Is this a Scam

[viveksharma]

Folks,
a friend of mine was looking for rental accommodation through craiglist and he replied to one of the posts. The "landlord" has shared only his email id and no phone number. I want to publish his two mails here and seek your opinion. Will be helpful to all of us and certainly to my friend:

"Landlord's" first mail in reply to my friend's inquiry mail. I wonder how come such a good offer was available 4 days after my friend enquired: ;D. Read the sweet deal in bold

Hello xxx,

The 2bed/2bath apartment at XXX , BC , Canada is still available. Everything is just like in the pictures fully equipped with all the appliances you need, very clean and well kept. You can rent this apartment furnished or unfurnished. It's your choice. I work in petroleum production as a chemical engineer and the company I work for has developed projects all around the world. They moved me to United Kingdom department because they have a new project here. I already signed a job contract so the apartment will be available for renting for the next 5 years for sure. The apartment is vacant so you can move-in anytime you want.

The rent of 915$/month is for the whole apartment and includes everything: heat, hydro, water, electricity, parking, laundry in-suite, washer and dryer also included, cable and internet. You will have full access to all building amenities. Just in case repairs are needed there I will cover the costs no worries. I would like to know how many people will live in the apartment and also which rental contract do you prefer to start with. The price I'm asking is below the market because I want to find a responsible tenant to take good care of the place. I have a Canadian Bank account for the monthly payments, or we can use any other payment method that is suitable for you.

I'm the owner of the apartment, it's already paid in full and no mortgage on it. Schools and groceries near-by. You have everything you need near-by because it's one of the best neighbourhood. Pets are allowed. You'll love it for sure!

It's the first time I'm renting an apartment so I prefer to use a worldwide property management company to make it happen and this way I'm sure both of us will be satisfied. I need to know if you are really interested in the apartment so we can discuss further.

 

[viveksharma]

My friend sent another mail providing few details the "landlord" asked in pervious mail and here was his reply. Based on the formatting and neatness of the letter it seems this is a standard template for the "scamsters" reply.

Letter II:

Hi XXX,




I discussed with my family and we agree to rent the apartment to you. The property management company that will make all the necessary arrangements for you to view the apartment before signing the lease agreement is called Airbnb Property Management (www.airbnb.com/trust) I will cover the transaction and delivery fees. I'm registered with this company and I will initiate the rental transaction because I'm the landlord. The keys can be delivered in 2-3 business days if you agree with the terms and conditions of the transaction. To avoid any misunderstanding I will provide with all the steps of this transaction through Airbnb Property Management.







- You need to provide me your contact details: full name, mailing address (street, number, city and postal code), cell phone number, move-in date and lease agreement preferred (e.g. 6 months or 1 year rental contract with option of renewal). The lease agreement will be a standard one from the Canadian government.

- I will go to the Airbnb Property Management office to start the transaction and I will give them the apartment keys and necessary documents.

- Airbnb Property Management will check the ownership documents and lease agreement. They will also confirm with the building management that I'm the legal owner of the apartment I'm renting to you.

- Airbnb Property Management will send you a notification(via email) with the transaction details to inform you that they have the keys and the documents in their custody.

- You need to send the amount of 1300$( 1st month rent from the rental contract + damage deposit-refundable in the last month of rent from contract) to the the Airbnb Property Management payment representative (lawyer escrow account) provided to you in the notification. THE PAYMENT NEEDS TO BE SENT WITHIN 24 BUSINESS HOURS AFTER YOU WILL RECEIVE THE TRANSACTION DETAILS OR ELSE THEY WILL CHARGE ME AN ADDITIONAL FEE.

- As soon as the payment is completed you need to send the payment details to Airbnb Property Management.

- Airbnb Property Management will check the payment confirmation and start the shipping procedure through UPS or DHL.

- You will receive the package (keys and lease agreement) and you will have 5 business days (inspection time) to check the place. The inspection time will start from the moment you will be at the building.

- If you decide to keep the apartment you just need to sign the lease agreement and Airbnb Property Management will release the funds to me. If you don`t want to keep the apartment you will receive a full payment refund including any payment fee paid for it.




Please note that Airbnb Property Management can NOT release the funds without your approval. You will have full control of the payment. They can release the payment to me as a landlord just after they will receive the lease agreement with your signature.

Using Airbnb Property Management involves three parties: me as owner, you as a potential tenant and Airbnb Property Management as a responsible third party authorized to handle this transaction. Airbnb Property Management works the same way as the escrow account on which you place the deposit when you rent an apartment, except that instead of a bank, we use Airbnb Property Management.

Also I can NOT rent the apartment any other way because the building management has strict rules about renting private properties and they strongly recommend me to use Airbnb Property Management because they have an agreement with them and also they are a professional company.







I ALSO NEED TO BE SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS CLEAR FOR YOU SO PLEASE READ CAREFULLY ALL THE STEPS OF THE TRANSACTION BECAUSE I CAN NOT CHANGE THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS. ALSO I WILL PAY FOR THE TRANSACTION AND DELIVERY FEES AND JUST IN CASE YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND I WILL NOT RECEIVE A REFUND FROM THEM!




If you have any other questions you can reach me any time at: +442081441810 (if you are calling from Canada you need to dial 011-44-020-8144-1810) or you can email me and I will respond ASAP.




Let me know if you have the funds available (1300CAD$) so we can move forward and e-mail me your full information I requested.




Thanks

 

[Leon]

It is a standard scamster trick to say they are in another country and that you must pay before you can get the keys and they will have a way to get a hold of the money and there is no apartment, at least no apartment that they are authorized to rent out.

Knowing that scamsters use these tricks, it's unlikely that a serious landlord would suggest using the same methods. Instead he could use a local agency or ask friends to help him out.

 

[scylla]

Scam.

 

[Gori]

SCAM...don't pay anything

 

[nope]

These scams are very common -- they advertise decent places at below-market rates, but the person has always moved. If you look through the board, you'll find other, similar stories: missionaries in Africa, businesspeople in Japan, all rented at a similar rate.

 

[zardoz]

http://www.scamnumbers.info/shownumber.php?number=442081441810

 

[NetMecca]

I would be very nervous. Sounds too good to be true