Scamster on Craigslist
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I am looking to move to another apartment in San Francisco and boy, is that difficult! I am looking for apartments by browsing Craigslist and have set up RSS feeds on my home page. I constantly check to see if there are any apartments on the market. There are a few that come up now and then. It is not as straight forward as elsewhere in the bay area. There is this open house that you have to go to and there are so many people that show up there looking for a place to live in SF. The owner of the apartment gets to choose the lucky one from many many many applications. Owners’ market for sure. I have found that an open house is a waste of my time competing with so many people and try avoiding them altogether.
Then, I look for ads that do not call for an open house. There are no guarantees even here. When the owner gets too many emails from people looking for a place, they call for an open house eventually. This is what happens in most of the cases in SF. Anyway, I chanced upon an ad that sounded so good.
$1500 / 2br - Amazing apartment! W/D, D/W, A/C, 1300 sqft, all is included, parking (noe valley)
I am delighted reading this that there is parking and dishwasher, usually missing in a lot of apartments and this place is one block away from the happening 24th street in Noe valley and super close to public transportation. I responded eagerly that I am very much interested in this place. The apartment was worth easily more than twice. In the back of my mind, I am thinking this is too good to be true for SF. I am thinking that this place might be in rent control or something similar that the owner cannot arbitrarily increase the rent and hence the low price.
I get a response back from the owner which has no constraints at all and actually gives me options. I can rent it furnished/unfurnished, short,long or flexible lease, can have pets, all utilities(gas,garbage,water,electricity,heat) are included and asking for $3000 deposit. This sounds so good that I respond asking the owner to show me the place. After a couple of days, I get a message saying that the owner actually lives in Athens,Greece on a 5 year project and that he would send me the keys via FedEx so I can check out the place. This sounds reasonable to me and I send him my address. This is where it gets interesting.
I get a response saying he is having second thoughts about this and is not comfortable sending me the keys, nothing personal, he assures. He suggests that we use www.rent.com as a third party and deposit my $3000 into their escrow account.When he gets notified that there is money in the account, he would send me the keys. I have 5 days to check out the place and if I don’t like it, I would FedEx the keys back and that rent.com would send my money back. I am thinking this is getting way too complex just to rent a place and I look online to see what kind of services rent.com provides for such a situation. I could not find anything in the FAQ and I googled for rent.com and escrow. I get to see a page with very interesting information.
So, this has been a scam. I realized if something is too good to be true, it is. I decide to send an email to the customer support of rent.com and I3C Internet Crime Complaint Center. I got to know from rent.com that the property I am looking at is not a valid property and they ask me to stop all communication with this man. I did stop emailing this man and realized how the SF renting market has made it so easy for the fraudsters to make money. Luckily, it has only been a waste of my time and not the money.
The fraud sends me an email again asking me to pay the money to rent.com using moneygram money transfer, which has the email address of noreply@rent.com and it has the eBay logo and looks superficially correct, except for the email id that I need to send the moneygram transfer information which is athens-rent.com@california.usa.com. What I don’t understand is how anyone can get an email id like noreply@rent.com.
—————————————–
Here’s the scamster’s emails-
From GalenHalla@aol.com
Hi,
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, not a share, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished too, same price if unfurnished, parking, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,500 per month. I am asking for 1 month rent payment plus 1 month as security deposit, this is a total of $3,000. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here is the description of the apartment and pictures: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/galenhalla
Thank you.
Galen
Hi again,
Just a few more info. Equal size-2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, washer/dryer in unit, A/C, dishwasher, parking–2 spots included in the rent, safe neighborhood, nice neighbors, very quiet, no noise, building has maintenance. The lenght of the lease is flexible-long/short term. I have to tell you that i am in Athens, Greece, i am here with a 5 years job contract, i come to San Francisco every 6 months for 3 or 4 days to see how things are going with the apartment and if you rent it i am going to stay to a hotel during my staying there. If you want to see the apartment i would need your address to FedEx-overnight the keys to you so you can view it because i have no one there to show it to you and no one else have the key and i am afraid that this is the only option, we will talk about the payment process for the $3,000 and about the other details, but, first, if there is somethig else that you want to know please feel free to ask.
Address:
3973 23rd St
San Francisco, CA 94114
Thank you.
Galen
Hi,
I am having second thoughts, i am not feeling comfortable just sending you the keys, sorry, nothing personal. Let’s use www.rent.com –ebay’s rentals site/company as a third party: you send them the money, they put the money in their escrow account, they let me know that they have the money, then i send you the keys via FedEx, i will also give the tracking # to rent.com, by the time you’ll receive the keys you will have 5 days to go and see the apartment, if you like it you have to notify rent.com and they’ll release the money to me, if you dislike the apartment you will also have to notify rent.com and you will have to fedex me the keys and provide me the tracking #, you will also have to provie the tracking # to rent.com so they can track it too, when i will receive the keys i will notify rent.com that i received the keys, then they’ll send you the money back. What do you say? If you agree i will contact them and they will send you an email with all the information….let me know. I found an agency of rent.com here in Athens which is good, i spoke to them and everything is great, they ‘ll take care of everything so we can both be protected. The next step is to give me the ok to start this up with them and they’ll contact you.
