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Poor guy got scammed

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  • #1

    Poor guy got scammed

    He wasn't sucky, but his situation was.
    b/g I'm a receptionist at a leasing office. end b/g.

    Guy came in about a month ago asking about subleasing, etc. He and his wife were buying a house. Cool beans. They get the info. Don't hear back from the guy. I don't remember much other than their potential person was overseas. That should have set off a red flag right there on my account, but it didn't. This is a college town, people come from all over, so I didn't question it.
    Fast forward to today, guy comes in saying how it was a scam, etc. It seemed like he had sent money to a "travel agency" that was working with someone in China. Apparently he and his wife moved out, and the person from China was supposed to move in today. Nope, not a thing on file with us.

    What I can't figure out is if he's making it up to get a couple days grace on rent, or if he really got suckered. I've never actually met anyone that fell for one of those scam emails.
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  • #2
    Yea... that's all sorts of evil. Although it seems like user error on his part if it was in fact a scam. He definitely shoulda had that paper work! W/e you're dealing with property transfer/money you def need signatures and witnesses. That does suxxor though.

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    • #3
      Sounds similar to something that happened to a pair of my customers. They were looking to buy a house in some resort town in Mexico. They took a mortgage out on their local house to pay for it. Wired something like 20% as a down payment. Then when they went to the closing, the seller's wife threw a hissy fit, and the whole thing fell through.

      My customers still don't think they were scammed, but I don't think they ever got their down payment back, either. It took them over a year to pay back the mortgage.
      "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
      -Mira Furlan

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      • #4
        never wire money for something like that

        you can't get it back

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        • #5
          Don't assume giving a personal check or money order protects you either. Once they cash it, it's buh bye.

          Someone locally was in the news telling a story of how they were scammed. They were looking to rent a home, had visited the property and been given a walk-thru. They signed a lease and handed over payment to the "owner". The "owner" was actually the previous tenant who was moving and hadn't turned in the keys yet. Asshole scammer vanished and the would-be renter learned they were out the deposit and first month's rent.

          To be honest, I'm not sure how you're supposed to protect yourself short of doing a background check on the landlord. And who really does that?
          A lion however, will only devour your corpse, whereas an SC is not sated until they have destroyed your soul. (Quote per infinitemonkies)

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          • #6
            Awhile back I was looking at rents on Craigslist (yes, yes, I know that's a bad idea). I sent out a ton of emails for prospective apartments. Several of them sent emails back requesting I go to a website and fill out my information for a credit check. Thankfully, Mr. Wooden's parents stopped me before I actually did something stupid.

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            • #7
              Yeah, the same has happened to me too, but whenever I get anything back like that I just press delete.

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              • #8
                Yyyyyeah.

                All the scam apartment ads I've replied to have several things in common.

                1) The pictures and description of the unit for rent are way, way better than the asking price. It's obvious bait.

                2) There's a script for the response. Literally, it's like they copy and paste sometimes. The owner claims to be a rich doctor/missionary/teacher overseas (it's always some sort of good work that they're doing), they want the rent payment wired, and they sign off with God Bless or something similar. I'm not saying anything against people who would end an email that way, I'm just saying it's part of the script.

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                • #9
                  The ones I got back were refusing to release the address due to security concerns or something like that. When I offered up a copy of my free credit report (I didn't send it to them, I just keep a copy on hand) plus a list of my questions about the apartment/house (age, has it ever had any flooding, asbestos, lead, plaster or drywall, the insurance coverage that the "landlord" holds, etc. etc) I never heard back.

                  My actual landlord was fine with word of mouth. We got the apartment, because he works with Mr. Wooden's mom. He also didn't mind my pestering questions.

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                  • #10
                    Wow. So slight update. I was reading throguh their history today and supposedly they received a check for 5000 that the bank told them was fake!? But they hadn't contacted to police yet (though it read like they were going to do so yesterday). It went on to say that theyd received the check from the father of a student in china to cover expenses. But then I noticed that they paid their rent, so I guess they found the money somehweres. I think I'll watch this to see what happens. Some of our residents are better than watching soap operas.

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