Rental scammer - [email protected]

From: Dale e whitehead [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 3:21 PM
To: Michelle Banks
Subject: Re: Home listed on craigslist

Hello,
Thanks for your interest and inquiries about my house.Yes the house is still available for rent and we are looking for a responsible person/family to occupy and maintain the house now that we are not around.

Myself and wife just traveled to Nigeria for a program called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education, the program is taking place in two major countries in Europe which are UK , Spain and also in west Africa Nigeria .
We will be away for 2 to 3 years or more that is why I have made up my mind to put up my house for rent to whom ever that will take good care of it.Also how long do you intend to stay? How soon do you intend to move in?

Here are details of the house:

Address:6436 Lehnert Street Gwynn Oak, MD 21207

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
FEATURES :
Laundry
Electric Range
Electric Heat
Master Bedroom
Playground
AMENITIES:
Air Conditioning
Patio/Party Deck
Cable TV
Ceiling Fans
Dishwasher
Firepit
Garbage Disposal
Microwave
security alarm
Pets Allowed
Refrigerator
Washer / Dryer

Rent: $800 including utilities
Security deposit:$700
Please feel free to ask any questions you do not understand and i will be looking forward to receive your email as soon as possible.
As i am not around to show the inside, you can go check out the house and the neighborhood from the outside and get back to me if you really like it for more information.
Please respond ASAP.
Hope to read from you soon
Thank you and remain blessed

The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster".

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send (by Western Union) money in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you

He will ask you to send him the transfer details.

Make no mistake ! Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected. You will never get to see the accommodation or your money again.

If you are reading this because you are looking for property to rent, and you are in contact with this thief you are probably searching Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment by Western Union before viewing, then it will also be a scam. Please forward the mail to me at the address in my signature line and I will investigate and list them if necessary.

This just happened to me. I felt really let down. I also text them. They seemed really legit. Until i realized they wanted us to send the money for a key. We also stopped by the house, And it had all the stuff in it. & We asked what were they planning to do with the stuff inside the house. they replied with "it can be moved into the store."

Hello,

Thanks for your response and interest about our house.Yes the house is
still available for rent and we are looking for a responsible
person/family to occupy and maintain the house now that we are not
around.Myself and husband just traveled to Nigeria for a program
called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of
Education, the program is taking place in two major countries in
Europe which are UK ,Spain and also in west Africa (Nigeria) .We will
be away for 2 to 3 years or more that is why we have made up our mind
to put up our house for rent to whom ever that will take good care of
it.the money is not the most important thing to us rather than having
someone that will take good care of the house.How soon do you intend
to move in?

Here are details of the house:

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2

AMENITIES:
Air Conditioning,Patio/Party Deck,Cable TV,Ceiling
Fans,Dishwasher,Fire pit,Garbage Disposal Microwave,security
alarm,Pets Allowed,Refrigerator,Washer / Dryer.

Rent: $650 including utilities
Security deposit:$500

Please feel free to ask any questions you do not understand and we
will be looking forward to receive your email as soon as possible.As
we are not around to show the inside, you can go check out the house
and the neighborhood from the outside and get back to us if you really
like it for more information.

Hope to read from you soon

CONTACT US ON
+234-815-377-4984
Thank you and remain blessed

That was the email i recieved. We looked online to find that the house is for rent. But it is under a property management.. The number listed is a u.s. number not a number from nigeria. Hope this helps.