PSA: How to avoid a Rental Scam

We were almost got duped by a scam! Good thing to our better judgement, we decided to cutoff ties with this jerk. If he/she prods further, we will definitely make a police report! ( Let this be a warning to potential scammers, we will not let this go sitting down! I hope others will also learn from this episode)

Telltale signs that it was indeed a scam! 

#1 : A mysterious person will message you (SMS)

My housemate approach me one night to tell me about a name suddenly appearing out of the blue on her phone. I thought nothing of it, as I thought her phone number was a recycled number and the previous owner of the phone number was trying to contact her. But we were both surprised, because normally, if a stranger messages you, the number will appear on the phone, this was different. 

And incidentally, that strange person was inquiring about the room that we just advertised. We thought it was an answered prayer, as the day of my housemate leaves was drawing near!

The content of the message are as follows: 

                             

                  

#2 Dubious content of the message 

My housemate had her suspicion, so did I. 

1. She can conveniently message us when she said she does not have a steady internet connection as she works in a cruise ship. 

2. She is a 23 year old doctor. ( Unless you are a child genius, you cannot finish your degree at this age.)

3.  She needs pictures of the room to ask her mover agent to calculate cost of moving her things to Singapore. ( I guess, she intends to quit her job in the cruise ship and jump over). 

4. She said she would attached her passport to have a picture of her. ( She didn't). 

After seeing this, we thought that we should just give her a message ( something generic)  just in case, this proves to be real. 

                               

#3 Transferring of rent through Paypal ( the most alarming one)

                              

Warning signs: 

1. Asking for you to sign up Paypal if you do not have an account. ( Sounds desperate!)

2. I am very social person that respect humanity and this make it so easy for me to get along. ( Appeal to you. Don't get tricked by it)

3. She is very eager to pay in advance.

4. She wants it by Paypal to show her employer proof of payment ( No employer would want to see that you paid your house rent. It's between you and the landlord of the house!) and that her employer is responsible for those fees ( What a kind employer. Not even Google pays for their employee's housing)

Once she replied that she would be sending the rent money through Paypal, we were alarmed. At this point, we confirmed our suspicions, this could be a scam. I Googled scams and voila, a similar story appeared. 

Our ending: After we know that this was indeed a scam, we terminated any communication and stopped any correspondence with this bugger. We will not waste our time, effort and money to someone who preys on the good will of people. 

In any case, I'm putting out this to serve as a warning for people who may deal with this creeps in the future. 

We managed to put a halt at this correspondence. One blogger went to as afar as getting details from "the tenant" , the money needed, the so-called PayPal notifications,etc. (But nothing happened to her as she was vigilant) 

Do: 

• Report to the police ( so that other people will not fall into this trap) .
• Ask friends around what they think about the message.  If you doubt yourself, or if you think because of your good nature to easily trust people, that you might just go and help out this girl in trouble, ask opinion of other people.
• Ask yourself, is the mail too good to be true?  
• Check in scamalert if there are any other stories like this. 
• Check for signs in the mail that sounds fishy.    Because of human's latent tendency to show compassion and to give the benefit of the doubt , other humans will take advantage of this weakness. Always remain steadfast. Always double check sources.  
• Be vigilant and to always trust your guts. 
• Insist on a cash only basis transaction ( unless you personally know the person). 

Don't: 

• Give any other details like bank account, or paypal account or anything.
• Give out any amount of money in any kind ( Promises of paying it back afterwards unless you personally know the person)
• Engage in people (not even your kin) asking money from you to transfer via Western Union, Paypal, etc.  As harsh as it sounds, if you do not know who you are transferring the money to, do not give any money.  As scammers are prevalent, they may guise themselves as your relative, your friend, or even as your son/daughter/parents. ( Personally, confront with your kin or friend if indeed they asked for money/donation. Do not just blatantly give out your hard earned money)