- $450 1 bedroom, 1 bath, Quiet Side Street. (honolulu)
- Location: honolulu
- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
The house is located at(address deleted for privacy of tenants)
The reply was sent from an anonymous email address, provided through the Craigslist system. I assume that Craigslist provides the email-masking in order to prevent people from being unwillingly added to spam lists. However, it seemed rather odd that a prospective landlord wouldn't provide me with a direct email address in order to contact them. I sent a follow-up email, requesting a physical address, with the explanation that I'd like to come over and discuss the lease agreement. I received this response:
Price: $450
Status: For Rent
1 Bedrooms
1 Bathrooms
1,375 sqft
Single-Family Home
Rent: $450
Deposit: $600
Air Conditioning
Dishwasher
And it cost $450 per month.
Let me know if you are interested so that i can forward you the pictures of the house
and the interiors and you can equally go over to the location to check if it is to
your taste.
I await your response
John Padilla
Attached to this mail are the pictures to the house, i am currently out of town now with my daughter here in Colorado, I am a man with disability. I can't walk as i am on a wheel chair. I am the landlord of my house. So you can go over to the house and look up the surroundings and and the house equally through the window and get back to me if you still interested in renting the house. Call me on (602) 832-8763Look through the window? It was also a giant red flag that the "landlord" is supposedly in Colorado, while using an Arizona phone number. A Google search of the number found nothing. A friend who sent an email in reply to an ad posted a couple of weeks ago for this same property received this reply
John Padilla
When he asked for a contact telephone number, he got this reply
The house is located at(address deleted for privacy of tenants)Price: $450Status: For Rent1 Bedrooms1 Bathrooms1,375 sqftSingle-Family HomeZip:96817Rent: $450Deposit: $450Air ConditioningDishwasherAnd it cost $450 per month.Let me know if you are interested so that i can forward you the pictures of the house and the interiors and you can equally go over to the location to check if it is to your taste.I await your responsePam
It still avaialable here is my number call me anytime (720) 257-9159The ad he replied to was flagged and removed by Craigslist shortly after this exchange. But, it does show that this scam has been operating for awhile. The change of names and phone numbers also hints that past victims have been trying to contact the scammer in an effort to recover thier lost money.
It didn't take long to realize that the ad was a scam. No respectable landlord is going to have people scouting the property and having to resort to peeking through a window at a house they hope to rent.This is why a legitimate property owner hires a rental agent, whose job it is to show people the inside of a house.
A quick search informed me that the house is actually being managed by Property Profiles, Inc and the contact person is Joan Kashimoto, not "Jose Padilla" or "Pam". Rather than the $450 per month rent mentioned in the ad, the actual monthly rent is $1700 per month, which is not unreasonable for a house this size and in this neighborhood. The Craigslist ad is definitely a scam.
But, that's not the only fake ad I've found for this property. Another suspicious ad can be found here, which incorrectly states that the asking rent is $650 per month, less than half of what the real rent is supposed to be.
I contacted Joan Kashimoto and informed her of the fake ad. I was also informed that the house has been rented-out. I feel badly for the unfortunate renters who may find people peeking through their windows and walking-around the property, thinking that they're scouting-out their future residence.
I was also informed that housing scammers are quite active on Craigslist, offering houses and apartments for rent at rates much lower than could really be offered on the market, duping people into signing fake leases and swindling people out of their money. The scams are quite well organized, with scammers sometimes even going to the properties, changing the locks and giving their victims the keys. When the real owners show-up and find the places occupied, the victims are left with no option but to vacate, losing their money (rent and deposit) in the process, as well as expenses incurred in moving into and out of the residence in a short period of time, rendering them homeless until they can find a new place to live, made even more difficult by the loss of the money they already gave to the scammers.
I really hate scammers, especially when they victimize people who just want to find a place to live.
It is my hope that by posting this blog entry, I can prevent anyone from being a victim of this scumbag.
.
Duane Browning
2 comments:
Same thing posted in Boston:
craigslist 3780751074
1:34 am (1 day ago)
to 8f196d89ca513e.
Attached to this mail are the pictures to the house, i am currently out of town now with my daughter here in Colorado, I am a man with disability. I can't walk as i am on a wheel chair. I am the landlord of my house. So you can go over to the house and look up the surroundings and and the house equally through the window and get back to me if you still interested in renting the house. Call me on (602) 832-8763
John Padilla
I plugged his number in search to find your post
I'm so glad I found this. Same thing happening to me. Same email and excuse. I actually went to take a look at the house and loved it but became suspicious and began doing research online. Found the house for rent at $3000..way above the asking price on craigslist. SCAM ALERT!
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