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So i responded to an ad on craigslist about renting out a shared room in an apartment in Los Angeles while i live about 5 hours away in Arizona. I consider myself fairly savvy on detecting craigslist scammers since most of the scams are pretty common sense but I am very uncertain about this one. What makes me believe that he is legit is that we talked on the phone extensively, he has a facebook page created in 2007, and i asked him to send me a picture of his drivers license and he did. All the information that he shared about himself was consistent, including the address. I also google mapped the address and it does exist and matches the photos in the ad. He does seem quite specific and knowledgeable about the surrounding area as well.
BUT he said there is no landlord in the complex (that has no name apparently) that i could call for reference since he pays rent to a realty company (called B & H Real Estate) (i also can't find any information or phone number about this company). However, the biggest red flag is that he's requesting the deposit and first months rent via western union which i know is the biggest no no. The reason being is that he can cover himself and reserve my spot since it is currently the first day of the month. I asked if i could use credit card and he said i could not because he is not "licensed" to receive payments or deposits that way.
So my predicament is that he does sound legit as i couldn't find any dirt on him and his information all adds up.....but I'm aware he could simply be posing as another person's identity. Just to see how he'd react, i bluffed and said that I wanted to make a trip to personally see the room and make the deposit in person and he complied and say he'd be home all day. So the only red flag (not to mention the biggest) is that western union is the way to make payment and i know this a huge no no.
Can anyone shed some light on my situation and let me know if i should do it? And does he even need some form of license to accept credit card payments or is he just making that up? Could I ask to do a bank transfer or thru paypal instead and I'd still be somewhat protected?
Please share your thoughts....this is a huge decision and i would really appreciate your help! Thanks
For reasons totally unrelated to his inability to accept a credit card payment (yes, he can do that through PayPal without having a business license) I agree with the above. Take a road trip and see the place before making a commitment.
There is a B&H Investment Co which handles real estate in LA:
1. You are already suspicious.
2. It's Craigslist.
3. There is only one way to make the payment (?) and it's the worst one.
Do some more homework and don't rush into anything. There are other places to rent and you could get a reputable agency that does rentals to vet these places for you beforehand.
As a matter of fact you could call a few agencies and ask about the one he mentioned. You might get someone to tell you about them, you can also ask them about the property and you can also get a feel for how it's supposed to operate. Becoming familiar with how it should work might be useful.
Good luck.
Last edited by JoanD'Arc; 01-01-2014 at 01:57 PM..
1. You are already suspicious.
2. It's Craigslist.
3. There is only one way to make the payment (?) and it's the worst one.
Do some more homework and don't rush into anything. There are other places to rent and you could get a reputable agency that does rentals to vet these places for you beforehand.
As a matter of fact you could call a few agencies and ask about the one he mentioned. You might get someone to tell you about them, you can also ask them about the property and you can also get a feel for how it's supposed to operate. Becoming familiar with how it should work might be useful.
Good luck.
So he is willing to let me come see the place and accept a check in person. I also asked for the real estate companies number but he is not comfortabe giving it out but he is willing to let me call a "tenant"
for reference. There's too many unanswered questions here and I honestly don't feel comfortable going to see the place now since he seems so sketchy. I'm definitely leaning towards scam now
So he is willing to let me come see the place and accept a check in person. I also asked for the real estate companies number but he is not comfortabe giving it out but he is willing to let me call a "tenant"
for reference. There's too many unanswered questions here and I honestly don't feel comfortable going to see the place now since he seems so sketchy. I'm definitely leaning towards scam now
Thanks for the reply. I think you are "right on" especially since he is uncomfortable giving out the phone number of the company handling the rental?? Do I have that correctly??
YUP. Listen to that little voice and protect yourself...
If you can't prove to yourself that this is legit, it probably isn't.
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