While looking for a new apartment on craigslist I found a wonderful deal. A cosigner emailed the lister, Greg, asking the standard asks. Not trusting her judgment, I decided to take over negotiations. Greg responded to my email verbatim his response to the cosigner. Twice. The only difference between the three emails was the name of the recipient, which strangely enough differed between the two copies I received.
Hello -----,
Thank you for your interest. I have available the apartment located at 5484 Clyde Street Apt 2, Halifax, NS, B3J . It has 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen and 1 living room,square ft. 1400. I am looking for someone to live in it, as soon as possible, because my company has won the auction for a project, in construction, for a building that will rise up in Cambridge, England. I am a civil engineer, so my accommodation period in UK will be about 4 years. The renting period is from 1 month up to 4-6 years. As a result of this I want to rent, for this period, at this price and also to find the perfect person for my apartment. I`m the owner of the apt and it's like in the pics.The apartment is unfurnished but if you want you can use my furniture from the storage unit. The rent for 1 month is $680 US (for the whole apartment) including all utilities (water, electricity, Internet, cable, parking, air conditioning, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, refrigerator). You can move in the apt in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I`m the only person who has the keys but I hope that we will find a compromise.
Thank you for your interest and wait news from you.
When I asked for a contact number, he did not respond to my email. He responded to further questions from the cosigner, however:
Thank you for your reply.Like I have informed you before, the price you have to pay for one month of rent will be CAD 740 with no extra fees you will have access to all facilities provide by the building. The utility bills are paid directly from my bank account. The price will not increase monthly; it will remain the same for the whole period that the contact will be signed for. We can start with a basic 1 year contract with the possibility of renewing it or with the period of time suitable for you.About the payment, I would like to receive it monthly into my bank account and I hope there will be no problem for you to wire the money to it. The apartment is ready for you, you only need to receive the keys and the contract so you could check it out, and see if you like it. The apt will be unfurnished but it can be rented very easily with the furniture at the same price.Since I'm Cambridge we need a way to complete this deal that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are asking for. I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 2 days. The solution is provided by a company called TNT which is similar to FedEx, DHL or UPS, which will handle the payment and delivery of the Keys.
I have found a procedure that will allows you to pay for the rent of the apt only after you will receive the keys, and through this way you will see it and decide if you like it or not, before sending the payment. Please click on the link bellow to the TNT web site to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the web site of the company where this procedure is explained: http://www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/home/services/express_delivery.html
This is pretty textbook trickster tactics. All the basics of "how to be a scammer" can be found in this. So I looked up the number for the building owner, called and asked if he knew a "Gregory Wilson." Nope. Google couldn't even find the guy (
gregory.wilson80@gmail.com).
Now I'm thinking, should I
become the hunter? How far do you guys think I could get with this? Any ideas, suggestions?
