Scammers . . . Ugh

I really hate scammers. They come in all shapes and sizes and if there is ever a place to scam you, they’ll be there.

I’ve been trying to find an apartment for us to move to when our contract ends at the end of this month, so I’ve been checking Craig’s List and KSL (which has a local free classifieds) for apartments that sound like they would work for us. Because I know housing is somewhat scarce (especially for a good apartment for a good price), I pounce on anything that sounds like it has possibilities (especially since we’re really particular about what we want).

Last night I saw an ad on Craig’s List for a house (house!) in Orem with 4 bedrooms and a fenced-in yard. For only $800/month. Now right there I was really skeptical and my guard was up because that is a really good price for a house and the pictures made it look really good as well. I immediately thought to myself, “What’s the catch?” We’d seen another house kind of like that where it seemed too good to be true and when I went to look at it, it was pretty run down and on top of that, I found out that it’s a short-term rental that’s only available till November (yeah, cause I really want to move AGAIN four months later).

But I emailed the address on the add (from my junk email address) anyway asking some questions about it like if it has a dishwasher, if it had central AC, etc. This is the response I got from an email named “House ► Steve”:

[Just so you know, I added artifacts, i.e. triangles,  into the letter to prevent it from being found with an internet search]

Hello Dear,

Thanks for ► the email.I own the House and ► also want you to know that it ► was due to my transfer to ► (West Africa Nigeria) that makes us ► to leave the House ► and also want to give it out for ► rent and looking for a responsible ► person and God ► fearing person who can take very ► good care of the house ► in our absence..We are not after ► the money for the rent ► but we want it to be clean all ► the time and the person that ► will rent it to take it as if it were its own. ► So for now, We are here in West ► Africa and will be staying here for the next ► 4 years in our new House and ► also with the keys of the House for rent, we try to look ► for an agent that we can give this ► documents and the keys ► before we left but could not find, ► and we as well ► do not want our House to be ► used any how in our absence ► that is why we took it ► along with us.I and my Wife ► came over to ► West Africa for a missionary work, ► so i hope ► you will promise us that you will ► take very good care of the house. ► So get back to me if ► you know you could take care ► of our house or perhaps►  experience you have in renting home. ► Hope you are okay with the price of $800 per ► month and the security ► Deposit is $500.Get back ► to me for the rental application.You can ► go and view.

Here is the home ► address below:

248 S ► 860 East Orem, UT

Pets ► and Cats Okay

Thanks and ► remain Blessed

Andrew ► Ken

There are so many things wrong with this. For one, they’re supposedly from here, but their English is horrible. Two, they’re in Africa. That’s always a tip off (I don’t know why they ALWAYS tell you they’re in Africa. Why not say you’re in Europe or something). Three, they say they’re there doing missionary work, which isn’t likely for someone from Utah (he’s probably never heard of Mormons) and four, his name is Andrew but the email has Steve. From what I gather, he wants me to fill out a rental application, where I’m sure I would need to put personal information such as my name, social security #, etc. I did a search on Google Maps to see if the house is even there. It is, and when I brought it up, Google showed that it’s for rent . . . for $1200 from a local real estate agent. Right.

Basically I responded back saying that I don’t deal with people outside the country and that I know they’re scamming. I checked back on Craig’s List and found that the ad was gone, so I bet someone else figured it out as well and reported them.

It’s just so frustrating. I just want to find a place that we love and know we have somewhere to move to at the end of the month. And please, no more scammers!

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