HA! I dealt with this guy and he tried to pull the EXACT same thing with me! As the saying goes: “if it sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is”.
I wish there was some way to get back at him/her.
Looks like a few more people got affected.
http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/galenhalla/profile
My Wife and I just got scammed, same idea only it was for a boat. Lost $8000.00
Wish We Knew Better..
Anyway of tracking these guy’s. He sent me Ebay Emails and stuff. His E-mail address was a Hotmail one.
Police are investingation now.. Any serious input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Happened to us just this week.
I just dealt with thw same guy too… here are his emails:
Hi,
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, not a share, fully furnished, 1300 sqft,I can rent it unfurnished too, same price if unfurnished, parking, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $2,235 per month. I am asking for 1 month rent payment plus $1000 as security deposit, this is a total of $3,235. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here is the description of the apartment and pictures: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/nylpaul
Thanks,
Brian
Ps. The place address is : BRIAN HOWARD 270 W 17TH ST #5D, NEW YORK, NY 10011.
Hi again,
Just a few more info. Equal size-2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, washer/dryer in unit, A/C, dishwasher, parking–2 spots included in the rent, safe neighborhood, nice neighbors, very quiet, no noise, building has maintenance. The lenght of the lease is flexible-long/short term. I have to tell you that i am in Athens, Greece, i am here with a 5 years job contract, i come to New York every 6 months for 3 or 4 days to see how things are going with the apartment and if you rent it i am going to stay to a hotel during my staying there. If you want to see the apartment i would need your address to FedEx-overnight the keys to you so you can view it because i have no one there to show it to you and no one else have the key and i am afraid that this is the only option, we will talk about the payment process for the $3,235 and about the other details, but, first, if there is somethig else that you want to know please feel free to ask.Thanks,Brian
I started the transaction with rent.com and they just sent me an email letting me know that they sent you all the information you need to begin this. Did you receive it? Check your Bulk/Junk folder as well and let me know.
Regarding the lease agreement i could send it with the keys, it’s a normal, standard lease, i’ll also send you the proof of ownership. It’s ok?
I am waiting an email from you.
Thank you.
Looks like these scamsters use real people’s names and addresses. May be they steal people’s mails or obtain valid names and address from the ads they put up on craigslist. I did send my full name and the address hoping to get the keys, now I am hoping they won’t misuse my name and post ads in my name. Frauds!
Read more on this here-
http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/01/web_of_lies.html
from New York
It just happen to me too, the worse things is that I am a single mother of three, and I have send the only money I had for a deposit on a partment. What can I do now?.
Maybe you should file a complaint with your local police. You may not ever get the money back, but in case, many people are filing complaints against this person, may be they might track him/her down eventually. keep all the emails and the information on the moneygram with you. They may come handy sometime in the future.
I’m sorry that so many folks get scammed. The poster and several commentators have good advice for the rest of us to follow, and I have nothing particular to add. I do have some advice for folks who might currently be in the middle of a scammer’s attempt to scam them and want to know what to do to get this guy (or gal; we’re equal op here).
The problem with giving the email address of the scammer, especially if it’s an AOL / hotmail / yahoo / etc. address, is that it gives Law Enforcement very little information. Armed with this, they would have to go to AOL (etc.), perhaps with a subpoena (for which they’d have to first visit a judge), to get some more information on this guy. Odds are this guy signed up for the email account with fake information. So then they’ll have to try to locate where he logs in from. Which might be Nigeria. At this point, the cops have spent a whole bunch of time and effort and now have to drop the case due to jurisdiction issues. The cops know this. So if you report this to them, they’ll just politely file your case away.
If you can find some more information on your own, you might be able to increase your chances of getting the police to take your case seriously. For tech savvy folks, the following may be obvious, but I’m posting this anyway for the rest.
What you do is get a friend who runs a web-server. This friend has to do very little for you and the following does not expose him to any risk whatsoever. Say the friend runs a web-server at http://www.afriendinneed.com.
You email the scammer with a link like “http://www.afriendinneed.com/non-existent-page”. This is a link that points to your friend’s server, but the page it points to does not exist. Now you need to get him to click on it. This is called social engineering and is what scammers do all the time — its about time to turn the tables on them. Tell him you have some personal info for him at that link. “Can I send you a check from my account listed here: …”. (For the more sophisticated: You could get really sneaky and send him a hidden embedded image that tries to load from the funky URL. This way he doesn’t even have to realise what’s going on. As soon as he opens his email, he’s fallen for your trick. But sending this requires a little more tech savvy).
