My roommate Kirsten was apartment hunting on Craig's List last week out of curiosity. She found an ideal apartment in an ideal location for an ideal price. So she emailed the person to get more information and to set up a time to visit the apartment. The person responded back a few days later and was ready to send Kirsten the keys once they received an $1800 deposit. Kirsten demanded to see the apartment before sending any money and the person responded with an elaborate plan which to exchange keys and money. All of this sounded to good to be true and as the saying goes "If it sounds too good to be true then it usually is".
Because this apartment seemed to great to give up I called the third party company suggested by the seller to find out more about their company and services. I found out what we suspected all along. While the third party company was legitimate the service the seller suggested for exchanging the money was not a service provided by this company. The woman on the phone said "Mam, this is a scam, we don't offer that kind of service". First of all the woman called me Mam (I AM NOT OLD ENOUGH to be called MAM) and second of all I am glad that we did our homework and called to find out it was a scam.
Kirsten sent an email back to the seller asking that we use an escrow company of our choice and that before we set this up we must speak on the phone and asked for their number and a time to call.
Surprise, surprise the seller never responded.
The best part is that Kirsten just told me she emailed the seller again yesterday.
"I didn't hear back from you, so this is a scam? I work at a prison so perhaps I will see you there someday."
HA HA HA, I am so glad we figured this out and I am so glad Kirsten is my roommate.
PS - Kirsten really does work at a prison as a teacher so she could very possibly see this person someday.
7 comments:
LOL! Kirsten's response was great.
Be careful with Craigslist...a couple months ago a MN girl answered a nanny position and when she went to meet the "family" it was some creepy 20 something guy that killed her...I'm serious and I will pull up the news report if you don't believe me.
Happy apartment hunting!
So glad you figured that one out before being scammed!
K, I have a story too. Happened right here in Meridian. Some guy was "Selling" an I-pod on Craig's list, for free. He said he wasn't supposed to have bought it, and he didn't want his wife to know about it, so he'd just give it away. A woman contacted him and he told her the details of the hand-off. She was to go to a public park that was under construction, and there he would leave the I-Pod in a PORT-O-POTTY. Can you believe that? Luckily, the lady thought that was weird and called the cops. The cops showed up at the park, and found the guy sitting in his car- with duct tape, a knife, and some rope. How crazy weird is that?!
A while back I was doing some wedding photography off of craigslist and had already done a couple of them when someone emailed me from "out of the country" about their wedding. This wasn't beyond believable yet because I had just done a wedding for a lady from Germany. We set up the date, and then they sent me a huge cashier's check (for $3800 I believe) and asked me to take out my portion and send the rest (quickly!) to their wedding planner. Luckily I said no thank you, told them I would just send the whole check to the planner, and ended up using it as a lovely fridge decoration when they never replied. Ah, craigslist!
Ok, Alicia, your story scares me as I am looking for stuff for our house on craigslist and dragging my kids along with me. Hmm, I will rethink that. They need a mom...alive.
Nice research Stephanie and Kirsten.
Love it! I had a friend living in NYC who almost got scammed out of over $5,000 but fortunately Western Union got suspicious and saved her. So scary!
Who knew you had a BLOG?!!! Thank goodness!
:)
I wish that I worked at a prison, so I could say "I work at a prison so perhaps I will see you there someday" to everyone who bugged me. That would be awesome! But it might go to my head.
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