Rental Scammer [email protected]

I don't know who's worse the f@#%ing Nigerians who never give up (and who would blame them considering the potential payout for each fake ad they upload) or Craigslist for not doing a better job of screening ads and blacklisting IP addresses that originate from Nigeria for example. I reported this ad to Craigslist over 18 hours ago and they still haven't taken the ad down.

I was lucky, I guess, because like most honest people I didn't prejudge the the person who posted the following ad:

- $1000 / 1br - Bright 1 Bedroom plus Den with Fireplace (Yaletown)
1BR /1Ba apartment
w/d in unit, attached garage

Address:193 Aquarius Mews
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2Z2, Canada


This Yaletown Vancouver extended stay apartment rental at Marinaside Resort is perfect for anyone looking to be in a prime location on Yaletown's waterfront. This spacious furnished apartment features a modern bathroom and stunning views of downtown Vancouver and the North Shore mountains. The suite features a separate office/den, a cozy fireplace for the winter months, and convenient in-suite laundry. Building amenities include a fitness centre, library, pool, squash courts, steam room, and concierge service. Your rent covers utilities, cable, and internet. Enjoy all that Vancouver has to offer by making this Yaletown furnished extended stay apartment rental at Marinaside Resort your home away from home..

I checked the address using Google Maps and it showed the apartment at street level. I replied to the ad:

Dear Fredrick Nathan,
I'm very interested in the Yaletown Bright 1 Bedroom plus Den with Fireplace. Do you have some interior photos of the suite and could you tell me more about it. What floor is it on, is it a corner suite, what direction does it face, was it recently remodeled an so on. Some recent pictures would definitely great.

I also included some character information about myself in my reply.

I got the following reply from the person claiming to be Fredrick Richard Nathan:

Hello,

Thanks for your response regarding your interest in having my apartment for rent.The apartment is much available for now.What happened is that initially,I wanted to sell this apartment but my wife suggested that we should rent it out to a responsible person.I am now currently in London,United kingdom with my family where we work as a volunteer with the Missionary,with my wife and we have the keys right here with us.I will like to inform you that it was due to my transfer that makes us to leave the apartment and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at all time and the person that will rent it will have to take it as if it were his/her own..So for now,We are here in London in our new home and also with the keys of the apartment,we are try to look for an agent that we can give this document before we left but could not see and we don’t want our apartment to be used any how in our absent that is why we took the keys along with us..We are only willing to give the apartment out to a lovely and caring person, so if you know you cannot give the apartment the neatness it deserves please don’t contact me.But if you promise to always take good care of the apartmentget back to me on how you could take care of our apartment or perhaps experience you have in renting a home. I am looking forward to hear from you ASAP...

Kindly confirm your interest by filling the form below:

TENANT RENT APPLICATION
FIRST NAME:__________________
MIDDLE NAME: __________________
LAST NAME:__________________
PROFESSION: ________________
DATE OF BIRTH___________________
PHONE (____) __________ (CELL)
PHONE (____)__________ (WORK)
PHONE (____) __________ (HOME)
MARITAL STATUS: _________
KIDS_____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY________
CURRENT ADDRESS: ___________________________
CITY: _______________
STATE:______________
ZIP CODE: ____________
HOW LONG?___________IF RENTING
WHY ARE YOU LEAVING? _______________________________________________________________________
CURRENT RENT: _______
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL BE LEAVING IN THE HOUSE
IF THIS HOUSE IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________


Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you,please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that,we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this.

O.K. so first thing I'm thinking is wow the place is still available. The application was asking for basic information so I replied. I did take note of some of the grammar and typing errors but I had no reason at this point to mistrust him or judge his English and typing ability (if you spend any time in forums "bad" grammar is fairly common especially in a multicultural society where English is a second language).

Anyways I filled in the initial application and sent it off. I remember Fredrick saying that "we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean" so I thought well if they are looking for more of a caretaker for their apartment then I will ask him to lower the rent. He replied and kindly conceded a 15% rent drop which seemed reasonable.

