So I just bought my own house…and was looking for a roommate. Desperate I started to look online and got this email
Quote:
Hello,
My name is Cynthia Martins a 26 years old from Malaysia,I saw your ads on roommatelocator.com that you have a room which you would like to share with someone.
I would like to know if the room is still available for share and the complete details of the place,also the last price you would be given the place out.I am coming from Malaysia for my post graduate research in USA,i have been compelled by my school authority to come down to Maryland for the research as is the only place where the course i am working on is visible.
My parents would be responsible for the payment of the room and you know old ages ,they would like to know much about everything relating to the room before paying for it.
Therefore I want you to be very precise in your reply about the address ,the situation of the house and the amount you want me to pay and how many months that i most deposit.
I would like it ,if you can get me a picture of yourself and i would send you mine too.Little about me,Am from United Kingdom but i school here in Malaysia,my Father is from United Kingdom while my mother from Malaysia,the family of three,two boys and am the only girl of the family.I like country music,RnB and i like romantic movies,i don't smoke but i drink occasionally and i don't parties, well that's little about me.
I await your immediate reply and the address to send the deposit to immediately.Thank you.
Cynthia
I exchanged phone numbers with her and IM information but not address as I did not trust her just yet. She called me and her English was rather broken from someone from the UK but she claimed she was ½ Asian, so I figured she may in fact have broken English.
As I got “to know her†on IM her English was even worse. Someone who has been studying for as long as she has…it just did not seem to add up. They were not even grammar errors, but word replacements
“here†instead of “hairâ€
“sud†instead of “shouldâ€
She asked me if she could have the room as I was taking so long to give her a real answer. I finally told her if she would send me the first months rent, I would give her the room.
Long story short, she said her father would be sending me the payment in traveler’s checks, and they came yesterday in the mail. 3 500$ checks. I asked her why she sent so much…I only was going to charge 450$ a month for the room. She explained that her father sent that much so she could have spending money.
Later yesterday night she said that I would need to send her back 1,000 as she needed it to send over furniture and things of that nature
At this point I thought it was somewhat fishy so I took the checks to the bank and asked if they were real. The bank said they were not, and called the police…reported it to their LP, and gave me copies of the checks, but said they could not give back the real checks. I was fine with that as I was not out any money.
I have all her emails she send me, the phone number she said to call her with (could be fake I’m sure) and her yahoo name
The LP dept already has the checks that they are sending to NY (for Visa to look at) Is there anything else I should do?