When the scammer clicks on the link (or loads the email with the hidden image), his browser will make a request to your friend’s server. Much like your browser did to rantlust when you tried to load this page. One of the things that the browser will tell the server is the real IP address that the scammer is browsing from. This cannot be faked. Most servers will log the access to this page and the IP address the access came from (along with other info). For instance, rantlust has a page that displays all such accesses (but you need an account to be able to view it).
Now on your friend’s server, only the scammer will be accessing the URL you made up. (Since you made up this URL and no other visitor to your friend’s site will know about it). All your friend has to do is to wait for someone to access this page and tell your the IP address of the accessor(s) — your friend will get this information from the webserver’s log. You use this address and do 2 things. One, go to a WHOIS site and find out who this address belongs to. This will most likely be an ISP or a company (if the dude is running this from his workplace). Second, find a good geolocator (here’s one I like) and find out where, physically, the IP address is located.
At this point, you know which jurisdiction the scammer lives in, so you know which cops to contact (or to tell your cops to contact). You probably also know the ISP the scammer uses (so the cops know who to go to to get the scammer’s street address). Now its up to you to get the cops to do something about it. You may not have too hard a time if you just remember that scams are very hard for cops to bust — if you can give them a reasonable chance to bust one with a little effort, you’ve probably made their success rate go up a huge amount — everyone wants to look good handling a tough case. Plus the scammer is likely targeting a lot of other folks, so the cops gets to bust a whole scamming ring — not just solve your case. Moreover, often such folks (like the scammer) are involved in other illegal operations too. Best of luck making your case to the cops.
It might turn out that you don’t get any leads. The scammer could be in Nigeria, where scammers seem to be pretty much free to do what they want. The scammer could be working from an internet cafe, or stealing someone else’s wireless signal, or using Google’s free wireless in San Francisco, etc. Or the scammer could be savvy enough to not follow your link. Heck, the scammer could have read this very comment. But its probably worth a try.
Let us know if you have any luck. All the best.
This is fantastic advice!
As anupcs always says, check out the big brain on manish
I actually have the scamster’s address, which I got in the mail and I was asked to moneygram to the address-
Kimberly Powell,
63B Kifissias Ave, 61092, Athens, Greece
This must be the scamster’s address in Greece.
Take a look at the actual email(I modified my email address), it looks quite convincing at the first glance.
http://www.rantlust.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/scam2.htm
I did not lose money, so I did not file a case with the local police. For the people that lost money, it might be a good idea to file a case with the police with this information, right?
Hi,
I dealt with the same guy ( mine is living in Santa Barbara). It was for an amazing apt in chelsea nyc. I was ready to send the money, then the guy signed his email with a different name; first Brian and then Allen, so i started to google his name and address, and here I am….
Nice, I am so happy that you did not send money to this fraud.
I too almost got scammed by this guy too. I feel horribly that it is being made so easy for these scammers to exist. Everything sounded great in the ad. I found it a little concerning that you had to send money before you even saw the listing. I googled the address and it was on top of a hair salon. When i asked the person about the apartment he said it was a rowhouse condo. I don’t know if anyone is familiar with jersey, but there are no rowhouses like that in hoboken! I then googled the address in Greece and here i am. For anyone else this guy is now using Remax which looks legit, except you can’t find the office where you supposedly need to send money in the website. I was given the same address mentioned here except the agent’s name was Willy Herrera and the person listing the apartment was named Martin.
The scammer has changed. Almost got a friend and i on a Apt in Hoboken NJ. It is still using all of the same information however, it is one Martin Bristow. ill copy the emails.
Hi,
The apartment is available now, long or short term lease, i am the owner, 2nd floor, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished also, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,300 per month. I am asking for 2 months rent payment plus 1/2 month as security deposit, this is $3,250 in total. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here are pictures:
http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/bristow734
Address:
1016 WASHINGTON ST #2L,
HOBOKEN, NJ 07030
Thank you
Martin Bristow
>>
Hi again,
Just a few more info. Equal size-2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, washer/dryer in unit, A/C, dishwasher, parking–2 spots included in the rent, safe neighborhood, nice neighbors, very quiet, no noise, close to transportation and everything else. It’s fully furnished, but i can rent it unfurnished also, will use a moving company.The lenght of the lease is flexible: long/short term. I have to tell you that i am in Athens, Greece, i am here with a job contract for 5 years, i am in my first year now, i come to NJ every 6 months for 3 or 4 days and if you rent the apartment i will stay to a hotel. If you want to see the apartment i would need your address where the keys to be fedex-overnight to you, we will talk about the payment process for the $3,250 and about the other details, but, first, if there is somethig else that you want to know please feel free to ask.
