Bloody Nigerian Scammers

Last week, I posted my first Craigslist ad. To sell my Nikon D80 so that we can upgrade to a bigger/better/newer. And after a couple of disheartening emails from people asking if I will sell at half the price I offered, I got a reply from a "Doctor from San Jose" who went on the explain that he wanted to buy the camera for his son who is currently transferred to Africa. He offered to pay me a $100 extra for the shipping.

I was definitely a bit skeptical about this possibly shady deal, but we decided that we had no grounds for being suspicious, yet. He had asked us to send him a paypal invoice, and knowing that paypal is a reliable service, we sent him one. Our plan being let's see if the cash comes through.

So I sent the invoice, and within minutes I got a reply from him saying he had made the payment and that I should ship the camera instantly. His excuse was he was out of town on business, and couldn't do the shipping to Africa bit himself.

By now, I was slightly more distressed. His English in the emails was weak (big flag) and he hadn't even sent me a shipping address. And he insisted that the paypal payment was made, while I saw nothing in our account.

Now feeling more certain that this was some scam, we looked up his gmail address on Google. (Gerraldphilips@gmail.com)
And there were multiple blogs articles that listed this email address associated with what is called the 419 Nigerian scam. Where he (the scammer/fake doctor) does the same thing, makes a offer to buy, at whatever price you're asking, plus pay for shipping to Nigeria.  Then proceeds to send you a fake email from Paypal saying that your money has arrived.

I dunno how many people fall for this, because the fake email was so bad, we only saw it when we looked in the Junk folder, and had an infinite number of typos and grammatical errors. So anyway, after making sure he hadn't got any of our information via paypal, we felt a bit foolish for not going with our instinct right-away, but were now better prepared to identify the next scam, and had a funny story to narrate the next couple of days.

Our chance to use our newly gained knowledge came pretty soon. A week later, we're here in Seattle, looking up ads on Craigslist for apartments. We called a few places, made appointments, and I emailed one lady who had a great looking house up for rent for a lowish price.

The next day, I got a reply from her; this time it was two doctors who are "committed in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS". Before I got a chance to flag the ad, it was already flagged off. Disgusting.

INFORMATION AND APPLICATION FOR THE APARTMENT FOR RENT  
 
Thanks for the email and interest in our home. I am a Medical doctor and I work for RED CROSS SOCIETY,we  arrive London a Month Ago with my husband and we are committed in mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS which kills more that 3,000 people everyday and also supporting community garden programs for AIDS sufferers and their families
 
If you are interested in renting our home you can call me for further details on my Cell number + (+44 702 407 2434): Please note that the property is locked & the keys will be sent once we approved you as our tenant. Also this is not a share or sublet so I prefer dealing directly with my tenant no third party or agent. You can also reach my attorney once you have been approved on (802) 375-7213. 
 
RENTALS APPLICATION 
FIRST NAME:__________________ 
MIDDLE NAME:_________________ 
LAST NAME:__________________ 
PROFESSION: ________________ 
HOME PHONE (____)__________ 
(CELL)PHONE (____)__________ 
(WORK)PHONE (____)__________ 
KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY________ 
PRESENT ADDRESS:_____________________ 
CITY: _______________ 
STATE: ______________ 
ZIPCODE: ____________ 
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING?____________ 
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN?______________ 
HOW SOON CAN YOU HAVE THE DEPOSIT PAYMENT SENT TO ME___________________________ 
HOW SOON DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE THE KEYS AND DOCUMETS OF THE HOUSE_________________________

__
DO YOU HAVE A PET:_____________
NAME OF PET:_____________
KIND OF PETS:_____________
DO YOU SMOKE?______________

Wide Parking place is available/Washer & Dryer/Internet/Air Condition E.t.c

We decided to rent our property to a responsible person because we will be spending a long time around Europe for Missionary work. To avoid keeping our home Empty during these periods of time we both have decided to lease our property to a good and God fearing person that will take good care of the property.

There is no Registration fee only deposit payment required in other to send keys and paper works. I would like you to know that am doing this base on trust and putting everything is God Hands.
Pets are allowed and utilities are included in the rent.

I hope to hear from you soonest.
Thanks & God Bless.
Dr Sarah & Jeremiah Lawrence.