I want to explain a common craigslist scam that targets people renting out property. If you are not aware of this scam, you may fall victim to it. I, myself, have been targeted by this scam but have never been a victim. I unsuspectingly replied to these fraudulent e-mails thinking they were legitimate roommates, but after several exchanges, my gut instincts told me better.
How the Scam Works
The scammers or purported roommates make initial contact with you, stating that they are interested in renting your room, but cannot visit because they are overseas or have a tight time constraint and can’t make the time.
The scammer insists they are easy going and would like to move. They would have a very legitimate-sounding story. They might be a medical school or college student, or perhaps starting a new computer or modeling job, and they might even be arriving with their parents. Somewhere in the exchange of e-mails, they ask you for the total amount to secure the room for them to move in.
This is where I stopped the e-mail conversation, as it was getting too sketchy and just didn’t feel right. I didn’t want anyone to move in without first meeting them in person. That’s my #1 rule; enough said.
Based on my research, if you did reply to the scammer’s e-mail with the total amount, the scammer would send you a check, or very often some kind of international money order, for more than the total amount needed to secure your room. They might say it is a money order for their scholarship or an employer’s paycheck. Some of the scammers would just contact you, stating that they made a mistake and overpaid you. In any case, they would always request that you send difference back to them in via Western Union or Moneygram.
Seems fair and legit so far, right? Where’s the scam?
The scammer sends you a check or money order that looks genuine, but it’s actually fraudulent. The bank will accept this fraudulent check, as you are depositing it into your account. They may even cash it if you have an account with them. When you send them back the amount that was “overpaid,” you’re really sending them your own money, and the bank will deduct the full amount of the fraudulent check from your account when it fails to clear. Thus, the scammer runs away with your money.
Simple Ways Not to Fall Victim to This Scam
- Always talk to the potential roommates on the phone and determine their sincere interest.
- Be wary of foreigners. Scammers usually reside outside the U.S. to avoid prosecution, so if the e-mail is from a foreigner, be careful.
- Read the e-mail carefully. If there are a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes, it’s most likely a scammer from abroad.
- Avoid using Moneygram and Western Union to do transactions; instead meet up and exchange initial checks in hand. Better yet, never give money back until a check or money order clears your bank. For international checks, that may be several weeks.
Last thoughts
This scam not only targets users of craigslists, but other roommate subscription sites as well. I have received the e-mails from scammers while using other resources, such as roommates.com and roomster.com. The e-mails generally read along the same lines, so it not isolated to craigslist. Trust your gut, and follow the advice in this post to determine if you are dealing with a legitimate applicant.
photo credit: jepoirrier
I'm Mike, I rent out my spare rooms in my house to roommates. So far, the rental income has :
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Good to know, as I plan on listing my rental property on Craigslist.
Just trying to help out, Thanks for visiting
The other aspect is that they always protray themelves as cute, younger girls! One that I got even sent photos of a Belarussian blonde.
Thanks,
ME
Thanks for the warning. I’ve read about this scam in many different areas, not just renting rooms, yet the idea is the same…they send a money order for more than what you are asking, then ask for a refund of the difference. Then you’re out lots of money when their check doesn’t clear.
Because of this website, I stop short of being SCAMED. The room that I was renting out was $425.00 they sent me a check for $3,350.90. I called the company from who the check was written out, everything on the check was correct. However it was not sent from them. Just think if I had not found this website first, I would have been taken for the sum of 2,925.90. I have kept the check and all the emails, and I will be sending them to the FBI. Thanks so much
A Very Great full Gordon
I’m glad you found the information helpful and didn’t get scammed! That’s one of the reasons why I started the site, I didn’t want people falling victim to scammers and to help other newbie live-in landlords out.
I have gotten about 15 fraudulent responses to my roommate ad! I’m thinking of taking the ad down & just giving up.
@Rick, Don’t give up! You’ll have to weed through the spammers and scammers. It’s just the nature of Craigslist unfortunately. I recently sold a laptop on craiglist and was bombarded with scammers, but I eventually sold it. You’ll eventually find a roommate. Don’t Give up! If you have questions, just ask!