Thank you.
Martin
>>
We can start the lease on jan 1st, bu we have to make the contract now.
The parking spots are located in a lot.
Cable, internet ready–not included.
I am having second thoughts, i am not feeling comfortable just sending you the keys, sorry, nothing personal. I have noone there to show you the apartment because my parents are in France since i was 24 and my best friend is out of state.
Before i listed the add on craigslist i contacted a company named Remax, their website is http://www.remax.com. They are a well known company all over the world, they have offices all over the world, see map here http://www.remax.com/misc/remax_regions/international_regions.aspx. So, i went to their office in Athens at http://www.remax.gr/contact_en.asp and i told them to help me renting my property. The lady from the office assigned me an agent to take care of my transaction.
So, here is how it goes: you must agree using this company, i’ll contact my agent and let him know you agreed using them, then they will send you an e-mail with all the instructions about how to proceed with the transaction, you send the money to the company’s agent, they put the money in their account and will be held there until after viewing, then i have to send you keys, proof of ownership and a leasing contract (it’s a normal, standard contract), i will use FedEx-overnight and will provide the tracking number to you and to RE/MAX, when you have the keys you will have 5 days to go and see the apartment, if you decide to rent it you have to sign the lease, fedex-overnight it to me–keep a copy for yourself, notify RE/MAX that you accepted the apartment and they’ll release the money to me, if you dislike the apartment you have to notify RE/MAX and you will have to FedEx me the keys and provide me the tracking # (i pay the fees), you will also have to provide the tracking # to RE/MAX so they can track it too, when i receive the keys i will notify RE/MAX that i received it, then they’ll refund you entirely.
The next step is to give me the OK to start this up with them and they’ll contact you.
Thank you
Martin
>>
I suggested the same thing to the Agent from Athens when i talked to him (to use a Remax realtor in US to show you the apartment), but he said and i knew that from the beginning that the agents from US charge, or better say their fees are like 1 month or 2 of the monthly rent which is huge, so, that’s why i propoused you to deposit the funds to the company’s account, they hold the funds in their escrow account, i fedex-overnight you the keys, if you decide not to rent the apartment the company fully refunds. The whole process will take no more than 2 days.
You have to pay NO fees, i ‘ve paid it already which was small .
Please tell me if you agree or not to use the company in the terms i said.
>>
You have to pay NO fees, i paid some fees, but they been small.
I started the transaction with Remax.com and they just sent me an email letting me know that they sent you all the information you need to begin this. Did you receive it? Check your Bulk/Junk folder as well.
Regarding the lease agreement i could send it with the keys, it’s normal, standard lease, i’ll also send you the proof of ownership. It’s ok?
>>>>>>
Some things to note:
1. The emails were arriving to me at around 8:30 PM EST. That would mean someone in Greece is sending them at 3:30 AM Greek time? WRONG
2. I anywho.com (ed) this guy in Hoboken, thinking that the place was on the market and would go . It actually came back to a real person (family) whose # had been disconnected…hmmmm
3. It talks of fees paid on their end- WRONG fees are never paid to agents until after EVERYTHING.
Sorry to all that were scammed- go with the brain on this one- a 2br 2 bth for 1300 in hoboken? try 2300. even though we want it to be true- everyone has said it… it sure is to good to be possible.
Jennifer from above- this is him!!!
anycomments? bskocype@gmail.com
Thank God for this website. I almost got scammed. I found this website right before sending the money. I got the same emails with a different name and address. I thought it was weird at first because he/she (she in my case) sent me the wrong address at first. This person sent me a Remax email so I actually called Remax as well. However, they said that there didn’t have an agent (and the office in “Greece”) that this scammer mentioned.
Thanks once again for blogging about this scammer!!
He’s in the Boston area now. Ad is for 100 Lansdowne in Cambridge, same exact description and e-mails and a surprisingly legit-looking ReMax e-mail. He used the name ” Louis Pontecorvo “. I hope people google it and end up here. Luckily I had caught on well before he bothered with the ReMax business. I think I gave him a little fright when I told him I lived right down the street from a ReMax office and was going to stop over to see if they could help with the “transaction,” because he e-mailed me back within seconds to tell me not to bother, it was all taken care of. I swear, the next time I’m in greece…
Same story here, same emails verbatim.
The scammer’s name this time was Dean Rasmussen (deanrasmussensf@aol.com), and the apartment is 865 Vallejo St. in San Francisco.
I was alerted by a notice on the bottom of ReMax’s homepage, so it sounds like word is getting out.
I’ve still got him on the line… he thinks I’m sending the money Monday. Any suggestions for ways to get at him?
