Victim Location 02110
Type of a scam Rental
Back story, I’m trying to move out of my parent’s home because it takes me an hour to get to work. Therefore, I went apartment hunting on Craigslists, the apartment up for offer was by far the MOST ideal (red flag). It’s convenient (right by a train station) and low pricing. I reached out and declined the offer after I found out this person was male. I was looking for a female roommate (I’m a girl, I’m more comfortable with living with girls, considering this is a 2 bedroom apartment), and this person never disclosed their gender on Craigslist. Also, he claimed to be part of the Air Force and emailed me back to let me know that he’ll be based in Japan for 3 years. He won’t be back and needed someone to take good care of his apartment and if I’m interested we can set up to rent his apartment through Airbnb. This was when my radar flashed red. Airbnbs are temporary and NEVER permanent (long stays). Also, NO ONE in their *** mind would ever leave the country for a long period of time leaving their fully furnished house to a complete stranger who reached out to them on Craigslist. He also said to provide a list of information. One of which included my ID, which was considered optional. I’ve done Airbnbs before and IDs are never optional on the Airbnb app, because it is to verify who you are. He asked for $500.00 the rent for first month and a security deposit of $500.00, totaling $1,000 to move into this apartment. He stated the security deposit will be returned to me when I leave the apartment and everything was going to be done through an Airbnb agent. This was when I stopped replying and went with my instincts and reported him to the Air Force website and BBB.
I read an article on ScamPulse.com and the story he gave me is almost identical. Leaving for a long period of time so that when you need to reach out to them, they won’t be able to answer. Low affordable price and a perfectly good location. Mind you, this apartment costs at least $1 Million and on Zillow it says rent should be at least $3000-4000, and he was offering it at $500 and saying that he’s not doing it for money but just needed to find someone who was going to take good care of it.
Fortunately, I did not give this person any of my personal information and stopped right before it could escalate any further. The only thing he knows about me is my name and email. I DID NOT LOSE ANY MONEY.
Please beware of a person who claims to be Sgt.Marvin Walters – Air Force. I have two friends in the Air Force and they said their emails end with @us.af.mil, however, this person’s email ended with @usa-airforce-mil.com.
Moral of the story, if something sounds too good to be true. It probably is.
Thanks BBB. Please keep our community safe from scammers.