Richard & Sharon Baldwin [email protected]

I was looking for an apartment to rent in Rochester, NY on http://www.padmapper.com and came across one I liked and contacted to check on avaliability. I coresponded with the owners (Sharon and Richard Baldwin) about ammenities and rent and things. This is the first email I recieved:

Hello



Thanks for your interest regarding our house our home is still available for rent, we are looking for a responsible neat person or a family whom we could trust and rely on with our property, a family that will handle our property as if it were theirs. We initially had our home for sale before leaving for my new appointment with Chevron oil which will last a total five years,for this reason we decided not to sell but put it up for lease since we will be spending that much time.We lost our previous agent to cancer last november and leaving our home empty is not a good option for us.



Our priority isn’t the rent but that our property is well kept as myself and my family will be away for good 5 years or more thats why we require a responsible and God fearing family whom we can trust and rely on with our property.We would also like to know more about you and your family, your renting experience, how long you wish occupying and when you plan moving into our home before we proceed as we require a good and responsible family whom are very neat freaks, a photo of you or your family will be greatly appreciated, below is the address of the house for you to go view it.



Address:117 Shaftsbury Road, Rochester NY 14610

BEDROOMS:4

BATHROOMS:2

Size: 2,766 sqft

Monthly Rent:$900

Security Deposit: $900 (Refundable)



Hope you are pleased with the sum of $900month,security deposit $900 when we receive your reply we will send you our rental agreement to decide if you would love to proceed,YOUR PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We look forward to read from you soon.



Have a wonderful day,

Mr&Mrs.Baldwin.

text us on 3477462657 for faster response.



after corresponding a few times and filling out an application we were asked to send money so they could send us keys since they were out of the country and unable to have a representative show us the house. I received these emails:

Hello Kimberly.



My wife and I went through your application and found it satisfactory we will say at this point “Congratulations" you are now our tenant; In as much as we want you to always pay your rent, we pray you enjoy every bit of your stay in the house in peace, love and harmony.we shall direct our representative to meet you at the house in seven days to be present before you open the doors for viewing but if the schedule is not convenient you then you can give us a date convenient for you,we chose 7 days because you are lucky i am on shore as at now and can have the Entrance and the rooms Keys and duplicate of the House documented file shipped to you prior the meeting between you and our representative as priority mail, so it gets to you in three days from today. We shall as well provide tracking details to enable you to know what time exactly the package will get to you, so when responding provide your address where the package is to be shipped to.



We require a total of 290 (Two hundred and ninety united states dollars) to ship the Entrance and the rooms Keys and duplicate of the House documented files to you,this amount should be sent to my wife via Western Union or Money Gram with the information below



Receiver: Sharon Baldwin

City: London

Country: England (United Kingdom)

Zip:SL13RH

Amount: $290



After our representatives seals the rental on our behalf the $290 will be deducted from the payment you are making that way you will only make a deposit of $1510 into our BOA account (Bank of America) instead of $1800 as security deposit and first month rent,Upon receipt of the transaction information we shall have a signed receipt of the payment shipped along with the listed.We hope you understand we require this amount not only to send you the listed but also to take our home off market so one contacts us about renting again as we do not want to be wasting our time.



Regards,



Mr&Mrs.Baldwin.


SCAM.

I have just ran into this same scam, only they are using the names Mr. & Mrs. Mayer and the email address: [email protected]. The phone number they advertise is: 3477462657.

I first applied for the property at: 2788 Yuma Circle, Salt Lake City, UT 84109 and received this response (the exact same email as above):

Hello


Thanks for your interest regarding our house our home is still available for rent, we are looking for a responsible neat person or a family whom we could trust and rely on with our property, a family that will handle our property as if it were theirs. We initially had our home for sale before leaving for my new appointment with Chevron oil which will last a total five years,for this reason we decided not to sell but put it up for lease since we will be spending that much time.We lost our previous agent to cancer last november and leaving our home empty is not a good option for us.