From NY today: December 3, 07.
Same letter same thief. I’ll tell ya, Looking for an apartment in NY has not been easy, from London, Spain, Greece… All crazy. What gave it away was the “parking” in Manhattan… Hello, if there was parking you could charge at least 2000 more. It looked pretty real. The difference is this person is actually American. You can tell by the way the reply is written. Police can track their IP number. I recommend to report.
Good luck y’all
I almost got scammed by the deanrasmussensf@aol.com scenario but fortunately contacted a local remax agent prior to sending the money. Dean just emailed me again this morning asking for the transaction details, so I responded saying I wasn’t going to send anything until this is discussed over the phone. A few hours later, I receive a call at my work from AT&T Relay, which is the phone service for the hearing/speech impaired. The operator told me it was from Dean Rasmussen and he was asking what I needed to discuss with him. The operator said Dean was deaf and he needs to use this service to communicate over the phone. So I responded asking for his address in Greece and he responded asking why. I said that I went to a local remax agent and they needed it to verify the international agent, because they were going to broker the deal for me. Once i said that, the operator informed me that the line was disconnected. I don’t think I’ll be hearing from him again, but I’ve already reported all of this to the authorities. The AT&T Relay service is legitimate so I’m wondering if they can trace back what number was documented calling my work.
I have also been in communication with “Dean Rasmussen”, however i was determined it was a scam when i called the SF Assessors office and found out that he did not own the property. I then called remax to find out if they offered such a service, at that point the immediately transfered me to their fraud department.
Because i was able to sting the scammer out, Remax asked me to forard on a few questions they had for him. Below is that conversation.
Dean,
I got the remax transaction e-mail, but I see the payment is really through MoneyGram, not remax. I would really like the apartment, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with them. You can’t be too careful these days! Is there any way I could FedEx you the funds? I checked with my bank yesterday and I can get a bank cashier’s check in Euros, from a European bank. Should I send it to the RE/MAX address that was on the transaction e-mail (Novico MacAllister, RE/MAX.com, 63B Kifissias Ave, 61092, Athens, Greece), or would you prefer I send it straight to you, to avoid you owing them? Or maybe if you have a relative back here in the U.S. that I could send it to?
Regards,
Deans reply:
MOney Gram is the payment method accepted by remax, if you disagree i am sorry, but we will stop here.
Many of the comments here (understandably) express a desire to get back at the scammer. This is not prudent. These are criminals, and you don’t want to take them on yourself. The best thing is to provide those who do this professionally with the best possible information to help them do their job, and then let them get on with it.
File a complaint with the the Internet Crime Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov). Give them the details of all your conversations with the scammer. And then get on with your life, and be vigilant in future. Good luck.
Wow! The “Dean Rasmussen” guy totally used my name! I almost got suckered by this scam, too, and I had my friend check it out for me. She called two ReMax places and both said it sounded fishy. I can’t believe he is using my name! How do I stop this?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! They have a listing in Cambridge, MA on Craiglsit (although not up now):
I asked for more info and he responded with:
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, 5th floor, elavator, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished too, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,300 per month. I am asking for 2 month’s rent payment plus 1/2 month as security deposit, this is a total of $3,250. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here are pictures: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/pontecorvolouis
Address:
100 Landsdowne St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Thank you.
Louis Pontecorvo
Hope he doesn’t get a chance to scam anymore!
Yes, I got the same thing about the Cambridge apartment today. So glad I googled his name! I wonder if he’s gotten anyone this way? Sad because now I’m back to square one…
SAME thing with me!! My roommate and i kept saying “what is the catch?”
From:
Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 at 5:03 PM
Subject: Re: apartment for rent.
–
Hi,
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, 5th floor, elavator, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished too, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,300 per month. I am asking for 2 month’s rent payment plus 1/2 month as security deposit, this is a total of $3,250. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here are pictures: http:// pictures.aol.com/galleries/pontecorvolouis
Address:
100 Landsdowne St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Thank you.
Louis Pontecorvo
He’s in BOSTON- well, at least he’s trying to do the SAME scam in Boston. He’s just emailed me after I inquired about an add he’d placed on Craigslist. The apartment looked almost too good, so I googled his name and found this blog. I can’t thank you enough for posting this, and saving my partner and I a serious headache!!! I’ll contact craigslist, as well as the apartment complex that he’s listing. WOW- thanks again!!!
Here’s what his email said to me:
Hi,
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, 5th floor, elavator, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished too, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,300 per month. I am asking for 2 month’s rent payment plus 1/2 month as security deposit, this is a total of $3,250. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here are pictures: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/pontecorvolouis
Address:
100 Landsdowne St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Thank you.
Louis Pontecorvo
He’s in BOSTON- well, at least he’s trying to do the SAME scam in Boston. He’s just emailed me after I inquired about an add he’d placed on Craigslist. The apartment looked almost too good, so I googled his name and found this blog. I can’t thank you enough for posting this, and saving my partner and I a serious headache!!! I’ll contact craigslist, as well as the apartment complex that he’s listing. WOW- thanks again!!!