Thanks for posting this; I’ve been trying to rent a room on Craiglist and got two “international students.” When I requested to meet them in person, they disappeared. Thank God I never gave them info to send money.
The easiest way to weed through scammers is to request within the ad that they use a specific word or phrase as the subject when responding. Scammers don’t actually read the whole ad so if you get a response to your ad that doesn’t have the correct requested subject, then you know not to reply to them.
OMG my bank just saved my butt from being scammed. a girl from canada claimed to be coming over and gave a check to me and when i went to the bank to deposit me, they just told me about the room-mate scam and saved my butt of $3500!!!!
I just caught on to a scammer and of course I was not aware of this scam… Thanks for the information!
It was a little fishy so I researched scams and it was a dead on match… The girl was out of the country (canada), wanted to send me a money order and reserve the room without seeing it, She said she was 28 yet gave me a 1985 dob, her name… was Wag, she was not willing to sign a lease till she got in town but she wanted to ship her things here therefore she was making the check out for more than the rent due for the shippers, she had very strange grammer, she kept avoiding answering questions that she should have been able to answer, she did not have a scanner to send proof of idetification or a camera to send a picture of herself. All signs point to scammer!
This happened to my friend! My friend fell for it. How can she get her money back?
Has the check or money order been cashed yet? If it hasn’t she could try and cancel the money order or put a stop to the check. If it’s already been cashed, it’s gone.
Sorry to hear her unfortunate circumstance
Man, this is just happening to me. I got a check for $2775 for a room renting for $350. She told me she is having a car delivered. I deposited the check, but won’t do anything until, or if, it clears. Hope I can muddle thru this. Thanks for the heads up.
i have someone wanting to send money by paypal…but the emails are just like the scams….
I have received at least twenty scam responses in two days….poor grammar and form letter styles that duplicate each other…i am so frustrated that i started responding in a nasty way…I am on several roommate sites and they are all the same…Either same person with different names or a form letter sold to scammers..it is very easy to identify..I Just need a real room mate
Thank you,
I got one of these e-mails and I was 99% sure it was a scam. So I googled it and I read this article. It’s exactly what the e-mail I got was. So I replied with a link to this saying “Shame on you. I hope you don’t try this again on someone else.”
Here is the e-mail they sent me.
Hello,
Thanks very much for e-mailing me back.. I am Christina massengill by name and live in Seattle, WA. I would have been kind of happy if we can meet before making any plans, but am very busy and i have a lot of things to do right now.. I will really appreciate it if you can tell me more about the place and tell me little about you because my uncle is presently very sick, and i have to travel to Finland to see him but i want to secure the place down before going. He was involved in a car crash with his new car some weeks back and now ill seriously, I need to check on him and take good care of him.
I am staying in CHRMC Children’s Hospital Seattle staff Quarters now The address is below:
4800 Sandpoint Way NE Seattle, WA 98105
I am moving cause of my job, am a medical Humanitarian nurse for united Nations. I work for CHRMC Children’s Hospital in Seattle but will be working in a local clinic over there, More about me, am a neat type of person, honest, humble and responsible. I like honest, responsible and hardworking people while i hate the lazy, messy and uncaring people….well am a quiet and gentle going person to live with….I am 27 yrs old female, 5.4 in height ,i like tourism and i don’t keep late at nights neither i will have overnight guest around but am ok if you do..
I was born and brought up in Finland, i studied there i had my university education right there while staying with my uncle.. I lived all my life in Finland before coming down to Seattle, WA have been living with my uncle from age 13…Then i was member of the Red Cross Association it really sounds interesting for me…Am sure You ‘ll really like the person that i am ,because i will also do the dishing if you like I work when i am to and relax when i am to,I also like sharing my thoughts also….paying rent on time will not
be a problem as i will also be making the rent fee before the month ends….I do not have any pet, i really like dog and cat but have none of it now, so there is no problem about that.
I must confess am comfortable with the price and I will want to secure the place down before my arrival so i will want you to tell me all about the place as i can’t see it before my arrival but the pictures…I also will want you to know that i have my car that i will be coming over with little of my furniture.
please let me know if there will be room for them. With all that I’ve said above I have told you more about me and more picture of mine will be attach in the next email Let me also know how i can go about securing the place down before my arrival as i will also be busy from next week and let me know if you can take off the ad off the site as i am going to secure the place with a deposit
Feel free to ask me any question and as I’ve said i am looking to move in by the availability of the place but want to secured it now
Thanks..
