I get a few of these messages every day:

Hello ……
I need a place to rent……is any available?
I like a house that will be a home because a home is a place where you find peace, understanding,joy and happiness.A home far away from home is what i want so i can say home sweet home. And remember a place without love is a house but a place with love is a home.
If you finds this great and you feel that we could get along well feel free to ask me your question.
About me:
I am an easy going person who prefers people with a good sense of humor and are general friendly people and positive. I am generally a caring person, but do not get into people’s business unless when asked to. I usually become friends with my roommates .
I do not drink, but do not mind people who do unless they get violent when they drink. Or if they are drunk 24/7….lol.
I will be glad to hear from you soonest.
God bless and Thanks

Seems like a fair enough question; it sounds like someone is looking for a place to stay. The grammar and sentence structure is a bit suspicious, but in this day and age, that’s not rare.

Look a little bit closer, though, and you’ll realize that this is one of those “renting scams”.

I’ve seen enough of them to recognize the pattern:

1. Someone sends you an email saying they saw your ad looking for a roommate or they heard through the grapevine that you have a place to rent out. They usually describe themselves with a salvo of adjectives, ranging from “outgoing”, “quiet”, or even both at the same time. They’re looking for a place ASAP, since they’re moving from abroad.
2. You tell them there’s still a place available.
3. They offer to pay you upfront, and send you a wire transfer or a bank note.
4. You rush to the bank to cash it in. C’mon, it’s money upfront!
5. A few days later, the bank phones you to let you know that the money didn’t go through.
6. You check your bank account to find that the scammer has taken your account number and took your money. You cry.

So, what can you do to make sure you don’t fall victim to this scam?

• Hit the “Report Spam” button in your email client.
• Only deal with people in your area after you’ve met them in person. Nobody should rent out a place to someone they haven’t seen. Best case scenario: they’re drug dealers.

This ClashBang.com article was written by Chris Chu. Tired of privately venting his frustration in vain, Chris decided to share his discontent with the rest of the world.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 12:58 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.