Here’s what his email said to me:
“Hi,
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, 5th floor, elavator, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished too, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,300 per month. I am asking for 2 month’s rent payment plus 1/2 month as security deposit, this is a total of $3,250. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here are pictures: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/pontecorvolouis
Address:
100 Landsdowne St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Thank you.
Louis Pontecorvo”
Oh man! I already thought it was too good to be true, and indeed it is. I am so happy that other people have already exposed him here, otherwise this would have cost me a lot more time, and maybe even money. Thank you guys!
wow! thanks for this site! I almost got scammed as well, indeed the appartment in cambridge, using the name Louis Pontecorvo. Thank goodness for this site.
Weird that craigslist is doing absolutely nothing on checks to prevent these kind of scams. Might be worth trying to see what we can do about craigslist as well, because it seems that they need to be forced into action to stop scammers.
THANK YOU! I too am looking for an apartment in Cambridge and came across this ad. As a friend said, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
I’m so glad I googled his name.
I am amazed that he still uses this name as by now shouldn’t he get some idea that people are on to him? Or is he Internet-challenged?
Well, he or she changes the name every single time they attack a city. They set up photographs online in their aol account. So, I guess it takes a while before they create a new account. The moneygram account in Greece is always a female name and many of them have reported the same name. The ads in the US, gets posted with different names for different cities. Yeah, I agree they are a little lazy to change their names and it gets complicated for the scammer to keep track of all their false identities as one person said the scammer used different names in subsequent emails and that triggered off their search on the internet.
Yep, he was trying to scam me too. I asked him for a showing, thank god he didn’t reply. I guess if it sounds too good to be true…it’s a scam!!!
Here is what the low life scum bag says:
Hi,
The apartment is available now, flexible lease, i am the owner, 5th floor, elavator, fully furnished, i can rent it unfurnished too, all the utilities are included ( water, garbage, electricity, heat..etc). Pets are allowed. I am renting the whole apartment for $1,300 per month. I am asking for 2 month’s rent payment plus 1/2 month as security deposit, this is a total of $3,250. If my terms are ok with you please reply back, if you have questions please free to ask. Here are pictures: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/pontecorvolouis
Address:
100 Landsdowne St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Thank you.
Louis Pontecorvo
He’s trying to scam me too that Bastard
just saw a great ad in nyc for a place on east 77th, $1200 a month. first thing that popped in my head was “TOOOOOO good to be true!” sure enough, got the standard reply from a “Sue Holverson” explaining that she is working in Hawaii and needs a renter ASAP for this apartment. At nearly 1/3 of the market value. Right.
thanks for this blog post, hopefully it will save others like me from making a huge mistake!
I guess I can join the club. I thought it sounded too good to be true. I got my “I working in London on a five year contract” email and sent internet info about myself and planned to ask for a phone number before giving my address. My friend said check it out a little more and lo and behold, I found this site. Thank you so much.
He tried to scam me, too, with the Cambridge, MA apartment. Same emails as posted above, by Louis Pontecorvo. Watch out.
These bastar is using the trick of “century 21″ on me. same thing , the craigslist awesome aparment, dream deal like, but At the end is just a scam, thanks to these site I found the scam, I dont know but the police is pretty much useless, so, good luck to the next victims and have just a few dolars off the pocket instead of the thousands. he allmost got the tricky cabron….
We saw the same ad in Boston with Pontecorvo. Is this person dangerous in any other way? Has anyone notified the FBI (since he is scamming in multiple states)?
Same here! I wonder what happens if we were to keep him going. Just long enough to keep track of him? Pretty great suggestions at the top, but I don’t know how long that would take, especially if I am already to the “send the money first” email.
Thanks to my friend I will not waste anymore time on this one…
Hmmm…yup, sounded too good to be true and I’m glad I checked up on it!!! Looks like I’m falling into the same trap with Sue Holverson. I actually tried to look up the apartment on rent.com and didn’t see anything listed, so I sent them an email asking whether it was listed today, or if its a scam. But I had also emailed her earlier today requesting the paperwork as I was interested and wanted to review, but I sent her my name and address. Has anyone had any problems with fraud after having provided their information?
Yikes!
Thanks for posting - really helps out in weeding out the scammers!
I have had an issue after I gave away my name, address in a Craigslist ad. I had asked a professional(sounded like it, 5 star moving company) moving company to help me with my move to another apartment. They did not show up as promised and did not return my calls at all. I did not lose money, but I trusted them to show up and help me out.
