by fireislandmuffin
Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:28 am
I answered a craigslist ad regarding an apartment for rent in Manhattan. It seemed suspicious because it said Financial District but the address was on the Upper West Side.
It referred me to this webpage http://www.firstchoicehomesreservation.com/New-York.html. I thought the FAQ questions were weird. The use of the words Mall and Flat were definitely not American English. Reference to a pool was also really weird. I further noticed that the price of $60/night was common to many of the apartments regardless of city. I made an email inquiry (the email address is [email protected]) and I got this reply:
Thank you very much for your inquiry.
For your travel dates we could offer you the following options:
Our APARTMENT is $420./week and $60 a night.
So for one month the total is $1680.
This includes all utilities. There is a fully equipped kitchen. We supply all linens, and there is parking space.
There is high speed wireless internet for your convenience. If you are interested we take 40% and refundable $300 security deposit to confirm your booking and the rest of the balance on your arrival.
Or you may pay in full at the time of the booking. The amount of 40% would be $672 plus $300 security deposit making $972.We can confirm your booking if you make the deposit now before your arrival.
Please let us know if you are interested and we can go from there.
Thank you and have a great day.
I Googled the phone number on the website 786-440-8493 and found scamwarners. Thanks for helping me decide once and for all it's a scam.
It referred me to this webpage http://www.firstchoicehomesreservation.com/New-York.html. I thought the FAQ questions were weird. The use of the words Mall and Flat were definitely not American English. Reference to a pool was also really weird. I further noticed that the price of $60/night was common to many of the apartments regardless of city. I made an email inquiry (the email address is [email protected]) and I got this reply:
Thank you very much for your inquiry.
For your travel dates we could offer you the following options:
Our APARTMENT is $420./week and $60 a night.
So for one month the total is $1680.
This includes all utilities. There is a fully equipped kitchen. We supply all linens, and there is parking space.
There is high speed wireless internet for your convenience. If you are interested we take 40% and refundable $300 security deposit to confirm your booking and the rest of the balance on your arrival.
Or you may pay in full at the time of the booking. The amount of 40% would be $672 plus $300 security deposit making $972.We can confirm your booking if you make the deposit now before your arrival.
Please let us know if you are interested and we can go from there.
Thank you and have a great day.
I Googled the phone number on the website 786-440-8493 and found scamwarners. Thanks for helping me decide once and for all it's a scam.
