Currently Engaging a Rental Scammer -- need advice
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:50 pm
Morning,
Had a narrow escape from a rental scammer this week and wanted some advice:
My girlfriend and I were looking at houses for rent on Craigslist (of course) and saw a typical "too good to be true" offer from a man who claimed to be the owner of a small one-story house in a nice neighborhood -- only $850 in rent, utilities included -- just no A/C.
He asked to meet us in person, but canceled last minute the first time. Second time, we agreed to meet Wednesday morning -- guy kept texting us saying he was in traffic, then changed his story last minute, saying he couldn't make it after all or he'd miss a flight he had that day (but still wanted to "make things work" lol).
Long story short: we called the realtor who owned the property (found him online) and he said he'd gotten three complaints about the guy -- one woman bought the story but was so desperate she paid for him to send her the keys and lost the "security deposit."
Thing is: he never got my information. The local police said there's nothing they can do and the Craiglist ad is still there. I and the other people who reported him have tried flagging the ad, but it just keeps popping up.
So: since only my girlfriend contacted this guy, and he doesn't know anything about me, I decided to make a fake email address, under a fake name -- and replied to the Craigslist ad. I am currently in the opening stages of communicating with him -- say email reply, says he wants to meet at the property very soon, etc -- and when he doesn't show up, he'll ask me to wire the funds.
On my end, I already have retraced his phone number (that he texted GF from) and found his address and his real name. The previous woman who reached out to him also said she got wiring information from him before she sent money.
My question is: is this enough? Should I give the name/address to some authority? Or try to get his bank account number for the "wire transfer," and go from there? So far I've got him pretty much in a corner -- I'm just new to this and don't know how to proceed.
Thanks for reading.
Had a narrow escape from a rental scammer this week and wanted some advice:
My girlfriend and I were looking at houses for rent on Craigslist (of course) and saw a typical "too good to be true" offer from a man who claimed to be the owner of a small one-story house in a nice neighborhood -- only $850 in rent, utilities included -- just no A/C.
He asked to meet us in person, but canceled last minute the first time. Second time, we agreed to meet Wednesday morning -- guy kept texting us saying he was in traffic, then changed his story last minute, saying he couldn't make it after all or he'd miss a flight he had that day (but still wanted to "make things work" lol).
Long story short: we called the realtor who owned the property (found him online) and he said he'd gotten three complaints about the guy -- one woman bought the story but was so desperate she paid for him to send her the keys and lost the "security deposit."
Thing is: he never got my information. The local police said there's nothing they can do and the Craiglist ad is still there. I and the other people who reported him have tried flagging the ad, but it just keeps popping up.
So: since only my girlfriend contacted this guy, and he doesn't know anything about me, I decided to make a fake email address, under a fake name -- and replied to the Craigslist ad. I am currently in the opening stages of communicating with him -- say email reply, says he wants to meet at the property very soon, etc -- and when he doesn't show up, he'll ask me to wire the funds.
On my end, I already have retraced his phone number (that he texted GF from) and found his address and his real name. The previous woman who reached out to him also said she got wiring information from him before she sent money.
My question is: is this enough? Should I give the name/address to some authority? Or try to get his bank account number for the "wire transfer," and go from there? So far I've got him pretty much in a corner -- I'm just new to this and don't know how to proceed.
Thanks for reading.