Room for Rent Scammer - [email protected]

OMG! You never believe until it happens to you!! I'm renting a room and was very happy when I got an email from a girl very interested in the in. First she wrote me Under the name Marydean email adddress [email protected]... andshe wrote this:


FROM:
marydean553

TO:
[email protected]

Message flagged Wednesday, October 26, 2011 6:08 PMMessage body
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

--

Hi.
Hope the room is still available for rent?....i will be glad if you
can send me pics and details of the place including time frame when it
will be available.
Mary dean



I' ve tried out of curiosity to see if I can google the e_mail and see anything about the person. It didn t pop anything, except some address on your website resembling with this. So while reading the lil story she had(and took just a minute), she replied back very very fast with a whole speech.

The email address was different, and the story looked exactly like the one you guys posted up here, so thanks a lot! It really helped to figure it out in a second!

the second email came from this email address: Mary Dean <[email protected]>;

Thanks for getting back to me, My name is Mary Dean.I am 23yrs old,I'm
fun-loving, personal,friendly,clean, caring,and respectful of others.a
non-smoker, don't do drugs, not a drinker and drama free. I've been
searching and searching for two weeks for a place an been having no
luck,Males/females doesn't matter as well as homes with a lot of
roommates. I graduated last year. I am single and have no children.
However, I don't have Pets. Am coming for my masters degree I was
born in Virginia Beach in Virginia. My dad is from there too but my
mum is from Canada.Am on research work at Guam (USA), am almost done
with that Because its part of my prerequisite for my masters in Micro
Biology .I would have loved to call you but I am not mobile my mobile
have been disconnected due to moving out of Guam.Am really interested
in renting from you and I want to know everything about the place I
do really love pets but I don't have any at the moment. I would have
loved to see it but am veryfar,but with pictures,I am glad. I will
also like you to tell me more about yourself and if you have pets. I
don't smoke.Please let me know the total payment of the place and more
over I will send your email to my dad for him to email you later
Because He is the one that will be paying the bills(Rent and deposit
fees), but nevertheless,I will like you to send me your full Name
and the mailing address street...City..State...Zip Code,your phone
number as well, so that my Dad will issue out the payment (Cashier
Check)for the place as soon as possible,with that you can hold on the
place for me till I come.Thanks and have nice day.
Best Regards
Mary



I emailed right away letting her/him know that I know it's a scam!
Thanks again guys! and hopefully nobody else will get hit again!

Welcome to ScamWarners jasmine_anida. It is great you realized you were dealing with a scammer. Even though it feel great to tell them you know, it doesn't effect the scammer.

Posting the information here will have an effect on the scammer, so thank you for taking the time to post this.

I too received this. The thing about the bible study always makes me suspicious. Can someone tell me what she is trying to accomplish? Aside from getting my full name and address, then what happens?

It's an overpayment scam.

The scammer wants to "reserve" the room by sending you a check.
The check will be most likely be more than the cost of the rent.
The scammer will ask you to cash it, and send part of the money to "her" mover, furniture provider, whatever; or an emergency will come up and "she" will have to cancel. In either situation, the idea is that you will cash the check, and send the cash to someone by an untraceable service such as Western Union or Moneygram.

In reality, the scammer (who is probably a young African male) is sending a fake check, or one written on a phished/stolen bank account. If it is done well, the bank will not recognize it as fraudulent immediately, and by law, they will have to allow you to withdraw cash in a few days. The scammer counts on the fact that most people think that receiving cash means the check has cleared. In reality, that's not true. If the bank discovers in the following weeks to months that the check is fraudulent (for example, the real account owner discovers withdrawals he did not authorize)--they can take the money back from you, charge you a whole lot in fees (especially if it causes your account to be seriously overdrawn) , and even have you arrested for fraud. The scammer, who never gave you any real information about himself, will just walk away with the cash and be untraceable.