Are we being scammed?

Faith

I didn't know where to put this, so I settled on here. Ruu, will you move it if there's somewhere better?

Basically, myself and my friends are going to California for the summer and we're trying to find a house, using craigslist.org. We've found a place, a 4 bedroom house for $2600 per month. The lease starts on May 15th, and the guy won't change it to June 1st. Fair enough, I though. Now, he wants the deposit ($3000) May's rent ($1300) by the 15th of May, and June's rent on the 1st of June, when we get there. My friend who's sorting this out has been emailing him. The guy was supposed to ring him last night, but didn't. Today, he got this email:

"Mark,

I wasn't able to call today. Sorry.

I have the photos you requested and will send them under separate cover. We can move the deposit date back a couple days, but we would need it plus the May rent ($3000 + $1300 US) wired by Western Union or bank transfer and received here by Friday, May 18. Then we would need the June rent in cash on move-in June 1."

The mention of Western Union sent alarm bells ringing in my head. Surely everybody knows this is only used by scammers? Any genuine person wouldn't even mention it. Now, he has sent many pictures of the house, along with the address, but I'm scared we'll send him the deposit and he's scamper off to Mexico or something!

I don't know what to do about it, so I'm hoping some here has an idea. Is a money transfer safe?

j4vier

well it doesnt sound too good to be honest..
probably this place is not worth the risk of being left with no place to stay and no money either
you cant tell if its a scam or not, but if he is a scammer and you wire the money you wouldnt have a leg to stand on
you should use wu with only people you know.
not to mention that for that amount of money , a wu transfer would cost u a huge amount of money extra in fees.
anyway to wire 4300 dollars to someone u dont know its crazyness, your holiday could well turn into a nightmare

oh and regarding the pics of the house , they dont mean anything.
i dont think there is a difference from a seller who uses pics of mobiles that he doesnt have

Faith

Okay, I'm getting even more suspicious. I was looking on craigslist for other places, and I came across an ad for the exact same house, asking for $2100 per month, and the lease was available starting from June 1st. I emailed the person who put up the ad, pretending to be interested. We'll see if I get a response now...

j4vier - Thanks for the response. The pictures were of inside the house though. I suppose he still could have just gotten some from google images!

j4vier

exactly pics of something like that dont mean anything until you verify them urself ,also ask him if you could view the house personally to see what answer he is gonna give u.

mcaul

Try googling local papers for the area of CA you are interested in. Go to their websites, check their local classifieds and you should be able to find a more genuine renter - or try local agencies in the area - again google would do a listing and you may find the deposit is held under bond or in escrow.

Or stay in a basic hotel for a week and check the local area.

Duras

If you wanna go with that guy... what I suggest you to do is: not pay the deposit until you move in... Why does he need 3000$ deposit now when you are gonna move in on June 1st??? Risk only $1300 if you are into risky stuff...

But you can also:

mcaul wrote:

stay in a basic hotel for a week and check the local area.

And I say that's the best thing to do...

ctc_celtic

could you not use a 'escrow' system, you send off the money but it is held by an impartial 3rd party, when you get there and are happy, the money is released from escrow to the landlord.
the landlord knows you have paid it and will get it, if what he has said is correct.