Room for Rent and other rental scams
#253196 by Michelle Thu May 28, 2015 9:19 am
From: Schoolcraft st <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, May 27, 2015 at 9:06 PM
Subject: RE: $1200 / 3br - 1550ft2 - Newly Remodeled 3 Bedrooms,2 Bath House
To: ruben serna <[email protected]>


Thanks for your interest and sorry for the late response was due to my wife illness but i thank GOD she is getting better. I must confess that I am very new in this landlord business. However, My name is Harry Rarick, I own the House located at (19158-Schoolcraft-St-Reseda-CA-91335). Due to my job as a missionary worker,I want you to know that we relocated to Torrington CT.. I tried to look for an agent that I could give the document & the keys before I left to (Torrington CT ) for my missionary program(international Christian Followers crusade),But could not find any as a matter of urgency. And I don't want home misused in my absence that is why I took the keys and documents along with me...That I decided to rent out the House and i will be here for (3-5 years).. However, the initial plan was to sale out the House. Which I tried, but sometimes the agents inflates the price and it takes longer to sell i am telling you this in case if you find the House on another website, that is the old advert. because of this reason and more we need rental agreement with a responsible person (With good credit) that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money , but want it to be clean and for you to take care of it as if it were yours The rent is $1,200 deposit is $1,000 For this 3 Beds / 2 Bath . Air Conditioner Dishwasher Walk-in Closet Refrigerator Vaulted Ceilings Washer/Dryer Cable etc...

RENTAL APPLICATION FORM
(Private and Confidential)

1)Your Full Name:
2)Your Full Address,City,State,Zip Code:
3)Marital Status:
4)How many people will be living in the House:
5)Do you have a pet:
6)Do you have a car:
7)Occupation:
8)Monthly Income:
9)How long are you willing to stay in the property:
10)When are you ready to Move In:
11)How many months rent can you pay upfront:
12)Earliest possible date of deposit:
13)Phone Number:
14)A picture of occupant:


Regards,
Harry Rarick.


This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union, MoneyGram, pre-paid credit card or bank transfer with a promise that you can have the keys to a property that does not belong to him.

Sounds safe. It's not!

At other times, he will ask for proof that you are able to pay the deposit and rent due to a string of time wasters.
This proof is in the form of a Western Union or MoneyGram payment to a lawyer,a friend or family member.

In either case, if payment is made and you give this person the details, they will collect the money.
You will not hear from them again.

All the details such as names, addresses, pictures etc. that the scammer uses in order to back up his story, are stolen from elsewhere.

If you are reading this because you are looking for property to rent, and you are in contact with this thief you are probably searching Craigslist, Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment before viewing, then it will also be a scam. Please forward the mail to me at the address in my signature line and I will investigate and list them if necessary.

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#282841 by Westino Wed Jan 27, 2016 8:02 pm
Hi there,
I think a friend of mine got in touch with the same thief. I'm pretty sure is the same person because it copy and paste the same message every time. In particular "I tried to look for an agent that I could give the document & the keys before I left [...] But could not find any as a matter of urgency."

This person almost got a friend of mine who was looking for a flat in Paris. It pretend to be an Italian girl who is renting a flat in Paris and asked to my friend 500€ in advance. My friend was almost sure because she's asked for a scan of her passport and she did send a picture of an authentic Italian passport. It doesn't look a fake passport and all the details are correct.
But we understood that something was wrong when "she" has sent the document for the rent with the signature misspelled ("Danieola Rossso" instead of "Daniela Rosso") and she didn't want to chat in Italian with my friend (she's Italian too). Of course something was wrong.

So I've started looking for her profile pictures on Google Image SE... no results... I've looked for "her" on the phone books of every place where she said she lived... no results... finally my friends send me the pictures of the flat and eureka! All those picture where coming from other flats in Berlin and London. Finally we had the proof!

It's also interesting that she has created a fake room mate from Czech Republic to sound more convincing: http://www.facebook.com/Schimmerova.Tereza34

Meanwhile we found another profile on Facebook using the same tactics and same sentences.

The profile who tried to cheat my friend is this: http://www.facebook.com/danielarosso001
Image

I will not post the picture of the passport to respect the privacy of the real owner.

The other profile we have found is this one: http://www.facebook.com/hauluis45
Image

I've tried to research the real Daniela Rosso to warn her that someone is using the picture of her passport to cheat people, but I couldn't find her. We also contacted the police, but they haven't been much helpful...

One detail I've noticed is that in every fake identity this person talk about religion. On your example "he" was departing for a missionary project, on both Daniela and Luise profile there are some posts about praying... interesting.

Hope that I've been helpful and that people don't get scammed from this thief.
#301489 by Mysshi Sat Jul 23, 2016 8:57 pm
"She" is definitely a scammer and I hope people google this name when she tries to get them to pay a security deposit for a non-existent apartment. I wish there was something to do about her use of a real person's name and ID...any suggestions? She tried this with us for an apartment in NYC. Claims to be a nurse in the UK. No such name is registered as a nurse in UK. Mentions god and gets really weird/crazy when you push back at all. Then cuts you off.
#301512 by Tim Atem Sun Jul 24, 2016 3:34 am
Can you post some of the emails with your personal information removed? Especially any that includes the location and who they wanted you to send money to? This will help warn others.

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