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March 14, 2007

I was almost scammed!

My house in Texas was just vacated by two guys who seriously trashed the place, gave no notice, and left me hanging in the wind. After $1300 for cleaning the house and repairing it (no deposit from them), I posted on Craigslist. The AFTER photos are on the ad. Can I just mention how much I liked my redesign of my bathroom that I did? The narrow shelving really opened up the space.

bathroom.jpg


The really fun part of the story is that I was contacted by a guy who claimed that he was doing a two year sabbatical funding by a large corporation. He wanted to move into the house within a week and would forward a cashiers check for the entire deposit, but that they would also attach an amount for his traveling expenses that I would have to wire to him. This seemed a bit odd, so I emailed more questions to clarify WHY he was going to Lubbock, that sort of thing. No response, then an email ignoring all my questions. I then searched.

My zod, he WANTED TO SCAM ME!. The scam basically works by sending a forged cashiers check to me with an excess amount that has to be forwarded to him by wire transfer. Banks are bound to show a deposit immediately, but the check bounces after a week or so. By then, I would have transferred money to him, and I would have been responsible for all the lost money. Glad I didn't do that.

Sucky, right?

Posted by G at March 14, 2007 10:41 PM

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Comments

I've been scammed one by someone, but I got revenge on him and he whimpered afterwards.

Posted by: homer at March 15, 2007 09:26 AM

That sucks about the house. It looks good now though. 750$ That tempts me to move back to L town.

Posted by: Allen at March 15, 2007 12:20 PM

Do you somehow attract this kind of stuff?

Posted by: Tony R at March 15, 2007 05:14 PM

Wow! Pretty sharp that you caught that!

You really ARE New York's Brightest!

Posted by: Todd HellsKitchen at March 15, 2007 08:40 PM

Wow -- cute house! I love the outside! Cottagey.

Posted by: Andy at March 15, 2007 09:06 PM

Glad you caught it!

Sory to hear of the damage to the place. Being from a real estate family, I've heard tenant horror stories from my dad.

Love the sinks!

Posted by: Lee at March 16, 2007 08:31 AM

Glad you caught it!

Sory to hear of the damage to the place. Being from a real estate family, I've heard tenant horror stories from my dad.

Love the sinks!

Posted by: Lee at March 16, 2007 08:33 AM

Next time get a deposit. That scam is pretty prevalent, about as common as Nigerian banker scams and such. A friend in Boston recounted a similar tale from someone in London. Luckily he didn't fall for it.

Very nice house, too bad you can't get Lubbock prices in New York!

Posted by: Mike at March 16, 2007 02:21 PM

Those Nigerians sure get around 4 years later...

Posted by: Stash at March 16, 2007 03:16 PM

Those f**kin' bastards!! I'm glad you asked him for more questions to clarify. These days, seems like it's a must to do a background check!! Wouldn't hurt!

I hope you'll end up with a responsible tennant G. xoxo

Posted by: Robert at March 19, 2007 04:19 PM

I'm glad you didn't get scammed! What happened to the BRIGHT YELLOW hallway? :-(

I hope you can find a graduate student that's looking for a nice place to live and that will treat the place right.

Posted by: James at March 19, 2007 07:06 PM

So glad you did the research, hon. Essentially any transaction that requires you to give someone cash - even if it's allegedly their money - is a scam. *whew!*

Posted by: goblinbox at March 20, 2007 03:11 PM

You OWN a house in Texas?

Posted by: Luke at March 20, 2007 04:06 PM

I am trying desperately to get rid of my [half] of a Texas house. God, I hate that state.

Posted by: GayProf at March 22, 2007 04:43 PM