BEWARE OF APARTMENT & ROOM RENTAL ADS POSTED ON CRAIGSLIST & EXPATRIATES.COM – THE MAJORITY OF THEM ARE SCAMS ORIGINATING IN THE UK & NIGERIA.In May, I was scammed by a posting on Craigslist (
http://paris.en.craigslist.org/roo/) and
http://www.expatriates.com advertising a room for rent in Paris and lost $2,500.
The fraud was extremely elaborate. It involved a stolen passport, a doctored gas bill, a detailed contract (which was even approved by my solicitor) and many other fabricated documents.
Because it was such a thorough deceit I detected nothing until Ann Clare Collings emailed and said that she needed another $2,000 immediately to hold the place. My heart sank!! I did some digging and discovered everything was a lie.
For the past month I have been trawling Craigslist and expatriates.com and the number of scams is phenomenal. Please be careful!!!! I have been flagging these ads as much as I can but it's really hard to keep up….they are posted daily.
I have posted numerous warnings on Craigslist and it seems that the scammers are now flagging mine as the majority of them have been pulled down. Quite incredible the lengths that these fraudsters go to!!!
A few hard and fast rules:
1. NEVER transfer money via Western Union or other wire transfer services – if they ask for money this way IT IS A SCAM!
2. Learn to track the IP address - this will tell you where the emails are coming from. More often that not they are coming from the UK and Nigeria. In your email program select "Show Full Headers", "Display Long Headers" or something similar. Select the IP address (it will look something like 90.208.149.203 and sits at the bottom of the header next to “Received fromâ€) and do a search on
http://whois.domaintools.com/. Gmail is often used as these emails do not show the IP address and therefore are impossible to track. BE VERY CAUTIOUS!!!
3. Follow your instincts – if something doesn’t feel right it’s probably not!
Do not deal with the following people – they are all proven fraudsters, mostly working out of Nigeria:
o Ann Clare Collings
o Hilton Kurth
o Tara Collings
o Diana Williams
o Marie Millecamps
o Laurent Bizet
o Williams Harry
o Clare Collings
o Edouardo Martel
o Mr. Smith Rolland
o Sarah Doyle
o Sarah Hansen
o Chelsea Bluessports
o Jean Loux
o Herrerias Stephanis
o Mary Arteda
o Alexandra Martine
o Sandra Roland
o Chloe Hourde
o Anna Liffey
o Diette Clemence
o Nedved Henrick
o Laurie Paucot
They email from the following addresses:
o
acli_paris@yahoo.com o
cc_llings@yahoo.como
hous-674055452@craigslist.orgo
clare_colli88@yahoo.como
bibanke000@yahoo.como
alex_88_001@yahoo.como
sarrah_hansen_555@yahoo.como
herr_step88@yahoo.como
mm_2_sm@hotmail.como
louxjean@yahoo.como
w_harry112@gmail.como
hilkurt_ryte@yahoo.como
dianawilliams66@yahoo.como
paristrocadero@gmail.como
webloveletters@gmail.como
viproomchampselysees@gmail.como
parisurmode@gmail.como
arsenalport@gmail.como
paris_flat_venge@yahoo.frThere is one person/group in particular who posts ads that have the same content, but they simply shuffle the order or remove paragraphs (Craigslist doesn't allow identical ads to be posted). He is using a series of email addresses and posts ads very frequently - search under VIP, Trocadero, juice, triangle - and you'll see what I mean. DO NOT deal with this person.
For further information please have a look at a very helpful website
http://parishousingscamwatch.wordpress.com/BE CAREFUL!!!!!!