Is this a scam?

I'm trying to rent a studio in amsterdam for a year. I've contacted an ad on craigslist. The owner, Jenny Anderson, has sent me a contract to fill out and is asking for 60% payment up front via paypal. Isn't it more normal to ask for first and last month plus a damage deposit? Here is a copy of the contract,

The rental is between the following parties

OWNER: Jenny Anderson

OCCUPANT: ________________ please fill


Email: ____________________________________________________________


N.B; Please fill below for receipt of payment to be sent.


Address: _________________________________


City/ State / Zip :_______/________/_________)


Cell phone: _________________


Phone: (Home) _________________ (Work) ______________Extension___


1. DATE OF AGREEMENT: ___________________________
·

i. 2. TERM: The term of this lease is for___________________________commencing on (Arrival Date) and ending on (Departure Date) ___________________________



The Premises will be ready for occupancy at 7:00 a.m. on the commencement.


3. RENT: The rent is 34 (EUR) per Night {Tax and utilities Fee Inclusive}
NO OF NIGHTS TO BE SPENT: 365 NIGHTS
PAYMENTS {Occupants agrees to the Following Payments condition and Charges}

4. DAMAGE DEPOSIT: 400 (EUR) (Refundable on Departure where no damages were Incurred during stay at the Apartment.) and shall be given by Tenant as part of the rental Fee summing the total amount to be paid as, below is the proper payment summary:





PAYMENT SUMMARY



Total rent fee for (365) Nights: 7446(EUR) (40% discount Inclusive) Damage Deposit: 400 (EUR)

Total Payment: 7846(EUR)

60% upfront payment: 4867(EUR)





Payment to be made via this secure PayPal account




PAYMENT CONFIRMED
5. RULES/ORDINANCES: TENANT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT PREMISES ARE IN A RES IDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD WITH NEIGHBORS ON EITHER SIDE. LOUD, NOISY OR OFFENSIVE PARTIES OR ACTIVITIES ARE NOT ALLOWED.



Tenant agrees to comply with all covenants, conditions and Restrictions, rules, regulations, and decisions of Landlord, which are at any time posted on Premises or delivered to Tenant. Tenant shall pay any fines or charges imposed by local authorities, due to Violations by Tenant, or the guests or licensees of Tenant. Tenant shall not, and shall ensure that guests and licensees of Tenant shall Not disturb, endanger, or interfere with neighbors, or use the Premises for unlawful purposes, including, but not limited to, using, Manufacturing, selling, storing, or transporting illicit drugs or Other contraband, or violate any law or ordinance, or commit waste or A nuisance upon or about the Premises.



6. MAXIMUM OCCUPANTS: The Premises are for the sole use as a personal Residence by the following named persons only:



List below: Names; Occupation/ age (if child)



____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



7. Resident is to be responsible for insect, rodent, and pest control.



8. Resident agrees not to assign this Agreement, nor to sublet any Part of the property, nor to allow another person to live therein Other than as named in paragraph #7 above, without first receiving WRITTEN permission from the Owner/Agent and paying the appropriate Surcharge.



9. Resident will not be responsible for payment of the following: Electricity, water and sewer, garbage pick-up, telephone, cable TV, And other bills incurred during residency. Resident specifically Authorizes Owner/Agent to deduct amounts of any unpaid bills from the Security Deposit upon termination of this Agreement.



10. No rights of storage are given by this Agreement. The Owner/Agent Shall not be liable for any loss of property by fire, theft, breakage, Burglary, or otherwise, nor for any accidental damage to persons or Property in or about the leased premises resulting from.



11. Any removal of Owner/Agent's property without express WRITTEN Permission from the Owner/Agent shall constitute abandonment and Surrender of the premises and termination by the Resident of this Agreement. Owner/Agent may take immediate possession, exclude resident from property, and store all Resident's possessions at Resident's Expense pending reimbursement in full for Owner/Agent's loss and Damage.



