Here’s the response they gave me:
Hello Joe,
First and foremost, thank you for your interest in the home. I am available to show the house this week
if that fits your schedule.
Just to give you a little more information about the home, the water, trash
and garbage are paid by us. The security deposit can be paid in 2 installments if money is tight. (I know how that can be).
The house has a fenced in backyard and we do allow pets. The deposit per pet is a one time payment.
The house includes a washer and dryer, and we pay for lawn care so the renter does not have to cut the grass.
There is NO application fee (our company policy and guarantee).
I will be happy to show the house at an agreed upon time and date but I do require that all applicants and
additional renters who will be living in the home complete a free credit report to ensure their eligibility.
I have so many people apply for homes that I have to make sure they are qualified renters before I show the property.
This ensures neither of us will be wasting our time.
It is okay if you have bad credit (trust me). We just check to make sure that you don’t have several evictions on
your record. (We won’t rent if you have 3 or more evictions on your record)
I also had to recently stop giving out the exact address of rental properties before I am able to show them because
last time I did that the house was vandalized (I will be glad to send you the address right after your reply) I assure
you though that this is a very safe neighborhood. I actually lived in this home for 2 years (very cozy).
As soon as you can, please click and go to the secure website link below to complete the free credit report: (takes about 30 seconds)
Once you complete, I’ll call you once I receive the information from the credit company (very quickly usually).
http://cbgreport.com/
*** You don’t have to send me your credit report.
Once you fill out the report the credit company automatically forwards me your name, email address and whether you have
had any outstanding evictions in the past 5 years to determine your renter eligibility. This is the only information I am
interested in. This is a soft credit report so it won’t touch your FICO score (which is why we work with them).
This process turns some people off, so I completely understand if you decide not to complete them. In that case, good luck
with your home search. I just want to be honest with you up front about our process, which does a good job of protecting
us from ineligible renters and scammers. Also, the site above is one the safest and most secure website for credit reports in the
world, which is good for peace of mind. I have worked with them personally for a couple years now.
If you are truly interested in proceeding, take a moment and fill out one of the reports. Let me know when this is done and
we can then work out the time and date to go see the home. Email me back once you access your fresh report. I will be forwarded
the information. (Make sure to include a valid phone number. I usually call within 6 hours of submitting your report. Then I can
forward you the address and we can set up a time to tour the home.)
If eligible you will also be sent an email with my office number so we can set up a time to go see the house and discuss any
other questions or concerns you may have.
Thanks,
Mira
Categorized | Affiliate Marketing 101
Is This Craigslist Housing Ad A Scam?
Posted on September 13, 2011.
100% scam.
There is no apartment or house for rent.
There is only a scammer trying to get you to sign up for some credit reporting site using the affiliate link he provided. He only wanted the commission he would receive for getting people to sign up under him.
After you had signed up for the credit site, identity verification site or given your cell number to the IQ test website using the affiliate link provided, that scammer’s next email would say: “sorry, the place is rented”.
Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his ‘potential sucker’ list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of great places to rent, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.
Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don’t bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn’t worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.
Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.
If you google “fake apartment rental”, “fraud Western Union house rent scam”, “fake craigslist apartment rent scam”, “fake job credit report scam” or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near-victims of this type of scam.
Check out the warnings on craigslist that state you should NEVER sign up for a credit reporting site for a job or a rental property.