So, I typed in a negative comment response to their ad and that is when things started going bad in my new apartment. They had placed multiple ads in my name, one was to say I was giving all my things away and people just need to show up at my new apartment. The next ad was placed I think, in a very bad way, as people started showing up late in the night. Anyway, those few days were tough.
After this, I usually don’t give out my name and address except to this fraud because it sounded convincing while I was in the conversation.
Read more about misusing names here-
http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/01/web_of_lies.html
Looks like lots of people have been or are on the verge of being scammed by this scheme. I know some people who’ve responded to this post have contacted the Internet Crime Center, and that approach has not produced much in the way of results. So here’s an alternative plan. The best protection seems to be informing potential victims in a timely fashion about the scam. For this, we need to make sure that when someone puts in a scammer’s name in google, the first hit is this page warning them about the scam. A technique similar to the one described here can be used. You create a link to this page with the link being the scammer’s name, and if enough people click on the link, the google page rank for this page goes up for the specified search string (the scammer’s name). Even more powerful is if there are multiple links from different web pages, so if you have your own blog, create a link from there as well using the method shown below.
I’ve created some sample links below (be sure to click on them):
Dean Rasmussen
Sue Holverson
The string ‘Louis Pontecorvo’ already brings us to this page. But the names keep changing, as you can see from the comments above. So if you get scammed with a different name, add a comment to this post with the following text (replace ‘Scammer Name’ with the scammer’s name, of course):
<a href=”http://www.rantlust.com/skat/2007/09/19/internet-fraud/”>Scammer Name</a>
Great idea!
Gallen Halla
Kimberly Powell
“Sue Holverson” tried to scam me to.
And then I did some research:
So before paying the deposit, I spent most of the night doing a little more homework.
I figured, if she owned the unit there would be a record on ACRIS right? I searched and searched and searched … nothing, but who knows, she could own it through some other entity … keep looking.
I did a reverse lookup on the three fax numbers … all detroit land lines … okay, but is that where the company is located?
You would think if Rent.com was using Western Union for service to their escrow account that they would have an advertised spot … nope.
To be honest the rent.com site is difficult to crack. All contact information is via email. But it is an ebay company (which are generally located in CA). … and then I noticed the copyright date and “other eBay companies” on my email was outdated compared to the website — well maybe this Rent.com agent “Ramon Pereira” just didn’t update it, it is afterall still the beginning of the year …
And then I did a general lookup on the domain name on his email address http://www.rentbyowners.info - the site is “under construction” and powered by Yahoo. Don’t you think an ebay company would 1) have its own servers and not need to use a hosting company and 2) not leave an advertising spot undone?
And then I found this little nugget hidden in a corner of the Rent.com site:
“Rent.com does not handle lease transactions or money transfers. Do not do business with anyone who promises that Rent.com is handling any part of the actual lease transaction, including payment protection, apartment certification, escrow services or “satisfaction guarantees” of any kind.”
Too good to be true indeed.
——–
Here are the emails:
Sue:
The apartment is a co-op and I have the right to rent it to whoever I want and at the price I think is fare and it faces the courtyard, but you can also see a small part of the street. I am glad your boss was impressed by the building and I am sure you will also like the place a lot.
Thank you,
Keep in touch.
Sue,
I told my boss about the apartment yesterday and it turns out his son used to live across the street so he was very excited. So excited in fact, that he apparently stopped in to see the building on his way in to work this morning. Being that I am younger than most of his children he’s taken on the role of a second dad to me so of course he had to check on things. He was very impressed with the building. He did have a few questions:
Does the apartment face the street or the courtyard?
Is the apartment a rental and do you have the right to sublet? or
Is the apartment a co-op and do you have the right to sublet?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
[me]
Sue,
I received the document and instructions late this afternoon.
I am reviewing and should have everything set by tomorrow afternoon or early Saturday morning depending on what crisis come up at work! So far so good on this end.
Best regards,
[me]
—
Hello [Me],
I’m really sorry for this late reply but I’ve been very busy lately and
away from a computer. I just managed to forward your details at
rent.com and I hope they will contact you with more details and
instructions soon. It is not designed to force you or anything. I
apologize if I’m moving too fast but I need to rent this apartment as
soon as possible. The rental department will contact you with the
temporarily agreement and with all the instructions to secure the place.
I have attached pictures with the apartment for you to review. The place
is now partially furnished with nice and modern furniture, but you also
have the option to rent it unfurnished as you see it in the pics. Either
way you want to rent it is fine for me as I have were to store the
furniture, just let me know if you need it unfurnished. As for the
pictures, I am sorry but those are all I have at this point as I did not
knew until recently that I have to look for a new tenant.