12. Owner/Agent has the right to emergency access at any time and Access during reasonable hours to inspect property or to show property to prospective residents.



13. Rental keys, receipt and signed part of this lease form shall be mailed to address given upon Tenant of deposit to enable tenant move In the event Resident takes the apartment, deposit shall be refunded at the end of Lease Term under the condition the apartment is damage Free.



14. NOTICES: Notices to the parties may be served at the Above-referenced addresses.



15. TENANT REPRESENTATIONS: Tenant warrants that all statements made By Tenant in this Agreement and in Tenant's application rental Application is accurate. Landlord may cancel this Agreement, at any Time, upon discovering that the information provided by Tenant is False.



16. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS: Time is of the essence. All prior Agreements whether written or oral are incorporated in this Agreement which constitutes the entire contract? It may not be contradicted by Evidence of any prior agreement or contemporaneous oral statements or Agreement.



17. OTHER TERMS: PETS AUTHORIZED BY OWNER OR OWNER'S AGENT THAT WILL INCLUDE AN INCREASED CLEANING AND SECURITY CHARGE.



18. FACSIMILE: The parties agree to accept facsimile transmission of this contract bearing their respective signatures in lieu of Originals.



19. FINAL & BINDING: Accepts from Tenant the SECURITY DEPOSIT of the Rent as provided.







Tenant: ___________________________________ Dated ____________________sign










Owner___ __ Dated 02/08/2013

Welcome to ScamWarners Tao, there are many grammatical errors in the "contract". I see it as a scam. Would you please post up some more information, including the email address this came to you from. Also posting the headers can be helpful. Instructions for finding headers are in my signature line.

Thank you for your attention to helping us out this way.

Rental keys, receipt and signed part of this lease form shall be mailed to address given upon Tenant of deposit to enable tenant move

This says it all.

Legitimate property owners do NOT mail keys to prospective tenants that they have never met, EVER. This only occurs in the fictional world of scammers. For starters, if you owned a property, would you move a long distance away without someone who could enter in case of emergency? What if a pipe burst, of there was a gas leak, or a fire, or a break-in? Would you risk your property being destroyed simply because nobody could get in?

And, would you send the keys to your property to some random person you have only communicated with by email? How would you even know they were who they claimed to be? Even if they sent you a passport (which is not a smart thing to do under any circumstances,) how would you know it was their passport, and not one they stole or borrowed? If you couldn't meet them yourself, you would have somebody meeting them, verifying their identity, and just getting a better impression of what they are like. When a real owner can't get there in person, they will have an agent, friend, or family member who could meet you in person to show the place and hand over the keys. They may try to give you reasons as to why they don't (I remember one claiming that the agent kept raising the price, which makes absolutely no sense on many levels--because the agent often gets a commission for finding a tenant, and raising the price would only make it harder to find one), but the reality is, those are just fictional excuses.

The moment it turns to sending you keys, you can be sure it is a scam.

This is the email header info minus my info.
Delivered-To: @gmail.com
Received: by 10.58.211.194 with SMTP id ne2csp109594vec;
Thu, 7 Feb 2013 22:38:28 -0800 (PST)
X-Received: by 10.66.83.6 with SMTP id m6mr14027915pay.52.1360305507405;
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:38:27 -0800 (PST)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from mxo16f.craigslist.org (mxo16f.craigslist.org. [208.82.238.111])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id u7si38792105paw.40.2013.02.07.22.38.25;
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:38:27 -0800 (PST)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 208.82.238.111 as permitted sender) client-ip=208.82.238.111;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 208.82.238.111 as permitted sender) [email protected]
From: "craigslist 3447424297" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: EUR34 / 1br - Studio Blanc (Amsterdam)
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 06:38:14 +0000
X-CL-ID: 53CAF411-0D74-4D75-A1E1-4CBB707DC3C5.1
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="CraigslistMail-v1-B1EC9BD7-F8DE-34BE-9708-4A1E06E46FCC"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-Id: <Vbj5a7Y7_epJjbSU51uG0J2biotZSQOJcRMdiVmL-KTga-L-Su8sm6LapVFyVPff@v1.cl.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAAL+=Xgwj6-XEOFO9BLGnuDBZWHx3WzgFioSg_vb_b1vsP9t3g@mail.gmail.com>
References: <zqWKPbxAEgwYLgN-a-0O0nmDcDaf4kWkaeLyNxjEcdo_vMnZmB06ZPr4ZXsvchDU@v1.cl.com>,<CAAL+=Xg9uti7kh8sXMec-YyzDwo8LFnn2G1aSkUcJDc03d4qdg@mail.gmail.com> <bHTzeqMpOYxc_wsMUAlyg4Ff_9ZOLE_2bAlGszY1ISxA2VPBaEfhWJqx9no0tPBh@v1.cl.com>,<CAAL+=Xgwj6-XEOFO9BLGnuDBZWHx3WzgFioSg_vb_b1vsP9t3g@mail.gmail.com>


