Rental Scammer - [email protected]

The same scam is out on craigslist right now listed under a "Christopher Melvin" - [email protected]. It is the same exact format.

On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 10:56 PM, Christopher Melvin <[email protected]> wrote:
Address:- 236 West 24th Street, New York NY 10011

Thanks for writing regarding my Apartment posted on craigslist, before we proceed on this rent I'd like to make a brief introduction about myself. I am a psychologist, am 46 years old, married and i have a lovely Daughter. The nature of my work has made me much of a traveler and has really exposed me to different types of race.. My Family and i moved down to Philippines some months ago and that is the reason why am renting out the Apartment. The Apartment is a available for a maximum of 6years..



This home is Available for immediate move in. It's a Newly remodeled and full of charm Modern 1 bedroom & 1 bathroom, 1,165 square foot,strategically located in a very cool and lovely environment with appliances including dish washer with in-suite laundry room and tile,jacuzzi jetted tub, granite countertops, and tons of space. There's a one car garage with high ceilings and extra room for storage.Professional and mature neighbors ensure peaceful living arrangements. Utilities such as heater, washer/dryer, electricity, and Internet are also included in the rent,


I am looking for a peaceful and responsible person to rent the Apartment and help me look after the Apartment. The rent per month for the whole Apartment is $950 including utilities and the deposit is $500. I want you to know that I am a kind and honest person and i also spent a lot on my property that I want to give you for rent, so I will solicit for your absolute maintenance of the Apartment and I would want you to treat it as your own, I would like you to keep it tidy all the time I also want you to let me have trust in you as I always stand on my word. I will like you to drive by to the building today to view the exterior of the building for you to know where the Apartment is located and get back to me if you like it so that I can forward the full interior pictures for you to view and have an idea how beautiful and spacious the inside looks and then we can proceed to the next step which is the application process.


Thanks for taking your time in witting me and hope to hear back from you.

Awaiting To Read Back From you.

Christopher Melvin.

Split topic - Michelle

Thanks for posting, found this site by searching Google with his email.

I was suspecting something off but hadn't yet even received photos. I'd be interested to know how you knew. Exact same format as what?

Welcome Bam,

I'm glad you found this before being scammed.

Scammers use a series of scripted emails again and again as part of their scam. We refer to the combination of scam type and scripts as a "format."

The thread has now been separated because a different name is being used, but it was originally posted in a different scammer's thread. The user posted it in the other thread because the scammer used the exact same format (same approach, same emails, just using a different name and address). We simply separated it because it was a new name and email address.

Often, if you google unique parts of the email in quotes, you can confirm you are dealing with a scammer. For instance, I googled this line:

Professional and mature neighbors ensure peaceful living arrangements

It's a fairly unique sentence, and I would not expect to find exact matches. Instead, I found several, including another scammer name here:

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=15173

Same scammer below. I googled some of the sentences in his email and it took me here. This site helps.

I replied to [email protected] and I received the same response as in this thread.
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/2373105917.html


Address: 6802 Ridge Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Thanks for writing regarding my Apartment posted on craigslist,
before we proceed on this rent I'd like to make a brief introduction
about myself. I am a psychologist, am 46 years old, married and i have
a lovely Daughter. The nature of my work has made me much of a
traveler and has really exposed me to different types of race.. My
Family and i moved down to Philippines some months ago and that is the
reason why am renting out the Apartment. The Apartment is a available
for a maximum of 6years..



This home is Available for immediate move in. It's a Newly remodeled
and full of charm Modern 1 bedroom & 1 bathroom, 1,165 square
foot,strategically located in a very cool and lovely environment with
appliances including dish washer with in-suite laundry room and
tile,jacuzzi jetted tub, granite countertops, and tons of space.
There's a one car garage with high ceilings and extra room for
storage.Professional and mature neighbors ensure peaceful living
arrangements. Utilities such as heater, washer/dryer, electricity, and
Internet are also included in the rent,


I am looking for a peaceful and responsible person to rent the
Apartment and help me look after the Apartment. The rent per month for
the whole Apartment is $800 including utilities and the deposit is
$600. I want you to know that I am a kind and honest person and i also
spent a lot on my property that I want to give you for rent, so I will
solicit for your absolute maintenance of the Apartment and I would
want you to treat it as your own, I would like you to keep it tidy all
the time I also want you to let me have trust in you as I always stand
on my word. I will like you to drive by to the building today to view
the exterior of the building for you to know where the Apartment is
located and get back to me if you like it so that I can forward the
full interior pictures for you to view and have an idea how beautiful
and spacious the inside looks and then we can proceed to the next step
which is the application process.