In her normal state of excitement
Tired out after a long day of playing
Of course, my perfect little world is about to be upended. The year is over, Scott is graduating, and I am headed to Philly for the summer. I am also in preparations to spend my fall in Hamburg, Germany. If I ever thought finding a job and housing in a different U.S. city was difficult, I was vastly mistaken: finding an apartment and setting up a life in another country is a whole new ballgame. I have had the pleasure of trying to figure out when an apartment rental is a scam, and finding that there's really no good way to do so. The school sent us a handbook that included tips for finding an apartment, one of which was to put an ad on the websites like craigslist indicating that we are looking for a place. I did get some responses off of Craigslist (couldn't figure out how to post on the other websites, just look at places other people have posted), but I'm pretty sure that both that would work are also both scams. As a warning to others, here are the deets:
The first was by a person named Kelly Kehoe. The apartment sounded perfect: a place all to myself, only 400 E a month, including everything, cheap internet, pretty close to school. However, after scam warnings by the school and Craigslist itself, I did some googling. Turns out Kelly Kehoe is a known scammer who has conned people all over the world. So glad I found this website: http://windedgypsy.wordpress.
Email number two first sounded weird because it was two apartments linked together and the details never seemed right to me. I also found it odd that instead of replying, she kept sending emails that had different subject lines, and seemed pretty urgent to get it locked down. After realizing the first one wasn't going to work, I tried to figure out if this one would, by sending lots o questions and googling extensively. I tried the girl's name, her email address, parts of her name and "Hamburg" or "Germany" or "rental scam" and found nothing, so I started to get some false hope. Then I found an eu rentals site that lists emails that people got that turned out to be scams and some language sounded familiar...the email I got from her:
Hello,I am Kristina Rutherford 48 years old the apartment belongs to my late father and my mother have been managing and maintaining the apartment,but she is presently in London due to her work,am undergraduate student and i also work as well (editors note: she's 48 and is an undergraduate? sketchy)....... The exact address is:Rathausmarkt 42 20095 Hamburg, Germany,The lease is--€300 room including the utilities,fridge-freezer,oven, washing machine, dryer, gas cooker,microwave, elevator,dishwasher, electricity bill , Internet charges (Wifi connection) and others. --- €500 for the security deposit which is refundable during the departure time from the flat. I will like to know where you are from and when you will be coming to the flat ? Am confidently assuring you that you will be more than satisfied when you come into the flat . You can see the attached pictures of the rooms below........ Let me hear from you asap if you really have interest in renting the flat,
Best Regards
Kristina Rutherford
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The email from the website:
I m <<>> 25 Years originally from spain the apartment belongs to my late father and my mother have been managing and maintaining the apartment,but she is presently in united kingdom due to her work,am undergraduate student of University and apartment is very close to city center and its easy to public transportation and supermarket and store and its just about 2 mins walking to Subway public transportation bus stop just 19mins walk to university apartment is 72msq and room is 25msqft
here is the address........... <<>>, 1000, Brussels, Belgium
The lease is --€300/Month/room/ including the utilities,fridge-freezer,oven, washing machine, dryer, gas cooker,microwave, dishwasher, electricity bill, internet charges and others.
€500 for the security deposit which is refundable during the departure time Thanks for the introduction of your self,you really sound great.... never mind i can reserve the rooms for you till your arrival date since there is a perfect procedure that we both have to undergo before you can proceed with the payment
However If you really have interest in renting the room just let me have this request below
- FULL NAME,
- YOUR EXACT ARRIVAL DATE,
- YOUR DEPARTURE DATE,
- YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS
- SCANNED COPY OF YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT ID,
The signed agreement form will be send to you first through attached mail(with the scanned page of my international passport).for you to read and understand,after which you will proceed with the payment ,i'll now send you the original copy through a registered courier to your address for you to sign and bring along with you when moving in. Have a nice day,Looking forward in hearing from you.
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The language of explaining whose apartment it was and what the rent included was identical! I was basically done trying with this and then got a further email with more identical language!
Hello,
you really sound great......never
mind i can reserve the apartment for you till your arrival date, since
there is a perfect procedure that we both have to undergo before you
can proceed with the payment,However If you really have interest in
renting the apartment just let me have your -FULL NAME,YOUR -EXACT
ARRIVAL DATE, -YOUR DEPARTURE DATE,-YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS -SCANNED COPY
OF YOUR PASSPORT ID, So that i can quickly instruct our family lawyer
to prepare the tenant agreement form for you, to see the terms and
condition of the contract and if you are okay with the terms and
condition then you can proceed with the rent and security deposit to my
mother through Western Union Money Transfer so that the apartment can
be reserve for you till your arrival date because there are alot of
people that also have interest in renting the apartment,but my mother
prefer the most serious person who pay her first.. The signed agreement
form will be send to you first through attached mail(with the scanned
page of my international passport).for you to read and understand that
you re dealing with right person,after which you proceed with the
payment ,i'll now send you the original copy through a registered
courier to your address for you to sign and bring along with you when
moving in. Have a nice day,Looking forward in hearing from you.
Best Regards
Kristina Rutherford------
"She" sent me a scanned passport page that had her picture and clearly her name, but I do not think this is enough to negate the incredible warning signs of the identical language. Also, once she asked for a Western Union transfer, I would not have rented due to warnings from the school.
Sheesh! This process is going to be time-intensive and frustrating, I can tell. Will keep updating this with either more scams to look out for, or hopefully (!) a positive update on a new apartment. xoxo.
