Hey, here's a fun Craigslist housing scam:

Hey, here’s a fun Craigslist housing scam:

I’m desperately looking for an apartment in the DC metro area right now. Yesterday, I saw a great house listed on Craigslist. It was really cheap for the area and the type of property, so despite my suspicions I contacted the poster. This is the email I got back:

Hello,

    God bless you for your interest about my House, how are you doing today? I hope all is well.
The House Is a 2bedroom. Which My wife and I occupied before leaving for West Africa. We left on a self Mission following God’s Call to Preach the Word and Let people of all Nations Hear about Him. My wife and I thought of ourselves and asked God what we would give him and He says we should sacrifice our life and give him the best we can, letting humans know about him. The bible account of Luke 12: 29-31, don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. We decided to do the missionary work.

    I would also like you to know that my Wife and I have spent so much time and money to maintain it up till it’s standard. We have been trying our best to make the house as clean as possible, because am a clean person and we don’t like dirt around our surroundings and also the Bible says cleanliness is next to Godliness.
So we are looking for a well-behaved, clean and honest tenant to rent out our house too. So we will like you to give us your word and promise us that you will take good care of our house so that we will be happy when we come to visit you in the future.. We would like to work any flexible plan you have on your term of renting, Long or short term or month by month.

    While we were leaving, we took along with us the keys just to view the Land if it would be favorable for God’s Work, on getting down here we decided to stay and Go On preaching the Good News. The Home was formally FOR SALE but we have decided not to sell anymore so we would lay our head when we do come back to rest. Prior to our arriving back we shall be giving a 90 days notice to you if we finally decide to rent to you. We shall be staying for upwards of five years here doing God’s Work. So kindly Get back to us with the application form below.

Note: The Rent is $1000 monthly
Refundable Security Deposit is $600

Here is the address of the house, you can easily drive by: 102 E Cliff St,Alexandria VA 22301


                      RENT APPLICATION FORM

FIRST NAME:________________
MIDDLE NAME: ________________
LAST NAME: _________________
PROFESSION: ________________
(CELL)PHONE ()_________
(CELL)PHONE () _____________________
(WORK)PHONE () __________
KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY _______
PRESENT ADDRESS: ____________________
CITY: ______________
STATE: _____________
ZIP CODE: _______________ HOW LONG? ____________IF RENTING
WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?
IF THIS Home IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING?______________
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________
MONTHLY INCOME:
IF YOU HAVE A PET:
NAME OF PET: _____________
KIND OF PETS: _____________
HABITS
DO YOU SMOKE? ___________
DO YOU DRINK? ______________
DO YOU WORK LATE NIGHT? ____

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you. Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you, please we are giving you all this base on trust, and only putting everything into God’s hand, so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this. Looking forward to hear from you.

You can reach me @: +2348126607073

Thanks and remain blessed

Okay so that was obviously suspect. I googled the adress and found it was actually for rent from a local Realtor - for $2500. I notified the woman, flagged the post on Craigslist, and reported the incident to IC3.

Then I responded to the email: