Just a word to the wise to DU job hunters - SCAM ALERT!

[K8-EEE]

Like many of you, I have gotten a few part-time jobs via Craigslist, and they've always been legit worked out pretty well for me.

Well I guess I wasn't careful enough because I responded to a "company" that followed up with mailing a "check" made out to me, and instructions to take my "commission" out of the check after it had been cleared and....YOU GUESSED IT! "Transfer" the rest with money orders. To Canada! Natch!

Of course I did not do this, reported the incident to the bank and the authorities, but still I feel pretty stupid for even giving the scammers my name and address in the first place.

I took the uncashed check to the police station and the lady there said people walk in there EVERY SINGLE DAY after having found out weeks after the transaction that the check was fraudulent. At that point they are left holding the bag.

I don't mean to insult anybody's intelligence but since people DO fall for it, please be aware and make your teenage kids who are job-hunting on Craigslist aware, to verify the company before sending info.

Also let your older relatives know about the similar "you won the Canadian Lottery" scam. They are often not tech-savvy and would be fooled by these very elaborte forgeries, that have watermarks, heat-sensitive ink, etc.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. The Nigerian/419 Scammers are ALL OVER Craigslist.

Pretty much anything that involves anything out of the country, is probably a scam.

[K8-EEE]

2. yes or anybody hiring in "your area"

"your area" being all the Craigslists in the world I'm sure, followed by a "hello friend" email!

[Permanut]

3. Got one here in Oregon...

It went right in the shredder.

[K8-EEE]

4. I sent it to the Corporate Security Dept. at the bank who (didn't) issue it

It had the right routing number --the police didn't seem to want it but the bank does like to investigate these things!

[Jim Lane]

5. Craigslist also has apartment rental scammers.

I didn't know about this one until I started looking for an apartment. You answer a post about an apartment for rent. You get a response telling you that it's available because the owner and his wife are spending the next several years in Africa (variously, on a religious mission or working for the U.S. Agency for International Development). You're given the address so that you can drive by and look at it (!). You're invited to complete an application and told that, if you seem like a good prospective tenant, the owner will send you the keys so you can inspect the apartment.

I assume the scam is that, when you reach that stage, you'll be asked for a deposit to ensure return of the keys. I can't say for sure because I wasted no more time on such ads. C'mon, nobody would try to rent an apartment without having a local agent who could show it.

A less common scam is that, when you answer the post, you're told you have to obtain and submit your credit score. Not patently unreasonable, except that you MUST use a particular website for that purpose. I answered one of these, asking if I could submit credit information from a different source. In response, I received a repeat of the initial email. I'm guessing the scam here is that the website you're directed to will charge a fee and/or steal your personal information.

Once you get past the chiselers, though, there is good news. I'm writing this from my new apartment, which I found through a Craigslist post -- hence no broker's fee. In the NYC area, the typical broker's fee is one to one and a half month's rent, so this is a significant saving.

[K8-EEE]

9. Congrats on your new digs!!

Wow a MONTH AND A HALF? I didn't know that! Glad you found a good place. Can't remember the publication but google an article called "Nightmare On Orchard Street" which tells of a scammer "showing" an apt that wasn't hers while her ex-friend was at work. She had had dupes made of her ex-friend's keys and told like 20 people they could move in at the beginning of the month, cashed their deposit checks and headed to Germany the day before "move in" so that all these people were gathered around the apt. with all their stuff trying to move into the same place on the same day without the real resident knowing anything about it!

[Warren DeMontague]

10. They also steal information from legitimate rental ads for that shit.

I know someone with a house up for rent who had troops of people clomping through the yard and banging on the windows, asking about the $100/month rental and talking about the "owners in Africa".

There's a big fucking banner at the top of Craigslist that says "DON'T DEAL WITH ANYONE WHO IS OUT OF THE COUNTRY, ETC. WATCH FOR SCAMMERS" but I guess people are just so blinded by the opportunity of a GREAT FUCKING DEAL RIGHT NOW!!! that they don't see it.


Here's a clue: If every other place in the market is renting for $2000 a month, and you see an ad for a similar place for $300 a month, IT'S A SCAM.

[Jim Lane]

11. Some of the scammers are smart enough not to make the deal too outrageously good.

The ones that I answered were attractive but not totally beyond the realm of reason.

I saw some ads for, say, a two-bedroom apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan for $750 a month. You couldn't find a 2BR there for twice that amount, so I didn't even bother responding to such ads. The only purpose would've been to find out exactly what the scam was.

So, if you're going to run a fake ad, learn from Warren DeMontague's example. Give your ad at least a veneer of plausibility.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. They seem to adapt their tactics quickly. I think the whole apartment rental scam is a fairly new

branching out for the 419 crowd.

It's like a major industry in Lagos, apparently.

[ck4829]

6. Make sure everyone knows about this. I saw a pretty smart guy almost fall for this.

These scams can come in so many varieties that it can be hard to tell when you're facing a scam.

K&R.

[K8-EEE]

7. One problem is that when people get scammed they are embarrassed and so

Keep it a secret. But silence only helps the scammers. Everybody should know that the many variations of the "over pay/reimbursement" thing are RAMPANT, they are all different depending on who they are trying to appeal to. But they are rampant because THEY WORK. They work because it's hard times and psychologically people are ready for a break so they are all too ready to believe they are getting one when extra money comes their way from a "nice person."

[K8-EEE]

8. Also if you are selling something, similar scheme, they "overpay"

The secretary sends a check for the item AND the money to ship it to (far away place.) Ooops! And the buyer is out of the country (or whatever) cannot send another check right now, so could you please cash the check, and when you get your money, wire my secretary the difference and she will call the movers to get the item.

Except the person never picks up the item, the check bounces in a couple of weeks, and the seller is out whatever the "shipping" was.