I will have the apartment available for at least 3-4 years from now
since I definitely moved in Hawaii so you can stay as long as you need.
After you will inspect the apartment and if you decide you want to move
in, we will sign a binding contract on 1 year ( even 2 if you are
willing) and we can renew it after that time passes. If you will decide
you want to pass and start looking for another place, Rent.com will
refund you same day.
You will have to confirm at Rent.com a cycle of 2 months. After your
payment confirmation they will contact me and we will meet for an
inspection. From that point, if you will decide to rent the apartment,
Rent.com will release me the funds and, in case you will decide to pass
it, they will refund you the same day. No security deposit required.
The whole process takes less than a day and I will be contacting you
over the phone the very next minute I hear something positive from
Rent.com and schedule a meeting so you can inspect the apartment
whenever is best for you. Also you will only pay this first cycle of
rent through the rental department, after that (after we will have a
contract) you will pay the rent directly into my bank account once at
every 2 months.
My situation being difficult as I’m in Hawaii forces me to require that
refundable deposit confirmed. That will ease my mind that I’m meeting a
serious person and I’m not flying hundreds of miles for nothing.
Thank you,
Hope to hear from you soon
—–
Sue,
Thank you for getting back to me. I thought for sure someone else had snagged the opportunity before me.
I can appreciate your position. I actually do have an account at rent.com so I will do what is necessary to go through them.
I wasn’t planning on moving until March, but can appreciate your urgency to get someone in as soon as possible. I will be out of town next week returning the Monday after President’s weekend and wouldn’t be able to start coordinating a move in until after that date. Is there anyway you would consider starting the term on March 1st? I don’t know what arrangments you have with the current tenant, but if that’s a possibility, it would be much appreciated.
About the apartment - I love the kitchen area and would be happy to look after your countertop and appliances for you. The photos of the kitchen are what won me over. I would like to see pictures of the bathroom if you have them. Also, you listed the apartment as a 1 bedroom but it looks more like a studio, is that the actuallity of it? I just want to know what to expect, but am pretty happy with what I’ve seen so far.
Just a little background on me, I am an assistant to an entertainment attorney on —- street. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, and I don’t have any pets. I’m not a big party person, no loud music either. Pleasant. Just looking for a place to call home closer to work! (I currently commute 2 hours each day)
Thank you again for getting back to me. I hope everything works out to both of our benefits.
Best regards,
[Me / Contact info]
—–Original Message—–
From: Sue Holverson
To: Me
Sent: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 2:08 am
Subject: Re: Apartment
Hello [Me]
I am contacting you regarding this property:
517 East 77th Street, #3-H
New York, NY 10021
1 Bed/1 Bath and 600 sqft
Rent: 1200$/ month
I have posted the ad for 5 days on Rent.com and also on Craigslist so I don’t know exactly were you found my ad, but I am working with Rent.com rental department to rent the place. I have chosen to rent the apartment through this service offered by the rental department which offers a fast and safe way to rent a place by holding and processing payments as a third party. Prior to start posting ads on the Internet, I have signed an agreement with them and also payed all the fees for this service. You don’t have to pay any fees at rent.com for this process. Due to the fact that I already payed their fees, used this service for 2 times by now and also feel very comfortable with them I will not bypass this step.
Right now I am working as a hotel manager in Hawaii and decided to rent this apartment. The price in that area for an apartment like this is between $2,500.00 and $1,900.00/month. I’m asking only $1,200/month but I need a serious and trust worthy person to rent to. I currently have someone inside (a bookkeeper from a local bank) and he is planning on leaving asap. this week.
I will require payment in advance for every 2 months which means $2,400.00 at every cycle. Rent.com will hold the money for the first cycle until you inspect the apartment and send them your confirmation that you wish to rent. I require the payment in advance at Rent.com because my time is very limited, I don’t want to disturb my current tenant as I will not disturb you in case you decide on something positive, and I’m sick of tire-kickers - no offence but the world is full of them and some people are looking for interior design ideas only. I am looking for someone who not only will pay me money but also will take care and preserve my property.
If you’re ok with my terms and you wish to proceed please forward me your full name and address and I will pass them onto Rent.com. They will contact you with payment instructions in order to secure the deposit/first cycle. The whole process takes less than a day and I will be contacting you over the phone the very next minute I hear something positive from Rent.com and schedule a meeting so you can inspect the apartment. If you will decide to pass and start looking for another place, Rent.com will return you the money 100% as I will be supporting the fees but I’m sure you will like it as everybody did.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Sue Holverson
P.S: Utilities included in the rent: water, gas, garbage, Internet, cable/TV and parking for 1 car.
Available to clean and responsible tenants only. Well-mannered pets considered.
Minimum stay 6 months up to 24 months.
If you want I can attach some pictures with the apartment for you to review.