Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: alexa mitchell <[email protected]>
To: Con Warner
Sent: Tuesday, 10 September 2013, 11:11
Subject: We appreciate your interest in our now available property

Hello,

I hope your Tuesday's going well. The good news is that the apartment is still available! We thought we had the place leased to a couple we showed it to today, but now it seems that they changed their mind, so we need to rent it as soon as possible. You were the second one to respond regarding it.

I am sure you will want to do a personal showing of the property, but my husband doesn't want me to advertise the address as a measure of safety. Last time we did that without verifying people, it was broken into and vandalized. We don't want that to happen again! You will be responsible for cable, internet, and phone, if you decide to have these services. Just to confirm, we DO allow pets at this property. The rental term is 12-month lease, but can be switched into a half year term if preferred. We just ask that you give us fair notice if you are moving out.

If you would like to set up an appointment, go to the link below and request a copy of your free credit score. We use this site for all the properties we manage since it's free through Transunion. Just fill out the form and indicate that you want the score. What is in the report isn't important to us, it's more of a formality to have it on file, to make sure there are no previous property related issues. You can get your free credit score at CLICK HERE

Remember, we only need to see the page about the rental history. That will be all you will need to bring with you to the showing. We typically waive the security deposit with a score of 570+.

Let me know when you have your updated copy of your credit score and we can schedule a showing. I look forward to showing you around the place. And please keep in mind that I'd like to get this place rented by next Friday, if possible.

Thanks again,
Alexa Mitchell

This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union or MoneyGram to an escrow company with a promise that he will send the keys through a courier company.

Sounds safe. It's not!
The emails claiming to be from the company are fake.

At other times, he will ask for proof that you are able to pay the deposit and rent due to a string of time wasters.
This proof is in the form of a Western Union or MoneyGram payment to a lawyer,a friend or family member.

In either case, if payment is made and you give this person the details, they will collect the money.
You will not hear from them again.

All the details such as names, addresses, pictures etc. that the scammer uses in order to back up his story, are stolen from elsewhere.

If you are reading this because you are looking for property to rent, and you are in contact with this thief you are probably searching Craigslist, Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment before viewing, then it will also be a scam. Please forward the mail to me at the address in my signature line and I will investigate and list them if necessary.

I received this exact email this morning. It looked shady from the start. I'm so glad I followed my instincts and googled the email address ([email protected]) before clicking on any link or replying. This was the only post I saw about this email address being fruad so thank you!

I created this account just for this scumbag. I really don't understand how people won't do a simple google search before they give their money or information to someone. Anyway, instead of going through what I found before I got here, I'll just paste what I said in the reply to that e-mail:

I just want you to know that despite how many people you may have scammed in the past, there are some intelligent people on the internet. Any intelligent person would know this is not how business is done for a simple apartment rental, so I got suspicious and did a little research.

I found out your name is actually Alexa Constelblanco and you may or may not live in Brazil (I really didn't care to dig any further). I also know you have attempted to run this scam in the past using this same e-mail. If I EVER see another posting on craiglist from you I WILL be reporting you to the authorities. You should be ashamed of yourself, get off your ass and get a job instead of trying to scam people who actually WORK for their money.

You are a shady, despicable human being and you will never have anything out of life. Don't ever send me another e-mail again.

This scammer also uses the reply name/account [email protected] on Craigslist.

I also received this exact email but from a "[email protected]." Now this person is creating accounts with multiple different names to try and steal from honest people making their living. Despicable.