An Edinburgh Drive house has been used more than once as bait in a scam on Craigslist that cost a Martinez woman $1,450, according to a Richmond County incident report.
The woman said she responded to an online ad listing the brick residence for rent, then wired two payments totaling $1,450 to a woman she spoke with in London.
The victim went to the house last week to sign a rental agreement, only to learn from a real estate agent selling the house that it wasn’t for rent and that the same scam had been used with the house before, the report said.
This scam is as old as Barrister Amguanakikbuti trying to send me $2.5 Million every week.
After 40 years in Augusta I now sell real estate outside of D.C. My sale listings get ripped off all the time. They ripoff all my photos, too and list the home for rent for half of the market value on Craigslist. Their scam is to ask for $500 deposit on a $2500 rental property.
If it's too good to be true, it's probably not for real.
Never send any money oversees, you'll never see it again.
I reported this same (attempted) scam to Lt. G. Lopez at the CC Sheriff on a house on Danielle Drive in Old Petersburg in Martinez on 8/23 last year. I knew something was wrong from the first communication and reported it. I also went to the house and found a family living there that had just recently closed on the property, as it had been for sale. I felt terrible when I told the woman what I suspected was happening. She said it made sense because she had found a man peeping through all of the house windows just earlier that day. She said he pulled into the driveway, got out and started walking all around the house. My guess is he saw the same ad. The ad and communication sent via email really touted attributes that a lot of families would find important. Real close to the local Elem School, great neighborhood, real close to the Lakeside Middle & High complex. He claimed he had lived there since the house was built with his family and that his children attended those schools before he was transferred to London for a 2 year stint for his job etc. etc. His biggest mistake was that when I checked the CC Property records, I noticed the house had sold a few times within the years he claimed to live there. That and when he requested I complete an application form emailed to me, there were questions on the form I found out of the ordinary. I am very glad I never sent money but find it terrible that people are so ruthless as to take from other families.
One of my former tenants (who left prior to the actual eviction for nonpayment of rent) tried the same thing with that house. We were contacted by two different folks who saw both the ads and questioned who really owned the house. Luckily they were both local folks and, as far as we know, no one sent any money to this character. Perhaps it's the same person doing all of this; he supposedly now lives in Columbia County but was slick enough to get an overseas phone number.
We also answered a add for a house on 255 Merion Court Martinez, GA same senerio May 2010 I saved all the emails we new it had to be a scam then the person sent me a email addressed to someone else telling them they also were selected to rent the house
If ANYONE is asking you to wire money and they do not have a LANDLINE TELEPHONE that you can hit REDIAL to call them back on they are most likely a scam even if they say they are with the government. (Yes i know that’s redundant, but hey!) Don’t get scammed. If you do let US know about it so our world wide network can jump on it ASAP, maybe get your money back and report it so others won't fall into the same trap.
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