Craigslist Scam

I received an email from someone today – wanting to verify a property that seemed priced “too good to be true” on Craigslist. It turns out that the ad was indeed a scam. I am posting the response below in full in hopes to cut down on the success of his fraudulant scam.

It came from “stewart.robert23@yahoo.com“. Email read:

Hi,I did get your response concerning the AD I posted on craigslist. The house is still available but presently I’m not around.. I did bid for a portion of petroleum land sometimes ago in West Africa and fortunately I won the bidding so I have to move quickly down to Africa to have my company set up because I will still have to rebid for it in the next 10 years. I came over here with my wife, we both built the house when we got married. As soon as we settle down here I had a thought of selling the house so I have to look for an agent, after getting one, we got a deal but later my wife advised against that. She said we may not be able to win the bidding next time, in other to keep our head when we return that we have to keep the house. I reasoned with her and accepted her advise. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents. Later we decided to have the house rent out, we would have give the same agent this job also but the truth ofthe matter is that the agent would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be able to reason along with him later. If you notice, you will discovered that the price we are offering is far below standard price, this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the absolute care for the property. I know there is no way I can be sure that you are the right person to live in the house because we won’t be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to occupy the space. But I just had a feeling that anyone whoknows what it takes to put the kind of structure down should know that maintaining a building is mandatory, so if you belief you can take good care of the house and handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the house.Please if you are ready now to occupy the house kindly provide the information below for record purposePLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELFFull Name__________________________________________________ Home Phone ( )________________________Date of Birth_________________________________Other Phone ( )___________________Current Address_______________________________Apt#________ City__________________ State______ Zip________Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone ( )____________________________Are you married____________________________How many people will be living in the house____________________________How many people will be living in the house____________________________Do you have a pet____________________________Do you have a car____________________________Occupation____________________________Move In Date____________________________House Address20858 Royal Villa Terrace Sterling, VA 20165Best RegardsRobert Stewart+234-802-976-9680011-234-802-976-9680