Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Anatomy of a scam

This 2 bed 2 bath was just posted on Craigslist. Let's take a look to see why it can't exist. Note the balcony entrance that doesn't exist, the "dark wood" cabinets and the distant view of downtown from near Van Ness.



Also, it was listed as $1200, which should have been a dead giveaway.

Note: Does this shape look like the Iberian Peninsula to anyone else?

3 comments:

dereklipkin said...

That is pretty crazy. Why would someone post such a scam? I do not see the process by which personal gain can be attained through such a posting. Just for kicks?

It certainly does look like the Iberian Peninsula, or, more other thought, a poorly-drawn Nevada laying on its western border.

P.S. You need to be riding on Chrome, homie. Ditch that whack Firefox ride and set up on the proverbial Internet Escalade, 26-inch spinners and all.

Zac said...

Well, the scam exists because they say they live out of the country, and if you pay them with paypal, they'll fed-ex you the keys. Here's the email they sent after I told them I was interested (yes, I knew it was a scam, but what if it wasn't?).

Hello,
Thank you for your interest. I have available the apartment located 2040 Franklin Street at Jackson Street ,because I move,with my job in Romania, Bucharest and I need money to pay the rent
here, that is the reason I want to rent at this price and to find a
good person for my apartment. This is the reason that I want to rent it. I
can rent you the apt for max.5 years because I have a contract here
for this period. I `m the owner of the apt and its like in the pics. The
rent for 1 month is $ 1.200,00 and minimum for rent the apartment is one mounth ($ 1,200.00) including all utilities (water,
electricity, Internet, cable, parking, air conditioning, fireplace,
dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, refrigerator). You can move in the apt
in the same day when you receive the keys.The only problem is that I`m
the only person who have the keys but I hope that we will find a
compromise.
Thank you for your interest and wait news from you ,
Best Regards , r listing of the 2br apt, I am wondering where in the city it is located and what the move-in expectations are. Have a great day and looking forward to hearing from you.

Narges said...

scam FAIL