scam

Dear PoP – Craigslist Scams

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo from PoPville flickr user ewilfong

“Dear PoP,

My little sister is moving to the city and is having a hard time finding a place for a reasonable price. She wants to be close to public transportation, and also needs parking and a landlord that won’t mind her 120lb dog. She found a place on craigslist in Georgetown- advertised as 2 bed, 2 bath, 1100sq foot for $1100 a month. Here’s the initial correspondence from the landlord (I’ve tried to take out the personal info):

> Hello,
>
> Thanks for taking the time to look at my property.My name is XXX, 52 years old and I’m the owner of this condo(2 bedrooms,2 bathrooms,1100 square footage).I lived in this beautiful condo for over 5 years,loved every day of it.It
>
> ‘s located in the heart of Georgetown at XXXX Grace St.The prime location can’t be beat and the garaged parking is an amenity sure to be appreciated by anyone(located at 1/2 block to M street,1/2 block to Georgetown Waterfront Park….Views of Potomac and Downtown Arlington from balcony).The condo is fully furnished with all necessary amenities(exactly like in the pics),the unit is equipped with recessed lighting, central air and heat, the condo come with two parking spots,a storage unit where you can deposit my furniture (if you don’t like it and you want use your furniture),there is also a linen closet, and most importantly, a new front loading stacked washer and drier.Pets allowed.I’ve moved to United Kingdom with my job and decided to rent it because the rent is very expensive here.The price is so low because I’m here and is very hard to find a tenant.I can rent you the condo for min. 1 month and max. 6 years(or more).I really want to find a good and responsible tenant for it, and I hope that you can send me some personal information about yourself.The rent for the whole condo for 1 month is $1100 including all utilities(water,electricity, internet, cable, parking , airconditioning, fireplace, dishwasher, garbage) and the security deposit is 1100$(you’ll get the deposit back at your departure-or you can use it to pay your last month of rent) and I want to receive the money monthly in my bank account. You can move in the condo in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I`m the only person who has the keys and I have nobody in United States that could show you the condo. In order to check it, see if you like it(I’m sure that you’ll love it), you need to receive the keys and the contract.
> If you want to rent the condo, please e-mail me back and I will explain you how the payment and shipping will take place!
>
> Regards, XXXX”

Yes, this is definitely a scam. For me this was an easy one. But I know I’ve been tricked at least once or twice when I’ve selected “Rentals of the Week”. So again, while this one may seem super obvious, what are other tips for picking out craigslist scams for rentals that are a bit more subtle but still a scam?

Political Street Scams?

By Prince Of Petworth

From a reader:

Hey PoP,

Did you have a couple of guys show up at your door collecting money in support of Obama, 2 days ago? They claimed it was a grass roots support thing and they did not have a website to collect money later or even literature to drop off. That if they didn’t collect enough money they would not raise enough support for Obama to counter the Republican’s smear commercials due to Obama declining to accept corporate money this year. They said not only was it to support Obama’s campaign but to support the refusal to use Corporate money. They wanted donations starting from $20.08 or more. They went down my entire street knocking on doors. They were pretty pushy and I was clearly trying to let them down politely but they just kept at it. Even saying I could donate as little as $10.00. First off, who would refuse a donation of even a dollar? Did they come to your door? And have you heard anything about it, was it real or was it a scam?

They didn’t come to my door, it’s pretty well known that I’m an Adlai Stevenson supporter. So did anyone else encounter these folks? Legit or not? Here are some of the other scams and here too oh and here too. Man there are a lot of (possible) scammers out there.

More Street Scams

By Prince Of Petworth

This one from a reader on Irving Street:

Hello PoP:

This morning @ 8:00 a man (about 35 yrs old, 5-9, 160 lbs) knocked at my door, my brother in law answered. This fellow, in a friendly manner, told of his need for $18.00 to take a cab to the hospital to pick up his father. He explained that he lived “a couple doors down.” I asked him to point more clearly to the house – he said grey porch a few down. I asked him the house number – he said “21” (meaning 521 or 621 on this block.) I proceeded to walk to that house with him now saying he was ok and didn’t want to ask for the money now. Sure enough, the house was not 521 or 621 and he walked away. I would not have been adverse to loaning the money but since it was so easy to verify where he said he lived, I did so.

Also disturbing was that he approached our house at a time later than when I can easily be seen leaving for work, so I wonder if in addition to the money scam, was he also checking to se if the house was empty and easy to break into (we have no bars.) Saving grace is that brother in law works from the house.

Do you think this was handled appropriately, or should you just say, sorry and close the door?

New PoP Feature: Scams To Avoid

By Prince Of Petworth

So walking to the metro tonight I was stopped by a gentleman. He approaches me and says, “I Know I’m black but I’m not homeless.” Ha, ha perpetuating negative stereotypes, always very funny. So he asks me if I’ve heard of Americorps. I told him indeed I had. Well, he goes on to explain that he is from Baltimore but his bus broke down and he needed money to get home. My answer: I’m sorry I only carry traveler’s checks.

So what’s your favorite scam?