Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: John Oliver <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 11:11
Subject: Re: Dupont 1 BR, 1 BA, Den - $600
To: Con Warner


Hello,

Thanks for your email . I'm John Oliver , the owner of the Apartment
you are in renting.Actually I resided in the apartment with my family
for some months and we moved away due to my transfer from my working
place, my apartment is still available for rent for $600 per month
including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is
furnished.Right now I'm in West Africa for a crusade and i would like
you to get in touch with my wife in the United states for more
discussion as she is with the keys and the documents to the
apartment.Please I want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man
and also I spent a lot on my property,so i will solicit for your
absolute maintenance of this apartment and I want you to treat it as
your own.I want you to keep it tidy all the time so that I will be
glad to see it neat when I come for a check up,I do that once in a
while.I want to have trust in you as I always stand by my words.Let us
know how soon you are willing to move in. Email my wife Mary,on (
[email protected]) and she will attend to you better.

ADDRESS TO THE APARTMENT : 1808 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20008

Thanks for your interest.
John Oliver

This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union or MoneyGram with a promise that he will send the keys through a courier company.

Sounds safe. It's not!

At other times, he will ask for proof that you are able to pay the deposit and rent due to a string of time wasters.
This proof is in the form of a Western Union or MoneyGram payment to a lawyer,a friend or family member.

In either case, if payment is made and you give this person the details, they will collect the money.
You will not hear from them 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 Craigslist, Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment 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.

Thanks for this post. I was looking for rentals on Craigslist, and this posting seemed too good to be true. I replied to the ad and was replied with the exact same email as yours. The bit about "Crusades in West africa" made me suspicious, and so I googled the email address and found this site and your post.
Needless to say, I deleted that reply.
thanks

thank you so much to the original poster. i was ready to send them the deposit, but they asked that i call john. the conversation made me really suspicious, so i googled for the email address and found this thread. very, very helpful.