Renting a Room on Craigslist?

How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off

I never thought it would happen to me, a college graduate. I got ripped off by a con artist after posting a room for rent on Craigslist. I cannot fault Craigslist, because it zealously warns all viewers to beware of scams like these. I simply didn't recognize the scam as a variation of the one involving Nigerians. First, I will tell exactly what happened. Then, I will specify every mistake I made, which were many.

I posted a room for rent. Someone named Mona Valenzuela with an aol email address responds to my ad, posing as an employee of Wisconsin Public Health Association. She needs a room because she is moving out to San Francisco to conduct cardiovascular research with her organization. She strings me along for three weeks with promises to get her boss to write me a check. She provides his phone number. Finally, she says a check is on its way. She asks that I take $1770 out of the check, obtain a moneygram for that amount, and send the moneygram to her moving agent. Her check arrives. I deposit it. The bank says it needs one week to clear the check because it's from out of state. The funds will be available on Thursday at 9am. I enter the bank on Thursday at 1pm, and request a cashiers check (rather than a moneygram) addressed to Leona Ickes in Hightstown, New Jersey. I send it to Ms. Ickes by U.S. Postal Service. I notice my account is overdrawn later that day, and discover that the bank has charged back the check sent to me. I realize I have been swindled, write threatening emails to Mona, file a police report and a complaint with the federal agency Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). I call my bank to stop payment on the Cashier's Check, which is not allowed until 91 days after the cashier's check date.

Here were my mistakes:

1. I should never have pursued a dialogue with Mona when she said she did not have a phone. No phone? No rent.

2. I should have terminated the discussion with her when she got weird with the "God bless you" thing and "I'm in Peru and would like to buy something for you, my new friend. What is your favorite color?" Beware of people who act too familiar too quickly. And beware of 26 year old Bible freaks.

3. I should have called her employer to confirm her employment there. (I did this after the fact just to learn that I was the fourth person to call asking for the same person who never was an employee there.)

4. I should have terminated the discussion with her after I could not speak with her alleged boss over the phone. I left numerous messages on that phone line, but never actually spoke to this person. Check references. Do not feel rushed to move the process along.

5. Do not do for others what they can do for themselves. Although I objected, I should have refused to pay Mona's moving agent. She could do that herself.

6. I should never have sent the cashiers check to someone without a phone number, and without having made voice contact with that person.

7. I should have never accepted payment in the form of an out of state check, period. I should have emailed her and said that the negotiation was over and I could either send the check back to her or rip it up. Which one did she want? Only accept cashiers checks. And deposit those with a teller and ask him or her to authenticate it.

8. I should have read the check carefully. I would have seen that the routing and account numbers were fake, and that the address of the bank was spelled wrong.

9. I should have checked that the check written to me had cleared before writing a check against that amount.

10. I should have been patient to get the right renter in my home, and not wasted time with weird sounding candidates. I got a little desperate because this time for reasons known and unknown to me, it has been much more difficult.

11. Realize that you CAN be played. Cons prey upon your charitable and social instincts. In this case, she made her work seem like noble work for a noble cause. She also tried to be super chummy with me. The first approach worked with me, the second didn't. I guess she only needed one successful strategy.

Here's some hopeful news. As of one week, the cashier's check has not been cashed. I believe these folks cannot do anything with the check, because they know that any bank or check cashing place will require I.D. that matches the name on the check. Since the name on the check is fictitious, they may not have the time to come up with a fictitious I.D. that would be acceptable to a check cashing place. Also, I am in touch with the fraud unit in San Francisco. I am hoping that they will prod local police to stop by the 1062 U.S. Highway 130, Room 15, Hightstown, New Jersey 08520 address that Mona provided.

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