This just happened to me. 3900.00 out. I am so upset. I wish i had done more research. They even had the nerve to send me a text message horrible grammar and lots of “lol’s”. My mistake. I will spread the word to others.
Beware of roomneeded018@gmail.com when you reply it goes to checks4amy@gmail.com and she is listed on another site as a scammer
Thanks for putting this info out there.
I posted a room for rent and 3 people have tried everything you mentioned, out of state, out of country and one living with her x and his wife living on her income tax check while looking for work as a model.
Being from Nyc, (possibly the scam capital) I can feel when something is not right.
Wow sure glad google showed me this. I put an ad up for a roomate and got responses from three different young women who are currently overseas. Haha. I think I’ll get all of their checks and put them in a frame for some art in my living room.
In fact one of them claims to be an art dealer.
I too put up a rental add in Craigslist and got two bites right away from two foreigners with a parallel story- wanting to secure the place asap but out of meeting distance and very likeable. They could not have mentioned more the fact that they were in dire need to secure the place and needed my info to send me a check for multiple months worth of rent. Of course instinct kicks in that this is not right, especially with no mention of the legal aspect that comes along with renting- signing documents holding them liable for rent, damages, etc. Never hurts to use common sense in these types of things!
Hey Mike, thanks for putting the word out. I knew there was something fishy about this potential roommate. “Susan Mallet female from Spain” wanted to know what the move in cost would be, including utilities, so that she could secure her room before she moved here for her new job at the “Federal Agency of Works and Natural Resources.” She said her Organization would be responsible for all her costs and fees. My spidey senses were tingling, so I googled craigslist room for rent scams, and came across your insightful blog. I asked for her passport photo, and some other questions that would make it difficult for a scammer to answer, and I haven’t heard from “her” again. Keep up the good work!
I advertised for a roommate and got a few responses. The one girl did get my attention because i thought about getting a foreign student to rent. this sounded so good she was from spain coming to az to get her masters and also worked for the government on some environmental study program. her dad would take care of all deposits and then she added she was having a car delivered and the ck would include the delivery fees, i didn’t answer right away because my mom was very sick and in the hospital so i spent several days up there and didn’t have time to respond that was not my priority at this time. i emailed her and let her know that i did not have the chance to give her much detail and would as soon as i knew my mom was ok. the day after that emailed i received a ck for $2950.00 sent from florida but the ck was from a union bank in calif. the signer of the ck was a gas corporation. i took it to my bank before i got back to her asking if they thought it was some kind of scam and they said it was a good account i would have to wait 2 days. I had no intention of spending anything since i only asked for 1100.00 deposit i didn’t want the responsibility of a vehicle being delivered. The bank said it had a two day hold which then it did show the balance in my account until i called the 3 day and things were sounding fishy, 5 minutes later the mail lady came with a envelope which had 3 money orders for 975.00 each so now i knew something was up i still didn’t email the girl nor did she write back, i was still dealing with my moms sickness. I decided to go to walmart before close since i knew a few of the manager pretty well and asked to cash one this way i would have a better idea well the circle on the money gram did not fade like it was suppose to and the next clue was they were dated 2 months earlier and i just put the add up for the first time so i new that was messed up and walmart doesn’t cash anything over 30 days the next mess up was it was printed on regular paper they were too different colors and the lines and number didn’t even line up so they aren’t very smart. i really didn’t give much of any info except a work email the bank said they would not get any personnel info if we put the ck through. I think these scammers really need to get caught and put away. I was really looking for a roommate that was in school and had her priorities straight. This was a bad mess up on my part i never heard of these scammers and the timing for me was terrible where i didn’t have the time to deal with the add with the unexpected illnesses of my mother. I didn’t have time to get back with her except 2 short notes and she just decided to keep sending money which was her first give away plus i sent a friend her picture the nite before and she said she looked dangerous and evil. I wonder whose picture she really used..