--CraigslistMail-v1-B1EC9BD7-F8DE-34BE-9708-4A1E06E46FCC
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="CraigslistMail-v1-536B75DF-5C22-3AFE-BA78-AB0BED17C15A"

This is the email included in the actual contract that was to be associated with a paypal account.

Payment to be made via this secure PayPal account ([email protected])

Thanks for the advice and the warning!

I may have run into this same person renting a flat in Munich.

http://munich.de.craigslist.de/vac/3550571746.html

I have corresponding with the email address [email protected]. Here is some of the correspondence:

> On Thursday, 31 January 2013, .Julie kasio <[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks for sending back the booking form... The apartment has been secured for you and your group and we'll do everything to make the apartment a good experience for you and your group.However, The little problem we had about the payment was that our accountant is on sick leave today because she fell ill and we had to let her cancel all payment and go on leave.However our other accountant will be in-charge of the payment.Here is the new e-mail to make the payment again. [email protected]
Sorry for the hassle.. We're trying our best to serve you better.Hope to hear from you soon.
J.Kasio.

> On Thursday, 31 January 2013, .Julie kasio <[email protected]> wrote:
I'm sure you will be excited to hear that the doctor said our accountant is fine that she just gave in (pregnant) That's why she was kinda ill.She has been discharged and she can handle all payment again.Please discard the first message sent to you and resend the money back to her.Sorry for the hassle.
J.Kasio

> On Thursday, 31 January 2013, .Julie kasio <[email protected]> wrote:
And Gina(my accountant) just told me now that she did change of e-mail from [email protected] to [email protected]
Please concerning the booking form, we have registered your details into our database, but we'll need a signed one from you. So we hope you will be able to send that down here by weekend. Please kindly make the payment and get back to me.
Thanks very much.
J.Kasio.

Here is the rental agreement that I was required to sign and return:

