Amsterdam Houseboat vacation rental

Hello all,

We're planning a trip to Amsterdam and are looking to rent a houseboat off of Craigslist.
We found a nice place - EUR130 / 2br - Have an unforgettable experience at houseboat lovely (amsterdam)- http://amsterdam.en.craigslist.org/vac/1917999321.html -

for rent by this individual - Frances Prokop <[email protected]> who seems very nice and I hope that she is.
The Houseboat is located at Zeeburgerpad 173 1019 DZ Amsterdam

They wanted 60% of total fees (rent and sec deposit) up front by Paypal or wire transfer but negotiated to 60% of just the rent.
I requested more photos than were in the listing but they had none.
They did furnish one reference whom I will contact.

Your thoughts?
Thanks for any help.


MDR

Welcome Photovolt,

The email address raises serious suspicions.
First part: franckrentalltds suggests that this is a Ltd company (from the UK), but the appended 's' is an error typical for scammers from western Africa.
Second part: hotmail.com is a free email address. Legitimate companies don't use free email addresses. Instead, they register their own domain and use email addresses from that. Really doesn't cost much and looks much more professional.

We could tell more if you posted an email from them, complete with headers. Be sure to remove your own identifying information before posting. If you don't know how to obtain the headers, let us know which system you use to read you emails and someone here will offer instructions.

Thanks.
Regarding the headers, I use MS Outlook express.
Let me know and I'll post the email.
Mark

Hello,
A friend of mine and myself were also looking to rent a different property in amsterdam from the same person. Have you had any luck?

-Joe

Thanks.
Regarding the headers, I use MS Outlook express.
Let me know and I'll post the email.
Mark

Sorry. We seem to have missed this.
1. Double-Click the e-mail message to open it in its own window
2. Click the File menu
3. Click Properties
4. Click the "Details" tab
5. Click "Message Source"
6. Copy and paste everything from this window

Sorry for the late response.
Here's the header -

Return-Path: [email protected]
Received: from imta08.emeryville.ca.mail.comcast.net (LHLO
imta08.emeryville.ca.mail.comcast.net) (76.96.30.77) by
sz0105.ev.mail.comcast.net with LMTP; Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:00:30 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from col0-omc2-s13.col0.hotmail.com ([65.55.34.87])
by imta08.emeryville.ca.mail.comcast.net with comcast
id yf0V1e01C1snsG108f0Vei; Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:00:29 +0000
X-CAA-SPAM: F00000
X-Authority-Analysis: v=1.1 cv=vzTLT6tUmryxQaUwU3tNZfP2vlyP8lsMIOAKnzhg6LI=
c=1 sm=1 a=dFtwlw-qG5wA:10 a=1t8jN4ibmMYA:10 a=KfC6A3JaSXIA:10
a=abL-8pKBw8IA:10 a=C_IRinGWAAAA:8 a=b4KrJKo_AAAA:8 a=syIhcMeXkhD5BGfEg6kA:9
a=NrXUYOJxRqL-dXvcdCgA:7 a=XijRTI-VJCy8lq0NHJXMQj1B7HYA:4 a=wPNLvfGTeEIA:10
a=CiOdDIIc0BIA:10 a=ESDMvnYG5WcA:10 a=si9q_4b84H0A:10 a=cML1mwAmxKAA:10
a=FMPNu7HcFgrO-2jj:21 a=X9I_u_qQKh2o2_ym:21 a=QRHQVKGeaMDpHrXoSjsA:7
a=R7nZted0OAeMoR5WFWzRC7frbawA:4 a=KvN858p0ugp4LyBeElqWpQ==:117
Received: from COL103-W28 ([65.55.34.71]) by col0-omc2-s13.col0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:00:28 -0700
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Return-Path: [email protected]
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="_f5934e20-e644-4bd7-97a2-1805242186df_"
X-Originating-IP: [64.81.57.54]
From: Frances Prokop <[email protected]>
To: <t.net>
Subject: RE: EUR130 / 2br - Have an unforgettable experience at houseboat
lovely (amsterdam)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:00:28 -0700
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <B62CC8332A004FD497DB1ADF85B2982C@DADSDELL>
References: <B62CC8332A004FD497DB1ADF85B2982C@DADSDELL>
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 25 Aug 2010 15:00:28.0973 (UTC) FILETIME=[41B205D0:01CB4466]

THanks for any help.
MDR

Hi, I've come accross the same company, name, email etc for an apartment rental in Germany for Oktoberfest. I haven't sent the money yet but am curious if anyone has found out further information on this company.
Thanks

Welcome here Photovolt and rosedonna.

I couldn't find much evidence of a scam. In fact i couldn't find a company by that name, which suggests that this is a private person letting the houseboat. BUT, if this same person is also advertising an apartment in Germany, then i'm not so sure. If this person is asking you to pay with western union or moneygram, then it's definatly a scam. But for now i can't say for sure.
It would help if you two post the email message from this person.

Hi there, in fact this was a scam! One thing that I thought was odd was that the person would not give me their phone number. I should of known. The other name that was attached to this person was Cheryl Larson. Hope this helps