and she never answered them. I assume at some point with these folks that an email request to provide my bank account number would eventually come to make the payment to me, in which case we all know what would come o' that.