Our priority isn’t the rent but that our property is well kept as myself and my family will be away for good 5 years or more thats why we require a responsible and God fearing family whom we can trust and rely on with our property.We would also like to know more about you and your family, your renting experience, how long you wish occupying and when you plan moving into our home before we proceed as we require a good and responsible family whom are very neat freaks, a photo of you or your family will be greatly appreciated, below is the address of the house for you to go view it.


Address:2788 Yuma Circle, Salt Lake City UT 84109

BEDROOMS:3

BATHROOMS:2

Size:2,118 sqft

Monthly Rent:$900

Security Deposit: $900 (Refundable)




Hope you are pleased with the sum of $900month,security deposit $900 when we receive your reply we will send you our rental agreement to decide if you would love to proceed,YOUR PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We look forward to read from you soon.



Have a wonderful day,

Mr&Mrs.Mayer

text us on 3477462657 for faster response.

I responded with some information about my family and asked a couple of questions about the property to which I recieved this response:

Hello




Thanks for the email,getting someone clean enough with a God fearing heart to occupy our property has been our prayer,as you can see from the photos, it's a very neat and secure neighborhood which we know you and your family will love living in till you eventually decide what next is to be done,we lost our care taker to cancer and due to the relationship we had with him it has been very difficult for us to assign his place to another person so we are trusting to rely on you in taking care of our home till we find some one good enough to be our caretaker,before we proceed we want you to understand that we will not be able to walk you through the house for the interior viewing until we go through your application not that we do not want to provide a walk through before we view your application but because we presently do not have anyone to do that for us.however after going through your application if found satisfactory my wife and i have agreed to provide a representative on our behalf whom will meet you to confirm your assessment of our home the condition with any other thing necessary before you pay the first month rent and security deposit into our Bank of America account but this will be done after we must have gone through your application and find it satisfactory,if this will be of any inconvenience we will understand if you do not wish to proceed.




As christians our words are what will live by and we can assure you that our home is a must live-in for anyone,if truly you re interested in our home i'm sure we can work everything from here perfectly because at the moment i am off shores working for Chevron oil international on European seas.thanks again for writing,here is also little about us I'm an oil and gas engineer, my job isn't flexible, my wife and i have two lovely kids Renee and Miles,Miles is 12 ,Renee 16 we all have good christian background,my wife and i have been married for 18 years, she is a homemaker,a photo of my family for you is attached to this mail do let us know if my wife should attach the rental application form for you you via email to fill.attached is a copy of the lease agreement our international roaming cost between Europe and America is very high so we are keeping close contact with friends and family back home via text,I'm round the clock busy but if you text me on 3477462657 i shall try to respond you as soon as i can.




Our home has Dishwasher, Exhaust Fan ,Ice maker, Microwave ,Electric Oven, and Refrigerator so once the rental application form is filled properly and sent back to us same way,we will go through it for approval and if it is found satisfactory, we shall immediately approve you as our tenant and send you the Entrance,Rooms Keys,Paper/Permanent House form (Containing your reference details),lease agreement,House documented file before our representative shall meet you at the house to personally confirm the payment for the first month rent and security deposit into our BOA account,we will also like to know if you have anyone moving with you that smoke’s not that we are against smoking but if anyone must smoke then it should be outside for security reasons because we need you to understand that keeping the property clean is our priority not the rent.



Thanks and stay blessed




Mr&Mrs.Mayer.

What struck me as odd was the phone number... with a New York City area code and a 'housewife"'s email address so I looked it up and found this listing. Clearly I will not be granting these people any money and I advise the rest of you to stear clear!

DJ Blackmar.

I am a homeowner who has also been victimized by this scam. Our home was listed for sale. All of our listing information, including photos, was hijacked by these scammers and our home was fraudulently listed for rent by these people. They opened a hotmail account using my name and represented themselves as me, sending the same emails you all have received out to prospective renters to bilk them out of deposit money. Several victimes have shown up on our doorstep thinking they have rented our house and are entitled to live there. This is obviously a nationwide scam and the word needs to get out.

