“Can someone please explain this scam on Craigslist”

Photo by PoPville flickr user angela n.

“Dear PoPville,

I have been trying to help a friend find an apartment and have been monitoring Craigslist for her.

To several ads that either she or I have responded to, we have gotten the identical response –

Hello,

I hope everything is good. I’m glad to tell you that the apartment is still available. We thought we had the place leased to a couple that we gave a tour 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 show interest about it.

I bet you will want to do a walkthrough 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 being diligent, the empty property 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 one year, but can be switched into a half year lease if preferred. We require one month notice before moving out, as a courtesy.

If you want us to schedule you for a tour, then please visit the link below and get your free score. We recommend this site because all of our tenants used it and never had any problems. All you need to do is fill out the form and you get your score We are not concerned with any negative marks, it’s more of a formality to have it on file, to make sure there are no previous property related issues. You can get it for free at CLICK HERE

Remember, we only need to see the page about the rental history. That’s all we need to see at the showing. We’ll also waive your security deposit if we see that your rating is above 560+.

Once you let me know that you have your credit history ready, then I’ll personally schedule a showing of the place. I know that you’ll love it!

Thank you!

Sometimes the response is signed by Anne Woods, sometimes by Catherine Long. The first time this response came back, my friend did what was requested and then never heard back again. What is it that these people do with this information? . . . . And, what can be done to stop this kind of scam from going on? Notifying Craigslist would not seem to do much as the ads themselves are written so differently in terms of language that it would be hard to tell a valid one from a legitimate one.”

Gotta be using the information gathered for identity theft, right?