Let me start by saying that I hate people.
Trisha was browsing craigslist last week and stumbled across an incredible rental opportunity. I wish I still had the link, but i'm pretty sure that it was removed (you'll see why). The rental was for a 4600 square foot, 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom house in Herriman for $1300 per month. Incredible, I thought, but didn't really think about how good of a deal that would be, simply because we cannot afford $1300 bucks a month.
Trisha, being resourceful, reached out to some family members that are also looking to move into a place and thought that perhaps we could split the cost. I'm not going to get into the thousand other reasons that I didn't want to do this deal (moving in with family, etc.).
So Trisha emailed the guy back to get more information. No harm in that. This was the email he responded with:
"Hello,
Thanks for the email. I Chris Scott owns the house and also it is situated and also want you to know that it was due to my transfer that makes me and my Family to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take a very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean all the time and the possible tenant will see the house as his or her own.
HOUSE ADDRESSES 14767 S Tangle Hill Rd Herriman UT, We are renting a beautiful 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom, fully finished basement home in Herriman Utah. It has upgraded kitchen, jetted master tub, fireplace, LR, FR, Den, DR, loft with bathroom and walk in closet. Many more upgrades, 3 car garage. It has great mountain views and in area that offers, tennis courts, club house, community pool, basketball courts that are all INCLUDED! I am flexible regarding the length of the lease. 6 mo., 1 yr., 2.yr, 3yr. etc. are all acceptable. I never increase the rental amount for good tenants..... All credit considered, all types of pet allowed and Additional monthly charge of $50 for pets.....You can drive down there to take a look ate it.We have left the US and we are currently in the West Africa for a program called 'World Conference Against Racism Youth Summit, Empowering youth for combating racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education, the program is taking place in three major countries in Africa which is Sudan, Ghana and Nigeria and will last for 5yrs. It as been a very sad and bad moment for me, the present condition that I found myself is very hard for me to explain. If you will be the right tenant to our house, we will get the keys and documents of the house sent to you via courier services as soon as all terms are settled.I will be online through out to get back to you as soon as you are able to get back to me. I would want to know how soon you would want to move in as I will be taking a 2-month upfront payment for the house. I am asking for $2,600 and I believe we should be able to help ourselves. I am accepting $2,600 including utilities because I want you to take a very good care of the house while I am away.
I am looking forward to hear from you ASAP so that i can forward you an application to fill out and discuss on how to get the house for rent over to me so that I can get the keys and papers sent to you via FedEx or ups e.t.c, also are you ready to rent it now or when Await your reply. I will be willing to send the inside view of the building if you demands for it.
I could let you remain in the house till I come back if you are a good tenant and you can reach me on +2348025932084
Thanks and awaits your mail as soon as possible
Chris Scott"
Ok. So, prior to me reading his email, Trisha (unbeknownst to me) responsed back letting him know that we were interested in the place and some other information letting him know our situation. Since Trisha doesn't use the computer very much, she hasn't been exposed to the millions of scams out there. After she had written back to him, she let me know about the email he sent and his situation. As she told me about him moving to Aftica, it started to all come together. 1300 bucks is WAY too cheap for something of that size. And then I read the email.
So, it became immediately clear to me that it was a scam on the 8th word of the email. Literally. There was an extra space after the name "Chris Scott." That gave it away for me. That told me that this was a form letter and he had just pasted in his name. Simple. Stupid. Then after reading the remainder of the paragraph, it just became more and more clear. The horrible grammar and spelling. Obvious? To me, yes, but I can see how this could play on one's heart strings, and with the current economy, a good deal is hard not to jump at. He didn't (to this point) mention anything about wiring him money, so it really isn't *that* obvious.
To prove to Trisha that it was a scam, I did a couple Google searches. This is the first one that I found. So the house was up for sale for $527,000. Yeah.. that confirms that the $1300 a month was just silly. Trisha still wasn't convinced, so I searched for his phone number (as was listed in the email). One result. The result happens to be a Craigslister that found that it was a scam. The person posted the email with the EXACT same response except a different name, address and description (as can be seen on the previous link).
That's what I thought would be the end of the story.. But this is TO BE CONTINUED...
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