Rental Scam [email protected]

She will make you go to a site and give out the information for "background check." Beware!


FIRST EMAIL.

From : [email protected]

Hello!
My name is Tina and I came across your ad looking for a place to stay. I wanted to make an offer for you because I do have a room available in my condo!

I'll keep it short and sweet: I'm a 24yo, laid-back female. I have a degree and I work full time. I am single and social, but respectful of my roommates and never bring the party home. I like sports too! My teams are the Dallas Cowboys and the Yankees.

My condo is a 2bd/2ba and owned by my parents. There are 2 'master suites' so the rooms are equally big with nice closets and an attached full bathroom. It's a nice complex and close to everything. There is parking and security as well. My parents told me that I have to collect $400/month for rent, which includes utilities.

In terms of a roommate, I don't mind the age, sex, or race of, just as long as you're not a looney! I'm a pretty easy-going gal!

If you are interested in me sending pics, please respond to this email, and we can go from there! I hope you are having a great day/night/whatever!

~Tina
"Ain't Life Grand?" - Shirley Temple.


SECOND EMAIL FROM HER.

Hey! Thanks for the reply! So, I sent that email out to a few people and I actually got a pretty good response back. So, I am just going to copy and paste my response to everyone and hopefully that will answer all of your questions.

First off: Attached are the pics. The first one is me. The second one is the room, and it has an attached bathroom. There is a small bed in there, but if you don’t want it we can throw it away. The final pic is my room.

Secondly: I’m sorry, but I am not giving out the specific address at this time. I’ve had bad experiences in the past with people (male and female) knocking on my door unexpectedly to check out the room. I would like to know more about you before I open the door.

Thirdly: Speaking of that, I am requesting that you provide a background check on yourself. I don’t care about credit (everyone’s credit sucks these days) but I do care about criminal history! There are several sites out there where you can self-order a background check. A simple Google search comes up with a site called InstantCheckMate .com. It should work for you. Click the link and check it out.

If you send me your background check and I can confirm you are not a mass-murderer (jk, kinda) we can move forward and set up a date/time to meet. If you CAN’T do a simple background check, I don’t want to be rude, but we probably can’t be roommates.



So, send me your results of your background check and lets meet!

Talk to you soon!

~Tina

I received the same emails this week. I don't know where you're from, but this girl replied to my CL housing wanted ad in Albany, NY.

BTW there is a third email that goes with this:

Hey there. Once again guys, this is a mass email!

PS: if this email is reaching you in error, I apologize for the mix up.


Well, I’m sorry for the delay, but I am getting a ton of crazy responses from a lot of people who are trying to avoid the background check. Are there that many shady people out there?? haha Like I said before, this is a definite requirement for me to move forward! I’m a pretty laid back girl but this is a sticking point for me. Let’s face it: if you aren’t a criminal on the run, you should be able to provide me with a simple background check! Right?! J

So if you are serious about moving forward, please provide your background check. Reply back to this email with the subject line of “MY BACKGROUND REPORT” in all caps and I’ll know you’re serious. Like I said before, check out the site below that I found with a quick Google search:

InstantCheckMate .com

So, send me your results of your background check and let’s meet!

Talk to you soon!
~Tina

I received identical emails from the same email address the week of 9 July 2012 and now again on 2 August 2012 after I posted on Craigslist looking for a roommate in Virginia.

Except now the sender's email address is: [email protected]

This is definitely a scam, so beware indeed! I'm guessing it's way for InstantCheckmate to drum up business -- why else would the scam be pushing that company in particular?

A criminal investigation might be in order!

Thanks for posting and good luck!

In these scams, the credit check company may or may not be involved.

Many of the credit report companies offer affiliate fees to people or companies who refer new clients. They often pay a flat fee for each referral. Those fees may be $20 or more per client--I don't know what it is for this particular company. Sometimes it's the "affiliates" who are actually behind the scams, creating this setup so they get the maximum number of referrals and the maximum payout.

In reality, though, it is unlikely that the companies are unaware of the fact that dishonest tactics are being used. Many of those companies have a "no questions asked" sort of policy, essentially giving the affiliates free reign to use any tactic necessary to bring new clients.

I just got an email from "Tina" in Portsmouth, NH. her email is [email protected]

Just got the exact same string from [email protected]... replying to an ad on Craigslist...