Craigslist question (Howe: apartment complex, leasing, credit report)

[crittergal]

Maybe some of you can tell me if this is how some things are done on Craigslist. I have a relative that is moving to SA very soon and wants to have an apartment in place by the time she gets here. She trusts my judgment on the apartment.

I normally would not even consider Craigslist, but I was just looking around and saw an ad for a rental in the medical center, looked very nice and it was not represented by any apartment locators, but just the Craigslist email reply. I sent in a query and received a reply in part this is what was included:

"So you know, I do not conduct a background check or charge an application fee. However to qualify as a tenant you must have a credit score above 500. You can obtain your score for free Here. Print the first few pages and bring them to the viewing.

If you do not bring a copy of your credit report from the above site to the viewing I will not show you the property. I apologize but I'm looking for serious tenants only and not window shoppers. To schedule a viewing just respond to this email."
So I email back saying that I would have to get the info from the potential renter and see if they want to do this. I also ask some questions about where abouts in the med center, utilities, sq footage, emenites etc, and received this reply in part:

"Our company has been hit hard by craigslist spammers, so we've decided to use their verification system. Here is a link to the craigslist verification service Here.

You will be asked to verify your name, email and phone number. A verification code will be sent to you via text message. Do not give this code out. Please enter this code in the text box provided on the site and we will contact you from the email provided in the text message.

We appreciate your help fighting spam in the workplace."

The link was to Anti Span Verification site. I am not really comfortable giving my phone number, name etc without even knowing if this is a real poster.
Would like any feeback fellow CD ers. And yes I know, run, run fast away from Craigslist.

[apal]

I wouldn't do it. I have used CL many times, and have never had to do this, I would try
[SIZE=3]an apartment locating service. They are free, because they get the leasing fee from the apartment complex. [/SIZE]

[ggeorgie]

don't do it! Google "apartment locator scammers", or Google more direct info of the company, if you have it. this is a total scam and tons of scam info on Google

[Hedgehog_Mom]

That's a total scam.

Craigslist now requires phone verification before you can create an account and start posting. You have to enter your phone number and then craigslist will text you an activation code. It sounds like those people are collecting activation codes, probably so they can open more accounts and continue scamming people.

The apartment locators are the way to go...they won't tell you if the complex is nasty or if all the freaks come out at night, but they'll give you a starting point. Do a little online research and narrow it down to a few complexes you want to see, and then go look at them.

[ashbeeigh]

I think everyone gets scammed every once in a while on CL. It's such a bummer, even when it looks legit. I responded to a job posting last week and the response went something like this

Hello

Thank you so much for your interest in our opportunity. I appreciate you contacting us.

You definitely seem qualified for the position, and more so than the other 16 applicants we received resumes from. I would like to take the next step with you. However, before I am able to schedule a formal meeting, my company will require that you acquire a recent (past 14-21 business days) credit report. We started this because our company had some bad incidents with prior employees taking advantage of having access to a company credit card.

Both myself and the company will prefer it that you use www.scammy.com to acquire your check as they are offering the check at zero cost to you (unlike other places). We also discovered that their scores always reported back contain the most accurate information, but feel free to use any service you like.

Once you submit all of the required information, they will show your personal report. Please print it out and save it for your records. Please do not email me the entire report, as it will have private content. We can disscuss it when we meet in person. If you have a lower than expected credit score, it will never prevent you from a position with us. I had a fairly low score when I started.

Once your finished please e-mail me your phone number that you can be easily reached, and your availability to arrange an interview.

Personally, I am hoping to fill this position with a new friendly face and am looking forward to your quick response.

If you feel it's scammy, it's probably scammy. Same with this. I didn't respond. It happens in all areas. With apartments, there are so many ways to look at them on your own without a locator, too. I'd try that as well. Just drive around. Being from the city you should be a good judge of character for individual units, right?

[zapanther]

man. get a clue. come on now....

[elnina]

Someone else investigated it and concluded:

(...) The word "Here" was set up as a link and I clicked it.

It showed "http://login.tracking101.com/ez/cznieepksxzie/" in my browser for a second before changing to "http://www.creditreport.com/" That site appears to be fake, it's dated 2010. There were a bunch of other addresses that showed up when I checked my history, one of them was a url shortening site.
I traced the yahoo address to Brazil. Something isn't right here and I'm wondering if I loaded something bad when I clicked the link?

and about the creditreport.com :

Once you give your cc# to creditreport.com, you will automatically be signed up for monthly credit reporting service. If you do not jump through their hoops to cancel within a certain period (and there are many reports out there that they do make it difficult to cancel) your credit card will start to incur monthly charges.
The person placing the bogus ads is a creditreport.com affiliate. The first time creditreport.com successfully bills the credit card of a new referral from him (which is why the tracking link is needed) , he gets a $24 fee.

A Google search of login.tracking101.com shows it to be a tracking cookie/spyware that supposedly tracks surfing history. You should be able to remove it with AdAware or something similiar.

http://flakelist.org/page/viewpub/tid/1/pid/3958
http://flakelist.org/page/viewpub/tid/3/pid/4
Report this listing as a scam.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

I think everyone gets scammed every once in a while on CL. It's such a bummer, even when it looks legit. I responded to a job posting last week and the response went something like this



If you feel it's scammy, it's probably scammy. Same with this. I didn't respond. It happens in all areas. With apartments, there are so many ways to look at them on your own without a locator, too. I'd try that as well. Just drive around. Being from the city you should be a good judge of character for individual units, right?

See: Internet Job Scams - Job and Employment Internet Scams

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by crittergal

Maybe some of you can tell me if this is how some things are done on Craigslist. I have a relative that is moving to SA very soon and wants to have an apartment in place by the time she gets here. She trusts my judgment on the apartment.

I normally would not even consider Craigslist, but I was just looking around and saw an ad for a rental in the medical center, looked very nice and it was not represented by any apartment locators, but just the Craigslist email reply. I sent in a query and received a reply in part this is what was included:

"So you know, I do not conduct a background check or charge an application fee. However to qualify as a tenant you must have a credit score above 500. You can obtain your score for free Here. Print the first few pages and bring them to the viewing.

If you do not bring a copy of your credit report from the above site to the viewing I will not show you the property. I apologize but I'm looking for serious tenants only and not window shoppers. To schedule a viewing just respond to this email."
So I email back saying that I would have to get the info from the potential renter and see if they want to do this. I also ask some questions about where abouts in the med center, utilities, sq footage, emenites etc, and received this reply in part:

"Our company has been hit hard by craigslist spammers, so we've decided to use their verification system. Here is a link to the craigslist verification service Here.

You will be asked to verify your name, email and phone number. A verification code will be sent to you via text message. Do not give this code out. Please enter this code in the text box provided on the site and we will contact you from the email provided in the text message.

We appreciate your help fighting spam in the workplace."

The link was to Anti Span Verification site. I am not really comfortable giving my phone number, name etc without even knowing if this is a real poster.
Would like any feeback fellow CD ers. And yes I know, run, run fast away from Craigslist.

It's BS, but the next time I am trying to sell a bedroom set on CL, I'm using this response to the stupid spammers that contact me, asking if I'll ship this to frickin Nigeria, or if I'll please to take post-dated check and they will gladly pay me double. CL is great, once you weed through the nuts, flakes, and downright criminals. You really have to remember that if it sounds too good to be true, you must have seen it on Craigslist!

[crittergal]

For those of you who gave me the feed back that I requested, I thank you for your thoughts and experience.

And to zapanther, you are correct. It is usually "man" get a clue, but in this case which doesn't happen very often it was woman get a clue.