We were almost duped into this scam in Des Moines Iowa, same email, different name - Of Wendy Guthrie, email address [email protected]

Initial email read:
Hello





Thanks for your interest regarding our house our home is still available for rent, we are looking for a responsible neat person or a family whom we could trust and rely on with our property, a family that will handle our property as if it were theirs. We initially had our home for sale before leaving for my new appointment with Chevron oil which will last a total five years,for this reason we decided not to sell but put it up for lease since we will be spending that much time.We lost our previous agent to cancer last november and leaving our home empty is not a good option for us.



Our priority isn’t the rent but that our property is well kept as myself and my family will be away for good 5 years or more thats why we require a responsible and God fearing family whom we can trust and rely on with our property.We would also like to know more about you and your family, your renting experience, how long you wish occupying and when you plan moving into our home before we proceed as we require a good and responsible family whom are very neat freaks, a photo of you or your family will be greatly appreciated, below is the address of the house for you to go view it.



Address:3405 Southwest 31st Street, Des Moines IA 50321

BEDROOMS:3

BATHROOMS:2full ,2partial

Size:2,010 sqft

Monthly Rent:$525

Security Deposit: $900 (Refundable)





Hope you are pleased with the sum of $525month,security deposit $900 when we receive your reply we will send you our rental agreement to decide if you would love to proceed,YOUR PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We look forward to read from you soon.





Have a wonderful day,

Mr&Mrs.Guthrie

text us on 3477462657 for faster response.

We responded back with personal information, a picture of ourselves, and resumes, and they requested a rental application be filled out, which we did. Hopefully these people don't try to steal our identity since they are not getting our money! =(

Second email correspondence from them read:

Hello



Thanks for the email,getting someone clean enough with a God fearing heart to occupy our property has been our prayer,as you can see from the photos, it's a very neat and secure neighborhood which we know you and your family will love living in till you eventually decide what next is to be done,we lost our care taker to cancer and due to the relationship we had with him it has been very difficult for us to assign his place to another person so we are trusting to rely on you in taking care of our home till we find some one good enough to be our caretaker,before we proceed we want you to understand that we will not be able to walk you through the house for the interior viewing until we go through your application not that we do not want to provide a walk through before we view your application but because we presently do not have anyone to do that for us.however after going through your application if found satisfactory my wife and i have agreed to provide a representative on our behalf whom will meet you to confirm your assessment of our home the condition with any other thing necessary before you pay the first month rent and security deposit into our Bank of America account but this will be done after we must have gone through your application and find it satisfactory,if this will be of any inconvenience we will understand if you do not wish to proceed.



As christians our words are what will live by and we can assure you that our home is a must live-in for anyone,if truly you re interested in our home i'm sure we can work everything from here perfectly because at the moment i am off shores working for Chevron oil international on European seas.thanks again for writing,here is also little about us I'm an oil and gas engineer, my job isn't flexible, my wife and i have two lovely kids Renee and Miles,Miles is 12 ,Renee 16 we all have good christian background,my wife and i have been married for 18 years, she is a homemaker,a photo of my family for you is attached to this mail do let us know if my wife should attach the rental application form for you you via email to fill.attached is a copy of the lease agreement our international roaming cost between Europe and America is very high so we are keeping close contact with friends and family back home via text,I'm round the clock busy but if you text me on 3477462657 i shall try to respond you as soon as i can.



Our home has Dishwasher, Exhaust Fan ,Ice maker, Microwave ,Electric Oven, and Refrigerator so once the rental application form is filled properly and sent back to us same way,we will go through it for approval and if it is found satisfactory, we shall immediately approve you as our tenant and send you the Entrance,Rooms Keys,Paper/Permanent House form (Containing your reference details),lease agreement,House documented file before our representative shall meet you at the house to personally confirm the payment for the first month rent and security deposit into our BOA account,we will also like to know if you have anyone moving with you that smoke’s not that we are against smoking but if anyone must smoke then it should be outside for security reasons because we need you to understand that keeping the property clean is our priority not the rent.



