Rental Scammer on Craigslist

[Sue]

I know scammers on Craiglist are nothing new, but I wanted to warn people since it involves an alleged rental house here in West Seattle.

I saw a nice house for rent in WS but with no actual location. I was already a bit suspicious when it was described as being on a “verdant” street (who uses language like that on Craigslist?), but I emailed to find out where it was located. I got back a broken english email saying his name was Raymond McDowell from Suitland, Maryland, telling me a lot of personal information about his marital situation and asking me for a lot of personal info so he could check me out and then send me the keys. He also gave me the address of the house in Pigeon Point so I could look at it. Even though it screamed of scam, I also googled his name and email (lovelyhouse560@yahoo.com) and found mention of other scams he’s trying to pull in other cities with other houses. That email has had numerous pulled threads on Craigslist here in Seattle in the past month, so be especially careful.

Also, is this something that warrants contacting police and/or the property owner? The address given to me, if you look it up on Google Street View, is the same one in the photo that was posted, and I was encouraged in the email to go check it out. These owners (who the city says – obviously – are not the same person as in the email) may have no idea that people may be checking out their “rental” house.

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[B-squared]

I know if it were my house or where i was living, i would greatly appreciate it if someone told me about the apparent scam. print out what you have and knock on the door. Let them take it up with the police or craigslist if that is warranted.

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[Sue]

Thanks, B-squared, for confirming what I was already thinking. I printed it out and am mailing it to the owner (listed on the city website) today. Scary stuff. I hear about the scammers all the time, but never got that close to one before.

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[BCR]

I had the same thing happen to me and ended up contacting the police and they found that there were squatters in the house with tons of stolen mail so I definitely think it is worth contacting them.

After 3 different scams trying to find a rental house in West Seattle we decided to go through a broker to find one which I highly recommend so you don’t have to go through what we did.

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[anonymous123]

Was the response something like “I’m a project manager and just moved to [insert someplace out of state/country] and need someone to move in. Fill out the below application and I’ll work on sending you the keys or having someone meet you there with the key.” Then the “application” is basically just super personal and random questions typed into the actual email? I friggin’ hate those scams. Every time I think I’ve finally found a place I get the same email with just a few things worded differently. It always worries me because I’m sure every once in a while people fall for it. Whenever I drive by the place I never see any signs advertising that the place is for rent either.

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[Sue]

Anonymous123, this one stared out with:

“Thanks, My name is Raymond McDowell, I own the home you are interested in. The home is still available for rent, but I will only be interested in renting it out to a very responsible occupancy to maintain it like its own property.The house was formerly for sale before my wife advised that i should not sale it, that`s why i am renting it now. Presently i live & work in Suitland,MD. You can go ahead and view the surrounding of the house and neighborhood area at your own convenient time.”

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[sam-c]

saw an article on this subject on the front page of the Seattle Times today.

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[Author]

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