>VACATION RENTAL AGREEMENT & BOOKING FORM
(N.A.R Form V.R.A Revised 1/09)
PLEASE SIGN AND RETURN WITH PAYMENT SLIP
Mozartstraße 15 80336 München, Germany .
The rental is between the following parties:
OWNER: Julio Kasio
OCCUPANT:
Email:
N.B; Please fill below for receipt of payment to be sent.
Address:
City/ State / Zip:
Cell phone:
Phone: (Home) (Work) ______________Extension___
1. DATE OF AGREEMENT: January 30, 2013
2. TERM: The term of this lease is for 3 nights, commencing on September 25, 2013, and ending on (Departure Date) September 28, 2013.
The Premises will be ready for occupancy at 9:00 a.m. on the commencement.
3. RENT: The rent is EUR360 for 3 Nights {Tax and utilities Fee Inclusive}
NO OF NIGHTS TO BE SPENT: 3 Nights
PAYMENTS {Occupants agrees to the Following Payments condition and Charges}
4. DAMAGE DEPOSIT: EUR400 (Refundable on Departure where no damages were Incurred during stay at the Apartment.) and shall be given by Tenant as part of the rental Fee summing the total amount to be paid as (EUR616 which includes Rent and Damage deposit)
PAYMENT TO BE MADE VIA PAYPAL.
EUR616 TO BE PAID.
5. RULES/ORDINANCES: TENANT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT PREMISES ARE IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD WITH NEIGHBORS ON EITHER SIDE. LOUD, NOISY OR OFFENSIVE PARTIES OR ACTIVITIES ARE NOT ALLOWED.
Tenant agrees to comply with all covenants, conditions and Restrictions, rules, regulations, and decisions of Landlord, which are at any time posted on Premises or delivered to Tenant. Tenant shall pay any fines or charges imposed by local authorities, due to Violations by Tenant, or the guests or licensees of Tenant. Tenant shall not, and shall ensure that guests and licensees of Tenant shall Not disturb, endanger, or interfere with neighbors, or use the Premises for unlawful purposes, including, but not limited to, using, Manufacturing, selling, storing, or transporting illicit drugs or
Other contraband, or violate any law or ordinance, or commit waste or A nuisance upon or about the Premises.
6. MAXIMUM OCCUPANTS: The Premises are for the sole use as a personal Residence by the following named persons only:
List below: Names; Occupation/ age (if child)
7. Owner is to be responsible for insect, rodent, and pest control.
8. Resident agrees not to assign this Agreement, nor to sublet any Part of the property, nor to allow another person to live therein Other than as named in paragraph #6 above, without first receiving WRITTEN permission from the Owner/Agent and paying the appropriate Surcharge.
9. Resident will not be responsible for payment of the following: Electricity, water and sewer, garbage pick-up, telephone, cable TV, and other bills incurred during residency.
10. No rights of storage are given by this Agreement. The Owner/Agent Shall not be liable for any loss of property by fire, theft, breakage, Burglary, or otherwise, nor for any accidental damage to persons or Property in or about the leased premises resulting from.
11. Any removal of Owner/Agent's property without express WRITTEN Permission from the Owner/Agent shall constitute abandonment and Surrender of the premises and termination by the Resident of this Agreement. Owner/Agent may take immediate possession, exclude resident from property, and store all Resident's possessions at Resident's Expense pending reimbursement in full for Owner/Agent's loss and Damage.
12. Owner/Agent has the right to emergency access at any time and Access during reasonable hours to inspect property.
13. Rental keys, receipt and signed part of this lease form shall given upon arrival at airport to enable tenant move Into the apartment. deposit shall be refunded at the end of Lease Term under the condition the apartment is damage Free.
14. NOTICES: Notices to the parties may be served at the Above-referenced addresses.
15. TENANT REPRESENTATIONS: Tenant warrants that all statements made By Tenant in this Agreement and in Tenant's application rental Application is accurate. Landlord may cancel this Agreement, at any Time, upon discovering that the information provided by Tenant is False.
16. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS: Time is of the essence. All prior Agreements whether written or oral are incorporated in this Agreement which constitutes the entire contract? It may not be contradicted by Evidence of any prior agreement or contemporaneous oral statements or Agreement.
17. OTHER TERMS: PETS AUTHORIZED BY OWNER OR OWNER'S AGENT WHICH WILL INCLUDE AN INCREASED CLEANING AND SECURITY CHARGE.
18. FACSIMILE: The parties agree to accept facsimile transmission of this contract bearing their respective signatures in lieu of Originals.
19. FINAL & BINDING: Accepts from Tenant the SECURITY DEPOSIT of the Rent as provided.
Tenant: Dated: January 30, 2013
Owner______ Julio Kasio___Dated_____30/1/2013___sign

This included information such as my name, address, and phone number. I then sent the required payment via paypal of 616 Euros which was finally accepted by Gina Bailey: [email protected].

At the time I was thinking as to why they would ask me to cancel and resend the payment to a different address. If they already had my money, why would they ask me to cancel the payment? What do you think?