Thanks and stay blessed



Mr&Mrs.Guthrie



And after we emailed our "application" we received a third email. I was suspicious about these people prior to this email, but my husband was so excited about this house I was hoping I was wrong, but when someone asks for a wire transfer to an overseas location, it's kind of a no brainer.
Hello

We would have provided an additional application form for you to fill but with previous details provided coupled with your details on the rental agreement my wife and i found it satisfactory, so we say "Congratulations" you are now our tenant;In as much as we want you to always pay your rent, we pray you enjoy every bit of your stay in the house in peace, love and harmony.We will be directing our representative to meet you at the house seven days after your move-in to personally witness the deposit for the first month rent and security deposit into our BOA account but if the schedule is not convenient you can give us a date convenient for you.I shall be on shore tomorrow and can have the Entrance,rooms Keys and duplicate of the House documented file shipped so you can have a feel of your new home prior your move in date. We shall as well provide tracking details to enable you to know what time exactly the package will get to you.

We require a total of 390 (Three hundred and ninety united states dollars) to ship the Entrance,rooms Keys and duplicate of the House documented files to you,this amount should be sent to my wife via Western Union or Money Gram with the information below

Receiver:Wendy Guthrie.
City: London
Country: England (United Kingdom)
Zip:SL13RH
Amount: $390

Also note that the $390 will be deducted from the month rent and security deposit payment,meaning you will pay $1035 only into our BOA account (Bank of America) instead of $1425 as security deposit and first month rent,Upon receipt of the transaction information we shall have a signed receipt of the payment shipped along with the listed.We hope you understand we require this amount not only to send you the listed but also to take our home off market so one contacts us about renting again as we do not want to be wasting our time.

Regards,

Mr&Mrs.Guthrie.

Luckily we aren't out any money, hoping nothing else comes of this scam, but wanted to warn others, who might be researching this scam, since I was alerted by googling.

I was also scammed by this listing. The names used were Mr. and Mrs. Coates, and the wording was exactly the same as the ones posted here. I thought they were a nice family who was looking for responsible people to occupy their house. We filled out the applications and sent them through email. The next email I received stated to send money over to Mrs. Coates in England, but of course, this was a huge warning sign. Does anyone know if there is any way we can report this??

Hey all.

The phone number in all of these listings has a New York area code while the address they are requesting funds to be sent to is in Slough, England (just west of London). I have forwarded all of the information here along with what I've gathered on the side to both the US and UK authorities as well as two independant fraud investigative firms. They have left such a digital trail that I would be amazed if there isn't a conviction within the month.

If anyone has any further info to add to this case, please leave it here. The authorities now have access to this thread and will monitor for new data. Thank you all for your help so far and we're very sorry for anyone who has been dupped by these guys.

^^^ The New York number appears to be a VOIP number that can be registered anonymously.
He prefers to receive texts as his African accent will give him away.

Please don't expect an arrest on this one. He is working anonymously, out of jurisdiction and it would be wrong to give paying victims a false hope that justice may be served.

I would be interested in seeing the email headers from [email protected].

Please don't expect an arrest on this one. He is working anonymously, out of jurisdiction and it would be wrong to give paying victims a false hope that justice may be served.

My apologies. Warner is correct - it wasn't my intent to get hopes up falsly, just vocalizing my opinion. It certainly would be nice but I don't have any concrete evidence to suggest that it will happen.

E-mail sent with info.

^^^ Thanks for that.
The email headers point to Accra, Ghana.

Originating IP: 80.87.92.54
Originating ISP: One Touch Gprs Network
City: Accra
Country of Origin: Ghana

I was on zillow.com last night around 10, and found what I thought to be the perfect house, with extremely low rent, and in a decent area. I replied to who I thought was the realtor, and promptly received this email this morning:

"Hello

Thanks for your interest regarding our house which is still available for rent,we are looking for a responsible and very neat person or a family whom we could trust and rely on with our property,a family that will handle our property as if it were theirs.We initially had our home for sale before leaving for my husbands new appointment with Chevron oil which will last a total five years for this reason we decided not to sell but put it up for lease since we will be spending that much time.We lost our previous agent to cancer months back and leaving our home empty is not a good option for us.

