Agreed, this is a scam.

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to email my daughter about the room, being a realtor she asked that I help her with the screening

I thought I had the place rented last week to a friends niece, but communication has dropped off. You are the first person to email about it since I put it back on the market . It would only be fair that I gave you the first shot at it.

To tell you a little bit about your potential roomate, "I am a 28 year old professional female. Non-Smoker, occasional drinker and WILL not bring any drama into the house. I'm not going to follow you around with white gloves but would think you'd want to help keep the place clean. I don't have a pet but am not against them." is her 2 sentence description she asked me to pass along

I would prefer a year lease, but would also be open to shorter terms. I'm sure that you will want to see the property before making a final decision. I would simply give you the address and let you swing by, but for safety reasons I would rather meet somewhere first and talk / answer any questions, then let you follow me to the property. Rest assured the home has been up kept properly and had a good cleaning and fresh coat of paint . All utilities are taken care of in the rent.

If you want to go ahead and schedule a time to see the property, go to the link below and print off the free copy of your report. Your score isn't important, I'm just interested in seeing that there are no evictions / landlord related judgments.

Here is the link: //leasing-reports.com/property08832/

I am very open as far as appointments go to show the property. Any morning after 10am is fine. Just let me know when you have everything printed and be sure to leave me a contact number to reach you at and any desired time. I will call you to confirm a time and choose a place to meet.

Thanks for looking,

Sharon and Erin

I got an email from this woman. Completely suspicious as the email I got from here didn't have "my original" email I sent her. FLAKE.

Hello,

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get back to you sooner! Things have been so hectic for me these last couple of days!

The good news is that the rental is still available! We had an offer from the first person we showed it to, but now it appears that they are changing their mind, so we need to start showing it again as soon as possible. You were the second one to email me about it.

It is the whole place that is for rent, and it's in pristine condition. We know a lot of prospective renters want to do a quick look of the property, but my husband doesn't want me to mass send out the address as a measure of safety. Last time we did that without verifying people, the empty property was broken into and vandalized. We don't want that to happen again! I CAN tell you that it's a very special property, that would normally rent for quite a bit more than other comparable properties in the neighborhood.

All utilities are connected and will be transferred into your name. You will be responsible for cable, internet, and phone, if you decide to have these services. Just to confirm, we DO allow pets at this property. The rental term is 12-month lease, but can be switched into a 6-month lease if preferred. We just ask that you give us fair notice if you are moving out.

If you would like to set up an appointment, go to the link below and request the free copy of your rental / credit report. We use this company for all the properties we manage. Just fill out the form and indicate that you want the free credit report. The actual scores on the report aren't important to us, it's more of a formality to have it on file, to make sure you are who you say you are.

Get your report here: leasing-reports.com/property09045/

Remember, we only need to see the page about the rental history. That will be all you will need to bring with you to the showing.

As far as getting together to see the property goes, I am available to show it any time from 10:00 am on, for the next couple of days. Let me know when you've printed out your credit report, and we will set up a time to do your walk-through.

Thank you once again for your interest!

Sharon Newsome

IS THIS REALLY A SCAM?!

WHAT SHOULD I DO TO PROTECT MYSELF?

If you feel you've been victimized then check out the following link for details on what to do: http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html

For what it's worth...

Believing in who and what you are is the only way to protect yourself.

Vacant unit = Income out of their pocket.

Business or personal property investors with a vacant unit will absolutely be willing to show the vacant unit. I have experienced having to give two personal references to a potential landlord before I could rent and see the apartment. However, I had her home phone number and met her at her office before I gave her my two references. This was done at my request. I have been renting said apartment for five years now.

It is good to be cautious, however anyone that asks for more than they are willing to give, walk away. I knew her name, home number and office information. I easily verified that it was legitimate when I Goggled the phone numbers given. Only after meeting her face to face did she get any information from me.

If you want to protect yourself, respect yourself.

My reply to the letters:

Dear _____

Thank you for replying. I have a copy of my current credit report as well as two rental references. I would very much like to meet you at your office/home at your earliest convenience. Please reply with your contact information. After meeting, we can schedule a time to see the unit. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Well said, Firegoat.

Before I realized this was a scam, I, too clicked on the link for the credit report and now I'm sure that it was a front for their scam. Oy....Did anyone else do this and contact the Justice Dept?

I am embarrassed to admit that I clicked on the link,too. Oy!

Here's what I've done:

I clicked on the Justice Dept link (thank you!) and found information there. I immediately called Trans Union and put a fraud alert on my credit report. They're supposed to call the other 2 companies, but I'm going to call them, too. I called my credit card companies and alerted them. I decided to get the Identity Protection program through my Discover card, which will have them monitoring my info daily and alert me to any activity.

I called my bank to cancel my debit card number and noticed that the supposed 'credit report company,' which is undoubtedly a scam, charged me $24.95 plus a $1.95 fee. I disputed these charges and I will next file a police report on these charges.

I got the same exact email today re: a los altos Cottage. I thought it was a bit suspicious with the credit report link. Thanks for posting this and preventing this from happening to other people.

I got the same letter in email today. I clicked the link to the credit report site, but when I noticed it rerouted me through three other URLs before arriving at the final credit report site, I thought it was too suspicious. Thank goodness I looked Newsome Properties online.

@Firegoat: you've made some excellent points—any legitimate property owner/manager would be much more forthcoming their their own contact information.

This guy just tried to scam me with a craigslist ad posted in athens, ga.

here are the email interchanges:

http://southerndojo.com/?p=38