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Too good to be true...
May. 27th, 2011 09:10 amThe response I got from one of my Craig's List feelers for a place to stay in New York basically requested that I pay 50% up front along with a damage deposit, which seemed reasonable to me.
What bothered me was the instruction to send payment via Western Union, whereupon I would be sent a booking and rental agreement. It seemed not only sorta bass-ackwards, but "Western Union" set off an alarm below the threshold of my consciousness. I've never liked dealing with WU (the few times that I have had to), and there was something else...
I replied suggesting some other form of payment, but asked for information regarding where to send the money, I was sent a response with the same instructions, and no information. I then asked if I was supposed to send the money to an email address, whereupon a rental agreement finally arrived, except that now, the suspicions that had been bubbling quietly in the back of my mind took the form of a series of Google searches for names, email addresses, and so on, together with the word "scam."
Bingo!
A site called www.joseandterrirentals.com, which apparently attempts to keep abreast of scams such as this, had not only my correspondent's name and email address, but—with different numbers—the text of our correspondence as well!
It would appear that—more than likely—I've been dealing with a scammer.
Anyone know of a place to rent in the New York area at less than arm-and-leg rates for about 10 days?
Cheers...
What bothered me was the instruction to send payment via Western Union, whereupon I would be sent a booking and rental agreement. It seemed not only sorta bass-ackwards, but "Western Union" set off an alarm below the threshold of my consciousness. I've never liked dealing with WU (the few times that I have had to), and there was something else...
I replied suggesting some other form of payment, but asked for information regarding where to send the money, I was sent a response with the same instructions, and no information. I then asked if I was supposed to send the money to an email address, whereupon a rental agreement finally arrived, except that now, the suspicions that had been bubbling quietly in the back of my mind took the form of a series of Google searches for names, email addresses, and so on, together with the word "scam."
Bingo!
A site called www.joseandterrirentals.com, which apparently attempts to keep abreast of scams such as this, had not only my correspondent's name and email address, but—with different numbers—the text of our correspondence as well!
It would appear that—more than likely—I've been dealing with a scammer.
Anyone know of a place to rent in the New York area at less than arm-and-leg rates for about 10 days?
Cheers...