Our priority isn’t the rent but that our property is well kept as our family will be away for good five years or more thats why we require a responsible and God fearing family whom we can trust and rely on with our property.To proceed we like to know more about you,your family,renting experience,how long you wish occupying the property and when you plan moving into our home.a photo of you or your family will be greatly appreciated,below is the address of the house for you to go view it.

Address: 1324 East 108th Street,Kansas City MO 64131
BEDROOMS:3
BATHROOMS:2 full,1 partial
Size:1,578 sqft
Monthly Rent:$700
Security Deposit: $900 (Refundable)


When we receive your reply we shall send you our rental agreement to decide if you would love to proceed,YOUR PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We look forward to read from you soon.


Have a wonderful day,
Mr&Mrs.Frank
Text us on 3477462657 for faster response.





From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Question about the home at (undisclosed Address) Kansas City, MO
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:57:59 -0600"

I decided to google the phone number to see how legit it was about 30 minutes ago, and then this site was linked to it. They're still at it, apparently!

They are also using Mr and Mrs Myers out of Huntsville, Alabama. Same number same exact email!

I just received a reply today with the same letter but with the name "Paulette Alexander." Preceding this, there actually was an extra step that could falsely make you think that this was a real person. Here is the extra email I got before the classic email:

--- On Sat, 5/12/12, Paulette Alexander wrote:
From: Paulette Alexander Subject: RE: 129 S 8th Ave To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012, 4:39 AM Due to the number of automated response we are getting,we would appreciate if you provide your email for us to directly give you information concerning our home.Regards,Mr&Mrs.Alexander

-------- This was forwarded from PadLister regarding “$950 – 3BR/1BA House – 129 S 8th Ave”
http://www.padlister.com/listings/599386
See all messages in this exchange at http://www.padlister.com/leads/228255
After this person sees the vacancy, you can request an online rental application with automatic credit check and background screening: http://www.padlister.com/rent_applications/send/599386

??? Please post the email address that the scammer used. It helps others who may use the address in an internet search.
Thanks.

I found a rental online that seemed to good true, in googling the phone number i came across this thread. Then when I received the email from [email protected] and it went straight to my Spam box, i knew.

This was the email:

Hello

Thanks for your interest regarding our house our home is still available for rent, we are looking for a responsible neat person or a family whom we could trust and rely on with our property, a family that will handle our property as if it were theirs. We initially had our home for sale before leaving for my new appointment with Chevron oil which will last a total five years,for this reason we decided not to sell but put it up for lease since we will be spending that much time.We lost our previous agent to cancer last November and leaving our home empty is not a good option for us.

Our priority isn’t the rent but that our property is well kept as myself and my family will be away for good 5 years or more that's why we require a responsible and God fearing family whom we can trust and rely on with our property.We would also like to know more about you and your family, your renting experience, how long you wish occupying and when you plan moving into our home before we proceed as we require a good and responsible family whom are very neat freaks, a photo of you or your family will be greatly appreciated, below is the address of the house for you to go view it.

Address: 83 Hillside Avenue, Mount Vernon NY 10553

BEDROOMS: 3

BATHROOMS: 1 full, 1 partial

Size: 1700 sqft

Monthly Rent: $1,500

Security Deposit: $900 (Refundable)

Hope you are pleased with the sum of $1,500month,security deposit $900 when we receive your reply we will send you our rental agreement to decide if you would love to proceed,YOUR PETS ARE FULLY WELCOME! We look forward to read from you soon.

Have a wonderful day,

Mr. & Mrs. Curtis Headen

text us on 3477462657 for faster response.

seems they are still using the same body for the email.
Those poor homeowners trying to sell their house.

Same scam... luckily I sent for information on two homes that these guy(s) seem to be renting... so when I received the exact same e-mail/sob-story about cancer and god-fearing tenants, I got suspicious and googled the phone number. This time they were using the names Mr. and Mrs. William Carney and Mr. & Mrs. Curtis Headen. And I wasted my time writing back to the first one! Yeah.. I guess the spam box should've tipped me off.

e-mail address used: [email protected]