A day later he sent me the following lease agreement:

LEASE AGREEMENT
This lease has been entered into, on this date July 5th 2013 between Fredrick Richard Nathan referred to as the Lessor, And [My Name Was Here], Hereinafter referred to jointly and severally as Lessee or Tenant). Lessor, in consideration of the first month rent ($850) and security deposit of $500 that has to be paid in advance before the move in date and the covenants and conditions to be performed by the Lessee(s) does hereby lease the following described Premises above, Located at (193 Aquarius Mews Vancouver, BC V6Z 2Z2, Canada) hereinafter referred to as the Premises.
The term of the lease shall be from the day of July 25th 2013 as your moving date . Lessee agrees to pay as rent for Premises amount, The monthly rent ($850) is due in advance on or every each month during the lease term, And 30 days notice will given to you before vacating the apartment. All rent is to be made payable to Fredrick Richard Nathan [Landlord]
THE LESSOR AND LESSEE(S) ALSO AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING COVENANTS AND CONDITIONS
OCCUPANCY/SUBLETTING/USE: The Premises shall not be used or allowed to be used for any unlawful purpose, or for any purpose reasonably deemed hazardous by Lessor because of fire or any other risk or in any other manner, which would disturb the peaceful, quiet enjoyment of any other neighbor of the Premises.  ?Lessor reserves the right of eviction for all the illegal manufacture, distribution, or use or other illegal activities in connection with controlled substance(s). A criminal conviction shall not be necessary before Lessor can institute an eviction action based there upon. The apartment will be rent through out my absence which is 2 years duration for now but can be extended or reduce after the stay of the 2 years or less than the stay of the 2 years base on how long you want to stay in the apartment.

PETS: Pets are not allowed under this rental agreement. Any damages caused thereby shall be the responsibility of the lessee.
QUIET ENJOYMENT AND RULES: Lessee shall have peaceful and quiet enjoyment of Premises, provided all lease terms, rules and regulations are met. This does not cover disturbances and noise by others, which are of a civil or criminal matter, not the responsibility of the Lessor.
UTILITIES: The monthly rent already covers the utilities so it is the full responsibility of the Lessor (Landlord) to make payment for them on a monthly basis....


....…............................. ................................

Landlord Signature Tenant Signature

Fredrick Richard Nathan My Name Was Here

I converted the lease agreement into a PDF document added a digital signature and sent it off to him (about 24 hours ago) to sign. I also asked him how he would like to proceed concerning the money transfer. I still haven't heard back from him.

What's that expression? "A sucker is born every minute?" Well I guess I started to grow up fast. So I decided that before any money would change hands I would request in my next email (which I didn't have to send) to see pictures of the place (my original request), some proof of ownership, and verification of his identity. I started by Googling his name and nothing came up. Absolutely nothing. I was beginning to doubt him but I so wanted to believe him. When I Google searched 193 Aquarius Mews I discovered it was a high-rise apartment building and not a street level suite that Google Maps lend me to believe. It was at this point I knew something was definitely wrong: why hadn't he included the suite # in the lease agreement?

I changed my search to rental scams in Vancouver and became aware of a world or deceit I had no idea existed. Why didn't I know or ever hear of this rampant problem before? Well I've been pretty much shielded to this information since none of my friends have ever been scammed in this way (at least nobody has ever admitted such) and secondly, I have been living in Japan for the past 15 years. Almost all rentals go through "legit" agencies here. You go to a rental agency's office in the city you would like to live in, they take you around to a few places to look at, you decide and pay them Key money (a gift to the landlord) and pay a damage deposit and first month's rent but only after you can prove you are working and/or have a guarantor (usually for foreigners).

Anyways, during my search I found a post from this website with almost identical grammatical errors and rental application. I knew I was being scammed. Thankfully no money was exchanged. My only regret was signing the fake lease agreement and, of course, wasting my time on something that should be given a lot more attention by Craigslist and those who continue to allow Craigslist to post scams without proper screening.

Just a tip to anyone using Craiglist for finding an apartment: When you get your first reply back check the header information in the email for the IP address in the list of Received from IP's;

for example, Received: from [41.71.216.173] = Nigeria

You'll see several "receive from" IP's that identify your ISP but the last one in the list might be the "red flag" that alerts you that you might be getting scammed.

FYI- The scammer uses this address: Fredrick Nathan

Code: Select all[email protected]

Sorry, I meant to include it in my original post.

^^^Thank you for posting the email address [email protected] Fredrick Nathan